Gazette-Mail file photo
This is a typical Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling pad in Marshall County.
Brighter prospects for West Virginia are growing from the gigantic supply of Marcellus Shale natural gas in northern counties.
U.S. Methanol just held a ceremony to mark the establishment of an Institute plant promising 300 temporary construction jobs, followed by 50 permanent jobs, turning gas into feedstock for chemicals. Production is projected to start by the middle of next year. It’s a boost for the Kanawha Valley.
Meanwhile, researchers at West Virginia University are pushing an Appalachian Storage Hub that would save vast amounts of gas in vacant underground cavities, to be extracted for chemical manufacturing or fuel.
And thousands of jobs can be gained in building pipelines to carry West Virginia gas to East Coast markets.
Doddridge County Assessor David Sponaugle said gas drilling mostly caused his county’s assessed property valuation to triple from $457 million in 2010 to nearly $1.4 billion in 2017.
West Virginia needs all the new jobs and prosperity it can find.
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Of course, the natural gas boom contributes to the decline of coal sales, as cheap natural gas makes West Virginia coal less attractive to big customers, such as power generators. (But everyone likes it when their fuel bills go down, right?)
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And on a different day, we fret about methanol, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide, that can escape during the process of getting natural gas to the market. Climate change caused by warmth trapped on Earth’s surface by those gases, like heat in a greenhouse, contributes to worsening weather extremes — droughts, floods, hurricanes.
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Images of these back-to-back hurricanes is terrifying, and inspires a sense of awe, and possibly a sense of safety and shelter in the security of the West Virginia’s tranquil green hills.
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Meanwhile, 58 percent of new jobs in West Virginia will require some college-level technical training, says a brochure from West Virginia’s Community and Technical College System.
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Happy Labor Day from President Donald Trump, who chose David G. Zatezalo, of Wheeling, to nominate to lead the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Zatezalo is the former CEO of Rhino Resources and known for pushing back against Obama-era improved enforcement of mine safety rules, pesky regulations intended to keep what coal miners are left from dying prematurely on the job or afterward.
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The special election to decide whether West Virginia should borrow up to $1.6 billion for road construction and maintenance is Oct. 7. Polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. On the Secretary of State’s Office website, voters can verify their registration.
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West Virginia’s tourism industry draws $4.5 billion in direct spending in the state, includes 46,000 jobs, generates $527 million in taxes and attracts 15.9 million overnight visitors, according to a flyer from the state Tourism Office.
In addition to 36 state parks, West Virginia has 1,000 historic sites, 164,000 acres of public lands, 25 craft breweries, 600 miles of ATV trails, more than 130 golf courses, six major ski areas and five casinos. Tourism encourages people to continue to sing it: #AlmostHeaven.
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Turning to political registration, historically, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 2 to 1 in West Virginia — but the Mountain State has undergone a “red shift.” New figures from the secretary of state office say Democratic registration remains largest, but it dropped 115,717 since 2007 and now totals 536,298.
During that period, Republicans gained a bit: up about 40,000 to 389,647. The biggest change was the 115,717-person growth in independents, who now total 259,357. If this trend continues, independents may outnumber Republicans someday.
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Bearing arms in West Virginia: Marcus Benn from Tennessee is charged with shooting a Martinsburg man to death during a suspected robbery. Benn was caught by Maryland police.
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Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will visit Wheeling Jesuit University in his effort to use religion to combat the horrible opioid epidemic. So far, nothing else is succeeding, so we wish him well.
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Tragically, West Virginia apparently still leads the nation in opioid overdose deaths. A new report says 279 Mountain State users died in the first half of 2017. Cabell County was worst with 58 fatalities. Kanawha was second with 34. A horror is gripping America, worse than gun killings, highway deaths, natural disaster deaths and many other evils.
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Bearing arms in West Virginia: Bobby Gene Hall and Misty Ann Rucker are charged with shooting a couple to death in their home on Charleston’s Garrison Avenue.
