From their home on Charleston’s West Side, Tina and Matt Glaspey watched the house on the corner of First Avenue and Fitzgerald Street go downhill fast. 

A family with a young daughter left because they didn’t feel safe. The next owner died. After that, the police were responding regularly as people broke into the vacant home. 

The Glaspeys say that in just two years, the small brick house went from occupied to condemned, left without power or water, repeatedly entered by squatters. 

“One day, we noticed a bright orange sticker on the door saying the building was not safe for habitation,” Tina said. “It shows how quickly things can turn, in just two years, when nothing is done to deal with these properties.” 

City officials say the house is following the same path as hundreds of other vacant properties across Charleston, which slowly deteriorate until they become unsafe and are added to the city’s priority demolition list, typically including about 30 buildings at a time. 

Until this year, a state program helped communities tear these buildings down, preventing them from becoming safety hazards for neighborhoods and harming property values. 

A statewide survey four years ago estimated that nearly 8,000 structures required demolition that would cost approximately $150 million. Lawmakers funded the effort using $30 million in federal pandemic relief funds to reimburse local governments.

But that money is now depleted. There is no statewide demolition program left, no replacement funding, and no legislation to keep it running, leaving municipalities on their own to absorb the costs or leave vacant buildings standing. 

Across West Virginia, vacant properties increase while a state program designed to help runs out of money 

The state’s Demolition Landfill Assistance Program was established in 2021 and was funded a year later with federal COVID-19 recovery funds. 

Administered through the Department of Environmental Protection, the fund reimbursed local governments for the demolition of abandoned buildings that they couldn’t afford on their own. 

The state survey was the first step in the program to determine the scope of the need and assess local government capacity to address it. It was distributed to all 55 counties and more than 180 municipalities. 

In just two years, about 1,800 structures were demolished. Currently, about 240 demolitions are ongoing, but the last of the state’s funding has been dispersed. 

However, the need is far greater. 

Carrie Staton, director of the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center, has worked with communities on abandoned buildings for about 14 years. She said most counties don’t have the resources, funding or staffing to manage dilapidated housing on their own. 

“We’re just so rural and so universally rural. Other states have at least a couple of major metro areas that can support this work,” she said. “We don’t. It just takes longer to do everything.”

Charleston has spent millions demolishing hundreds of vacant buildings 

As the state’s largest city, Charleston has more tools than most local governments, including access to federal funds that smaller communities don’t have. 

That has allowed the city to spend more than $12 million over the past seven years demolishing over 700 unsafe and dilapidated structures.

But John Butterworth, a planner for the city, said Charleston still relied on state demolition funding to help cover those costs, which averaged about $10,000 per property, including any environmental cleanup. 

“It’s a real cost,” he said. “It’s a necessary one to keep neighbors safe, but it is very expensive.”

He said the city received $500,000 from the state program during its last round of funding to help tear down properties that drew repeated complaints from neighbors. 

“I think people are really relieved when we can say that the house that’s been boarded up for a year or more is coming down,” he said. “Where the concern often comes from neighbors is, what comes next?”

One vacant home on Grant Street had fallen into disrepair before being demolished in May of last year. 

Cracks filled the walls. Dirt and moldy debris were caked on the floors. Broken glass and boarded-up windows littered the property as plants overtook the roof and yard. 

Eventually, the city was able to get the owner to donate the property, which was then given to Habitat for Humanity as part of its home-building program. 

Now, the property is being rebuilt from scratch. Construction crews have already built the foundation, porch and frame, and it is expected to be finished within the year after its groundbreaking last October. 

Andrew Blackwood, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Kanawha and Putnam counties, said the property stood for at least five years, deteriorating. The home had signs of vandalism and water damage and was completely unsalvageable. 

He said that of the 190 homes the organization has built in both counties, nearly 90% of them have been complete rebuilds after the previous structure was demolished. 

