MORGANTOWN – The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Nature Conservancy teamed to conduct a poll on West Virginian’s views of the state’s energy future.
The results, released Thursday during a virtual press conference, show they continue to support coal but also are ready to move ahead as the state, nation and world transition.
“How does West Virginia participate in and be a part of the new future we’re seeing out there,” said Thomas Minney, Nature Conservancy of West Virginia executive director.
Brian Dayton, vice president of Policy and Advocacy for the chamber, said the chamber’s mission is, “How do we grow the economy? How do we grow jobs?”
He agreed with Minney that the survey respondents value the state’s energy heritage but see opportunities coming from some of the energy transformations.
Rex Repass, a West Virginia native, is president and CEO of Philadelphia-based Research America, which conducted the poll. They surveyed 500 registered voters in all 55 counties, he said, with an “oversample” of 100 voters in the 28 coal counties.
More than half – 53% – of the respondents in coal country said things in West Virginia are headed in the wrong direction and only 27% feel that it will get better in the future.
The majority of respondents – 70% – in coal country said they would like to see more jobs created; while 49% said they would be willing to move to another area of West Virginia if there are good-paying jobs and better opportunities in new industries. This was particularly true among respondents in Kanawha and Marion counties, Repass said.
When asked to identify the most important initiative that elected officials could do to help their communities, 14% said “support the coal industry,” while 12% said “invest in clean energy; phase out coal.”
In terms of infrastructure investment, respondents favored high-speed broadband and securing electricity grids.
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