Editor’s Note: The contributors for “Moving the Mountain State Forward” have been kept anonymous so they could be honest about the challenges they see in the state without facing repercussions from their employers or industries.
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.
When WVE asked for these opinions, it was done in the spirit of steering the state toward prosperity with the help of those who know it best: its people. This was about more than creating a sounding board for complaints, though. Those who voiced their frustrations also had to provide a solution to the problem they identified. You see, WVE is one of the state’s greatest cheerleaders and believes it’s okay—and sometimes necessary—to be critical of the state’s direction, but it’s just as important to approach these problems in a positive way.
In light of the recent legislative session and the criticism running rampant throughout the state, WVE is proud to bring back “Moving the Mountain State Forward” in hopes of creating thought-provoking conversations and inspiring an attitude of resilience that will help West Virginia reach its full potential.
Challenge: Using our manufacturing background and skilled work force to focus on targeted industrial recruitment.
Solution: West Virginia has a strong history in materials manufacturing and heavy manufacturing. We have a work force with experience and skills in these industrial segments, and both have strong ties to our extraction industries. The state needs to conduct a skills and resource inventory. Once this is done, we could develop a specific list of companies that best fit with that inventory and put incentives and programs in place to aggressively recruit those companies. This could be tied to the development of business opportunity zones that are established for each specific type of industry.
Challenge: Preparing our high school graduates with the skills to navigate both their careers and everyday lives. Not every student will enroll in a four-year college upon graduation, but every student will enter the “school of life” after walking across that stage. We need to prepare them for both.
Solution: West Virginia needs plumbers, well tenders, utility linemen, auto mechanics and electricians just like it needs doctors, lawyers and teachers. In order to keep pace with an evolving society, education policy must include a well-rounded curriculum: knowledge-based skills and life skills education. This means teaching life skills like basic finance, the economics of owning a home and non-electronic communication skills alongside knowledge-based learning like algebra, American history and writing. This would ensure all students graduate possessing the necessary breadth of knowledge to start their adult lives on firm footing. Whether our students go on to a four-year college or vocational center or directly enter the work force, we are doing them a disservice by tossing them out into the world without teaching them the basics of adult life.
Challenge: Developing a competitive energy strategy for the state’s future.
Solution: So much of the state’s history has been linked to removing natural resources—like coal, oil, gas and timber—and shipping the majority of those resources outside of the state for conversion to a value-added product. The state needs a strategy for capitalizing on these resources, like creating woody bio-mass energy zones to encourage pulp and paper industries that are interested in reusing or digesting waste to create an alternative energy source with state investment; building natural gas pipelines to connect shale wells to polymer processing zones; finding alternative uses for coal such as rare earth mineral processing and limiting the severance taxes on resources that are used to generate some of the lowest energy costs in the nation for businesses to create a competitive edge. This will take investment from the state and a strategy of selecting some sites over others, but industry wants to move to a state that has a focused strategy; reinforces business core principles like being talent-rich, business-friendly and move-in ready and provides an environment that can operate at the speed of business. We are competing with right-to-work, low-tax-per-capita states like Tennessee and Texas that have strategic investments to attract specific industries. We need ways to differentiate us from the rest—in a good way.
Challenge: Addressing the fact that West Virginia and its 1.85 million residents cannot afford the state’s current cost structure.
Solution: Holding on to a model that has 55 counties and even more municipalities—all with their own schools, courthouses, health departments and police, fire and street departments—is outlandish for a state our size with a declining growth rate.
Regionalization of administration and services, reaching across multiple county lines, is now not only a necessity but a priority. One only has to look at the prosperous city of Jacksonville, FL, and its population of more than 850,000 as an example. The most noteworthy feature of Jacksonville’s government is its consolidated nature. Jacksonville’s consolidation with Duval County in 1968 ended much duplication of services and still provided political access for its citizens. While the Jacksonville model may not be the precise prescription to dramatically lower West Virginia’s overhead, it certainly is a starting point. Desperate times require extreme measures. Make no mistake: we have arrived at this point.
Challenge: Exploring new industry opportunities in an attempt to build manufacturing jobs and replace lost coal jobs.
Solution: West Virginia has always had chemicals, aluminum, glass, printing, lumber, processing and manufacturing, but what if we combined our state’s resources and attracted a solar panel manufacturer to our state? To make a high-quality U.S. solar module, you need silicon, glass and aluminum for the main sources of materials. West Virginia is blessed with all three of these source materials. We can build a huge utility-scale solar project on flattened mountaintops in Southern West Virginia and a solar manufacturing plant nearby so the power goes to make the panels. This would provide thousands of high-skill jobs and could reinvigorate depressed areas.
Challenge: Addressing the issue of legalizing marijuana, and doing so sooner rather than later.
Solution: We need to begin a study of what has worked and what has not in the states that have already legalized either the medical or recreational usage of marijuana. It is a tax source that is desperately needed, and other states have the facts on revenue potential and the real issues and problems that may come with this.
