West Virginia manufacturers are a driving force in the state’s economy. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, West Virginia supported $3.54 billion in manufactured goods in 2019 and $1.67 billion in exports for free trade agreement partners. Together, those pre-pandemic numbers created jobs and supported growing businesses in the Mountain State.
West Virginia ranked fifth nationwide in total energy production in 2019, accounting for 5% of the U.S.’s total energy. While riding the waves of the past few years, including a pandemic, global supply chain disruptions and workforce shortages, West Virginians proved their resiliency once again. Despite obstacles decades in the making, advances in technology and the exploration of new opportunities provide excitement within West Virginia’s energy portfolio.
All hours of the day and night, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is gathering terabytes of information from multiple satellites at the West Virginia High Technology Foundation’s I-79 Technology Park. As the data silently streams through the satellites, Jim Estep, High Technology Foundation president and CEO, hears money and opportunity pouring into the Mountain State.
As countries around the world work to repair economies upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war between Russia and Ukraine is creating even more difficulties while exacerbating existing issues, including worker shortages; commodity, transportation and inventory disruptions; and the highest inflation rate in a generation in the U.S.
A group of entrepreneurial friends is at the center of the revitalization taking place in Greenbrier County. When Clay Elkins, J.W. Groseclose and David Bostic came up with an idea for a new brewery, they decided from the start that they always wanted it to be more than just a place that crafted and served beer. They wanted it to be a place that brought people together.
As a representative of a leading coal and gas production state, Congresswoman Carol Miller wants to promote the use of American energy around the world.
Miller is part of the bipartisan Congressional Energy Export Caucus.