A statewide problem without a statewide plan

Lawmakers have said they recognize the scale of the problem, but none have proposed other ways for tearing down dangerous structures. 

Fayette County used state demolition money as it was intended, which was to tear down unsafe buildings that had become public safety hazards to nearby residents.  

With help from the state program, the county tore down 75 dilapidated structures, officials said, removing some of the most dangerous properties while continuing to track the progress of others through a countywide system. 

County leaders hoped to expand their demolition efforts on their own this year, but those plans have been put on hold. 

The county had to take over operations of a local humane society after it faced closure and will need to fundraise, said John Breneman, president of the Fayette County Commission. 

Former Sen. Chandler Swope, R-Mercer, said that kind of budget pressure is exactly why he pushed for state involvement in demolition funding. 

Swope, who helped create the state fund for the demolition of dilapidated buildings in 2021, said the idea grew from what he saw in places where population loss left empty homes, which local governments had no way to tear down.

“They didn’t have any money to tear down the dilapidated properties, so I decided that that should be a state obligation because the state has more flexibility and more access to funding,” he said.

Swope said he’d always viewed the need as ongoing, even as state budgets shift from year to year.

“I visualized it as a permanent need. I didn’t think you would ever get to the point where it was done,” he said. “I felt like the success of the program would carry its own priority.”  

But four years later, that funding is gone, and lawmakers haven’t found a replacement. Other states, meanwhile, have created long-term funding for demolition and redevelopment.

Ohio, for example, operates a statewide program that provides counties with annual demolition funding. Funds are appropriated from the state budget by lawmakers. 

Staton said West Virginia’s lack of a plan leaves communities stuck.

“Abandoned buildings are in every community, and every legislator has constituents who are dealing with this,” she said. “They know it’s just a matter of finding the funding.”

And back on the West Side, the Glaspeys are left staring at boarded windows and an overgrown yard across the street. 

Matt said, “Sometimes you think, what’s the point of fixing up your own place if everything around you is collapsing?” 

Abandoned buildings are crumbling across West Virginia. A state program to clean them up is out of money. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. We will be taking the next edition off as we head into Christmas. Subscribe to stay in touch with us during the New Year.

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Compared to their urban and suburban counterparts, a greater share of the rural population lives in states with the most restrictive abortion legislation, according to my analysis of data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that focuses on reproductive rights. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022, it became harder for women to access reproductive care, but the burden often disproportionately hurt rural women.

About 46% of nonmetropolitan, or rural, Americans live in states with either ‘most restrictive’ or ‘very restrictive’ abortion legislation, representing 21.3 million people. Approximately 35% of metro Americans live in these states, representing roughly 99.1 million people. 

State-level abortion legislation is complex; it’s rarely as simple as an outright ban or permit. Abortion policies can include stipulations like waiting periods, ultrasound requirements, gestational duration bans, insurance coverage bans, telehealth bans, and more. To deal with some of this complexity, the Guttmacher dataset groups states into one of seven categories that broadly captures the state’s access to abortion: 

• Most Restrictive
• Very Restrictive
• Restrictive
• Some restrictions/protections
• Protective
• Very Protective
• Most Protective

Click here for the interactive map.

Seventeen states make up the ‘Most Restrictive’ category, and 13 of those states have enacted full bans with few exceptions. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. The rural population in those states equals about 15.8 million people. 

Rurality Exacerbates Access Challenges

In the Post-Roe landscape, pre-existing rural challenges are exacerbated by restrictive abortion legislation, a change that has led to increased maternal mortality, particularly for women of color. The new state of abortion in America means people often have to travel much further to get the care they need, often out of state.

An ABC special that featured women who had to travel for abortions highlighted the story of Idaho resident Jennifer Adkins, who was excited when she found out she was pregnant with her first baby. But a 12-week ultrasound showed that continuing her pregnancy would put her life in danger. With financial help from family and friends, Adkins had to travel to the nearest clinic in Oregon to receive the care she needed. 

