West Virginia’s Wake-Up Call

Many of us remember getting in trouble as children and being disciplined. Our parents would warn that the punishment was going to hurt but that it was for our own good. Today, West Virginia is in trouble. With changes in the economy and the ebb and flow of various industries as a result of those changes, some states are riding out the storm while West Virginia continues to sink without any visible signs of rescue. It’s time for us to have a serious conversation. It’s a conversation that’s probably going to hurt, but it’s for our own good.

Appalachian Storage Hub: Realizing Our Potential

The West Virginia hills were once home to an abundance of mills, factories, chemical manufacturing plants and mines that employed thousands of hardworking Mountaineers. Today, the state’s economy is struggling to deal with the loss of businesses and population, the decline of the coal industry and the fight to maintain millennials, but West Virginia’s leaders aren’t giving up. As innovators continue to look for ways to revitalize the Mountain State, obtaining regional petrochemical cracking plants—or crackers—and creating an adequate resource to put West Virginia’s oil and natural gas industry back on the map are promising priorities.

Moving the Mountain State Forward

If you had a medium through which you could voice your concerns about West Virginia, would you use it? What if your thoughts were anonymous and you could be completely—and brutally—honest? West Virginia Executive (WVE) posed this question to its readers this past spring, and the response was a resounding “yes.” Readers from different backgrounds, professions and political affiliations submitted their honest opinions about the struggles they see West Virginia facing.

Progress Report: 2016 Legislative Session

The West Virginia State Legislature adjourned its 2016 session on March 12 after 60 days of discussion and debate and a three-day extended budget meeting. In this year’s session, the pressure was on as West Virginians anticipated the passage of legislation that would aid the state’s struggling economy and incentivize businesses to make the Mountain State home.

Winner’s Circle 2016: West Virginia Manufacturing

Manufacturing is a lifeline for a struggling economy. It creates wealth and prosperity, leads to economic growth and global trade, encourages development and creativity and creates job opportunities across industries—after all, without goods, there can be no services.