It’s time we stop putting people in jails that are already overcrowded. This is expensive and does not make better citizens. If the study recommends medical legalization, we have another tool in our belt for many diseases that affect so many people. It is clear with some diseases and in some individuals the plant can have dramatic effects on healing and pain management.
Studies on recreational usage have shown over half of the people visiting Colorado for vacation made plans to visit at least in part because of recreational usage being legal. We are in a geographical location that could take advantage of this for many years.
Challenge: Preparing middle and high school students today for the careers in manufacturing and energy that will be available in West Virginia in the future.
Solution: We must prepare a work force that understands the importance of a good work ethic, including showing up to work on time and being drug-free. We need to train this work force with the technical skills needed for careers in manufacturing and energy. These are, and will be in the future, some of the best-paying jobs in West Virginia, and they do not require a four-year college degree. They will, however, require technical skills and abilities, so we must focus on our technical education programs in our high schools as well as encourage students to consider career and technical education at the community college level.
Challenge: Assessing the lack of funding available to help our displaced coal miners.
Solution: The cost of current retraining programs makes it hard for former coal miners to take advantage of the one- and two-year programs available to develop technical skills and move into a technology field. For example, years ago, coal miners could go to Pierpont Community & Technical College for a two-year program that allowed them to start a good paying career in the aerospace industry. They have $5,000 to use for retraining, but the current cost of this program is over $10,000, and certification is around $1,000. This $5,000 amount is too small for a coal miner to get training that will lead to a good-paying change of career.
This is an expense that is paid back in economic development and through taxes paid by the employees and companies in this field. This benefits the whole state and puts hardworking coal miners back to work as successful citizens.
Challenge: Making decisions that will transform our economy.
Solution: We must begin to think progressively on how to direct and expand our post-coal economy. While the rest of the world is expanding its use of solar and wind power, most lawmakers and many citizens in West Virginia do not see the potential for these sustainable energies. A public/private partnership for utilizing abandoned strip mines for solar, wind and geothermal technologies could maintain West Virginia’s role as a major energy-producing state. Additionally, there must be an immediate emphasis placed on expanding high-speed internet to attract 21st century jobs. Finally, the demographics of West Virginia are extremely detrimental to future growth. With much of the economy based on consumer spending and with an older and declining population, the state must attract younger people since, as many studies have proven, they consume more goods than an older society. However, most of these younger adults will not be enticed to move to a state whose legislature has recently shown a propensity for unrestricted guns, discrimination against the LGBT community, distaste for innovative companies like Tesla Motors and an unwillingness to protect its citizens from environmental degradation.
Challenge: Addressing the need for infrastructure investment, particularly with regard to improved access to airports.
Solution: Most businesses need the roads and airports to support effective logistics and transportation. The state has improved access to interstates in both the north-south and east-west corridors; however, airport access is still an obstacle when it comes to connecting sites with major airports. The availability and cost of flights to and from West Virginia with major hubs is a barrier to attracting new businesses.
The state needs to upgrade access to major airports through improved runway access, longer runways to handle larger jets at more airports and a strategic investment in encouraging connection of independent carriers with major airlines to provide more flights.
Challenge: Finding a way to develop the state’s business opportunity zones by focusing on business-ready sites, work force readiness and tax incentives.
Solution: Because of the state’s sparse population and difficult topography, statewide strategies are needed to identify and develop key regions of the state where there is a significant work force from which to pull, as well as create building sites with existing water, sewage, power and road infrastructure that local and state governments are willing to designate as tax-free zones over a limited time and slowly increase taxes after a 10-year period. Work force qualification is needed in anticipation of a business climate that focuses not on a particular skill set but rather the soft skills of punctuality, appearance, math readiness and communication.
Challenge: Addressing our litigation and infrastructure issues, untrained work force and unions in order to attract new businesses.
Solution: We need new leadership at many levels and tax incentives for any new business, large or small. We should be offering state grants to businesses and organizations that bring conferences to the state. We should also promote businesses that focus on using our natural resources in a socially responsible way. Funding and support need to flow to the Northern Panhandle and other parts of the state. It’s not all about Charleston!
Challenge: Focusing on available opportunities in the new energy economy instead of allowing ourselves to be blinded by declining coal sales.
Solution: Global climate change, among other factors, is driving an international program away from the use of coal—and eventually the displacement of many other fossil fuels. This changing energy landscape can be seen as a threat or an opportunity for West Virginians. With our strategic location and natural resources, we can use our new-found oil and gas programs as bridge technologies to launch and incorporate new renewable and non-polluting energy sources. In order for these new energy sources to coexist on the power distribution network with other traditional sources, we will need grid modernization, smart-grid technologies and energy storage. The research, development and deployment of these new technologies will provide high-paying job opportunities.
Challenge: Finding smart and ambitious homegrown business leaders to carry us into the future of the energy industry.
Solution: To do this, we need to prevent our young talent from leaving. One way we could do this would be to entice them to stay with some sort of signing bonus if they work in-state right out of college or after any post-secondary education. For example, this could be a tax break young professionals could claim for the first five years of their West Virginia career. I propose five years because a shorter timeframe may not be long enough for them to start feeling some type of loyalty to a company or community.