My previous analysis of abortion data showed that rural travel to abortion clinics increased from 103 miles on average in 2021 to 159 miles on average after Roe v. Wade was overturned. But travel distance varies by state, with women in parts of rural South Texas having to travel up to almost 800 miles to receive care. 

In rural Louisiana, where all the bordering states have also issued abortion bans, the distance to a clinic has increased by almost 400 miles since Roe was overturned. The average rural Louisianan is about 492 miles away from the nearest abortion clinic. The data for that analysis came from the Myers Abortion Facility Database.

In 2024, approximately 12,000 Texans traveled to New Mexico to receive an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute data. Nearly 7,000 Texans traveled to Kansas, and another 4,000 traveled to Colorado. Texas enacted a near total ban on abortions in July of 2022.
In Idaho, which enacted an abortion ban in August of 2022, 440 people travel to Washington and 140 travel to Oregon for abortions in 2024. (Visit the Guttmacher’s interactive map of abortion travel by state to explore the topic in more detail.)

Abortion and Rural Voters: More Complex Than You Might Think

Every time I write something about how rural people suffer from GOP policies, I get comments and emails from readers saying some version of, “They voted for this.” I take issue with this response for many reasons. It’s unkind, and it erases the thousands of rural voters who don’t support these policies. While some people are going to say you get what you deserve, here’s another way to look at it.

In a previous analysis of voting data from the nine states that had abortion on a ballot measure in 2024, I found that support for Trump didn’t always line up with support for abortion restriction. In 2024, approximately 73% of rural voters supported Trump, but only 61% voted to restrict abortion access. 

While 61% is still a majority vote, the 12-point gap between support for Trump and support for abortion restriction demonstrates that abortion access is a complicated issue for many Americans across the geographic spectrum. This data shows a rural voting base that is willing to split with the broader Republican platform on key issues. 

“All voters are complex,” said Nicholas Jacobs, rural sociologist. “People voted for [Trump], even if they wanted more access to reproductive care or were disappointed that a national standard was lifted by the courts.” 

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The post The Stats on Abortion Access in Rural America appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

Braving an early, frigid morning, Peyton Levi and Kyra Wilson joined a cluster of citizens protesting outside the state Department of Environmental Protection headquarters.

The two Marshall University seniors joined the group of nearly 30, holding up signs opposing the data center complex proposed between the towns of Thomas and Davis. The project has garnered backlash from communities across West Virginia.  

“I’m tired of seeing West Virginia as an extraction state,” said Wilson, a creative writing major from Wayne County.

Inside the agency’s headquarters, a seven-member board was preparing to hear initial legal motions in a case brought by three citizen groups trying to block the Tucker County project. 

Here’s what West Virginians need to know. 

Why are the citizen groups appealing the permit? 

When it applied for a state air pollution permit for a natural gas plant to power its data center, Fundamental Data, LLC, asked the WVDEP to keep several lengthy sections of its application secret. 

Citizen groups objected, saying the information kept confidential included material they needed to determine how the company calculated the expected air emissions.

The WVDEP allowed the information to be kept confidential, and in August, approved the permit. The next month, Tucker United, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Sierra Club appealed the agency’s decision to the West Virginia Air Quality Board, a quasi-judicial panel that hears such matters. 

The citizens are ultimately asking the panel to revoke the air permit. They list more than a dozen specific objections, most importantly challenging the DEP designating the project as a “minor” pollution source. The citizens contend that the power plant should be considered a larger air pollution emitter and be subject to more stringent regulations.

But the citizen groups are also seeking the release of the confidential information. The secrecy makes it “impossible for the public to review, check, verify, or understand these emissions calculations,” the groups stated in their appeal.

What happened at the first air board hearing?

While protesters stood outside the building during the November hearing, the Air Quality Board considered the citizen groups’ request for access to information WVDEP withheld from the permit application.

Fundamental Data has cited trade secrets as the reason for omitting sections of their application. And, according to the state agency, the company has met the state’s business confidentiality standard. 

“The agency is required by state law to evaluate those claims, and the WVDEP conducted a full legal and technical review before determining which materials met the criteria,” said DEP spokesperson Terry Fletcher. 

The agency also made sure that any information needed to determine emissions was publicly available through nonconfidential alternatives, Fletcher added.

The company, through the protective order, has agreed to share a portion of the redacted information with Mike Becher, the attorney representing the citizens, and Dr. Ranajit Sahu, their expert witness. But the redacted information will remain concealed from the public. 

While the citizens made progress in getting access to the hidden information, the board threw out two of the 17 issues raised by the citizen groups.  

The seven-member panel granted WVDEP’s request to dismiss the groups’ complaints that the agency didn’t consider air emissions from other sources like truck traffic and that the project is meant to power a data center complex.  

The board refused to throw out the groups’ challenge to the project’s “minor” pollution source designation out of hand. That issue, which the state agency raised in its motion, will be taken up during the next hearing. 

What’s next?

Starting on Dec. 3, the air board will hear testimony on the merits of the citizens’ appeal. 

The parties will call witnesses to testify on the matter. The WVDEP said they will make the engineers who were involved with drafting, reviewing and issuing the air permit available to testify. The citizen groups say they have an expert to review the calculations in the permit. The company’s attorney said that they don’t plan to call any witnesses but will cross examine witnesses. 

Why does this matter?

As developers propose — and political leaders back — large data center complexes in Tucker, Mason and Mingo counties, those communities have grown frustrated about the lack of transparency. 

And that frustration has also spread to other West Virginians.

“There’s just very little information out there. It’s almost like it’s a done deal before people even find out about it,” said Charleston resident Norma Heim, who joined the rally at the WVDEP building. “I feel like the people should have had and should still have a voice in this.”

So far, all the air permit applications submitted to the WVDEP for such projects have been heavily blacked out, hiding information from the public, and communities have struggled to get information to address their concerns. 

Earlier this year, Gov. Patrick Morrisey asked the Legislature to pass HB 2014 to encourage data center projects. That bill, which passed into law, also stripped away local communities’ ability to restrict noise, lighting, or land use from such projects. Now, this appeals process is one of the few avenues left to challenge these projects. 

Drew Galang, a spokesperson for Morrisey, called the legislation “transformative” allowing West Virginia to “attract the industries of tomorrow.” He also said that the bill is designed to benefit the entire state. The tax revenue will go toward infrastructure improvements, essential services, future economic development investments and lowering the income tax, Galang added. 

Despite not living in Tucker County, the prospect of a data center complex being built between Davis and Thomas is personal for Heim. Like generations of West Virginians, she grew up visiting the Canaan Valley and Blackwater Falls each year. 

“It’s part of our blood,” said Heim. “There’s so few places like West Virginia that are just special, that have the kind of resources and beauty. And I just feel like this is just taking us down a road we don’t want to go.” 

Citizen groups challenge secrecy and pollution concerns in Tucker County data center air permit decision appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Traci Hicks is the sole provider for her husband and four children, who range in ages from 6 to 15. 

Hicks, a gas station manager in Marion County, said she works 50 hours a week to get by, starting her days at 4:30 a.m. After work, she gets the kids from school, helps with homework and cooks dinner. 

With rising food prices and utilities, Hicks said her food stamps are key to staying afloat on a tight budget. 

“We’re just trying to figure out each day,” Hicks said. “We go paycheck to paycheck with our rent and our utilities. It’s not easy.” 

But the government shutdown threatens that lifeline for Hicks and about 270,000 other West Virginians who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly known as food stamps. 

Tens of thousands of West Virginians already face losing health care benefits because of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and its cuts to Medicaid and insurance subsidies. Democrats in Congress want to reverse those cuts, and refused to help pass a government funding bill without that language.

As a result, the federal government has been closed since Oct. 1. Now, that shutdown has food stamp money for struggling West Virginians drying up.

Over the weekend, the West Virginia Department of Human Services announced that the continued shutdown could delay payments in November for people who rely on food stamps for their meals. Any new recipient, who was approved on or after Oct. 16, will have their October payment delayed as well. 

West Virginian households with children on food stamps receive an average of $504 a month, but that varies depending on household size, income and other factors. 

Joyce Carr is a retail worker at a Dollar Tree in Kanawha County. Carr’s husband receives Social Security, and her two teenage daughters are not working. She is lucky to bring home $200 a week from her job. She doesn’t know what she’ll do if she misses a payment. 

“I honestly have no idea. I’m at a loss, because I was already barely making it as it was,” she said. 

When asked what the state could do to help out those who might be affected, Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s spokesman Drew Galang said the state can’t afford to foot the bill and directed people to food pantries and other community resources.

Cyndi Kirkhart, director of the Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington, said she’s never seen a situation like this. Her food bank serves 17 counties across West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. 

“I don’t recall that,” she said. “I think that would be burned into my memory, right? I think, though, what makes this even more significant is people were already struggling with high prices.” 

And that can cause a cascading effect. Those who rely on food stamps will have to look to food pantries. But food pantries are already struggling to keep their warehouses full because food costs have gone up. 

“Once we get into November, that is when a lot of potential pain for vulnerable, food insecure, hard working West Virginians comes into play,’ said Caitlin Cook, a director at the Mountaineer Food Bank in Gassaway. 

And it’s not just people receiving food stamps who stand to get hurt.

Maura Seever works delivering people’s groceries, many of whom are disabled and rely on food stamps. If business dries up because nobody got their benefits, Seever said she will have to look for other work. 

Seever said she has sent emails to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s office, pleading with her to help end the shutdown. 

But so far, West Virginia’s federal delegation, all Republicans, haven’t shown any indication they are willing to negotiate or walk away from their party’s position to try to work out a deal to reopen. 

Last week, Capito did note that food stamps could come under strain due to the shutdown. While she invited Democrats to the negotiating table, she later stated that she will only support reopening the government if they back down.  

“Senate GOP are not going to let the government be held hostage and hijacked over an issue,” she wrote in a Tweet on Oct. 20. 

Sen. Jim Justice only offered general comments at the beginning of the shutdown, casting blame on the Democrats for it. He has since used his social media to promote Bridge Day, congratulate some nominees from West Virginia and celebrate the birthday of his English Bulldog, Baby Dog. 

Reps. Carol Miller and Riley Moore have both called for an end to the shutdown. Moore has appeared on social and news media stating that Republicans will make no concessions to reopen the government. 

But as Hicks, the gas station manager, observed, the politicians aren’t the ones who stand to lose the most. 

“We don’t all make beaucoup amounts of money like they do, and we’re all over here struggling,” she said. 

Mountain State Spotlight asked the members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation what efforts they were making to find a solution in order to prevent thousands of West Virginians from missing their payments, but no one responded. 

For people like Audra Brooks, a 57-year-old legally blind woman living in Raleigh County, the options for going without her food stamps are limited. 

“My daughter and I talked about it,” she said. “It’s either I let my power bill go or pay only half of it and buy groceries, or my daughter buys my groceries for me.”

Already contending with health care cuts, struggling West Virginians now face food stamp delays   appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey gripped the microphone and hyped up a crowd of parents and children in front of a concession stand at the West Virginia State Fair in August. 

“Who’s ready to walk a Mountaineer Mile?” 

The crowd cheered. In the shadow of the tall Ferris wheel and a flailing inflatable man, Morrisey asked the children if they were ready to hop on some rides. He asked the adults if anyone was going to the .38 Special and Kansas concert. 

But for a moment, he got serious. 

“We’ve been doing this Mountaineer Mile. It’s really kind of cool, to be able to walk at least a mile a day, to get into shape and to maybe even stick around a little longer,” Morrisey said. 

The Mountaineer Mile is part of a health initiative the Governor announced in March, during an event in Martinsburg with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“The first time I met him, I said, ‘Governor Morrisey, you look like you ate Governor Morrisey,’” Kennedy said to a crowd of supporters. 

Later that day, Morrisey posted to social media a photograph of the sunset in the Shenandoah Valley from his home in Jefferson County. The governor said his first Mountaineer Mile was already in the books. 

“In my life, I haven’t always made the right decisions in terms of food and exercise, but I am going to do my best now to improve and shed some pounds,” Morrisey wrote in the post. 

The idea is simple. The governor challenged all West Virginians, including himself, to walk one mile a day. That’s 5,280 feet, or 2,000 steps, depending on one’s stride. 

And it’s happening in a state that leads the nation in obesity, which contributes to the state’s high mortality rates resulting from diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer. The state has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the country. 

To be sure, diet, economics, lack of recreational facilities and other factors play into why the state struggles with weight. The governor has never said walking a mile a day would fix all that. 

During a television interview the week after the Martinsburg event, Morrisey did something few politicians do: He opened up a bit about his struggles with weight. Morrisey said he was athletic in his youth, taking up tennis, running and wrestling. But long hours in the office over the years caused him to pack on the pounds. 

“I’m far from perfect, but I think a lot of people can see, if I can do it in the position I’m in, a lot of people can do it,” Morrisey said. 

And do it they have. 

Over the last six months, universities, colleges, hospitals, state agencies and private businesses have all announced their own initiatives, holding events for employees and the public alike to walk a mile. 

All the state parks with hiking trails have at least one designated as a “Mountaineer Mile Trail.” Morrisey even led a walk at West Virginia University before the Mountaineers faced Pitt at their annual Backyard Brawl. 

And around the capital city, Morrisey can be spotted walking along the Kanawha River with his wife, Denise, and a couple of state troopers in tow. 

Morrisey said he’s encouraged to see the support. 

“Folks are proud to show off their daily walks and share their progress online, and that’s exactly what we hoped for — to see people moving, connecting and building healthier habits together,” he said. 

Dr. Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean for Health Sciences at WVU, pointed out that getting healthy is easier as a community. 

“And ultimately, I think that part of the solution for the social network is to make sure that we’re not criticizing people for how they look,” he said.

But it hasn’t all been a walk in the park. 

Last month, Morrisey shared on social media that he shed 7 pounds walking the Mountaineer Mile. The announcement was met with a mixture of cheers and jeers, ranging from soft advice about the importance of dieting to outright attacks upon his weight. 

Most prominent was Del. Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, the minority whip. Fluharty, known for his bombastic speeches on the House floor, wrote, “Congrats to our Governor for dropping 7 lbs in 6 months. What a streak. At this rate he may not have to wear a t-shirt on the Jersey Shore.” 

Fluharty could not be reached for comment. 

Morrisey said he isn’t paying the critics much mind. 

“There will always be naysayers and folks who want to tear you down instead of build you up,” he said. “It’s best not to pay those people any attention and stay focused on the goal. This initiative isn’t about politics — it’s about encouraging West Virginians to get healthy in a positive way.” 

Erin Beck contributed reporting to this story.

In the most overweight state in the nation, Gov. Morrisey is taking the issue personally with his Mountaineer Mile appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

In 2023, dirty mine water gushed out of the ground behind James Christian’s Wyoming County home, flooding his yard.

Sinkholes formed, a strong sulfur-like odor lingered in the air and oily sheens began coating the creek. Residents have blamed the mine for contaminating their creek and making some of their neighbors sick.

Since then, a lawsuit by state regulators sparked a court battle between three coal companies over the incident. Now, the state is responsible for cleaning up the mine and the damage it caused through a program that has historically been underfunded. Meanwhile, state regulators have also approved a new mine expansion over the objections of local residents.   

Indian Creek continues to run black and green, and sometimes the water has white streaks or slimy film. A number of water wells have gone bad. And the nauseating smell of rotten eggs has spread and is now palpable across the community. 

“To get to my house, just follow the smell,” Christian said. 

West Virginians could pay as clean up falls to the state

In June, the agency revoked the mining permit associated with the former underground Pinnacle mine, and the permit is now under the responsibility of the DEP’s Office of Special Reclamation, according to agency spokesperson Terry Fletcher.

The division is “currently formalizing a plan to complete reclamation of these sites that will include sealing the open mine shafts and management of the mine pool,” Fletcher said. The Office of Special Reclamation is responsible for cleaning up the land and water impacted by mining activities left behind by bankrupt coal companies. 

Under federal law, coal companies are required to post bonds in order to receive mining permits as a sort of insurance. If a company goes bankrupt, state regulators can use its bond money to clean up the mining sites, in addition to special funds dedicated to abandoned mine cleanups. However, neither funding source has kept up with the cost to fully cover reclamations. 

By forfeiting the company’s bond, the DEP collected nearly $1.5 million, which will be used to address the land and water issues caused by the Pinnacle Mining Complex. The state agency also secured an additional $1.9 million from the bankrupt coal company to put toward the clean up of the mine. 

The DEP anticipates that the $3.4 million will cover most of the land clean up and water treatment. Any additional funding that’s needed will be from state funds dedicated to clean up abandoned coal mines. 

In addition to sealing the open mine shafts, the DEP’s preliminary plan includes reducing the water levels in the mine before it discharges into Indian Creek, which the agency will continue to permit and monitor. This, the agency said, will address the water flowing out from underground as well as the bacterial and odor issues impacting the community.  

Christian’s wife, Tina, isn’t convinced the agency will be able to get rid of the smell. 

“If they do, it’ll be a miracle,” she said.

Residents say mine contaminated their creek, regulators say otherwise

The community has attributed a litany of problems to the creek, which they say is contaminated by the mine water. Rashes now spot Tereasa West’s chest and legs, Tina Christian still struggles to breathe, and her husband is now having issues with his thyroid. 

Wells have also gone bad, pumping out undrinkable water and leaving households dependent on bottled water. 

DEP has maintained that the water samples taken have shown that the discharge from the mine meets state and federal standards. 

The agency collaborated with both the state Department of Health and the Wyoming County Health Department and offered free well testing to households in the community. Twenty-five residents participated, and the results didn’t show evidence of mine-related contamination, said Fletcher. 

But residents have continued to complain, and voice distrust of the state. 

The DEP has requested assistance from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement to investigate the community’s allegations of contaminated well water. A report on its finding will be released soon.  

But — regardless of the agency’s results — the community continues to say that there’s something wrong with their creek. While the water quality in the area has never been great, residents say it’s been noticeably worse since mine water erupted from underground. 

As a child, West grew up playing in the creek, but now, decades later, that’s not an option for her grandchildren.  

“I have lived on Indian Creek the majority of my life, and I have never in all these years ever seen Indian Creek waters in the condition that they are in now,” West said.

And as residents in and around Indian Creek continue to wrestle with the smell and the discolored water, they worry things are going to get worse. 

Last month, the DEP approved a request by Brooks Run South Mining, LLC, to expand its underground Marianna Slope Mine in the Indian Creek area. 

Under the revised permit, the mine could discharge into several other waterways within Indian Creek. Community members criticize the decision as they continue to struggle with unusable water sources. 

Fletcher said that the mine must comply with its permit limits, and the DEP will enforce those limits if there are violations.

But those assurances haven’t eased the community’s worries or the lack of confidence in the state agency. 

“We told them we didn’t want it to happen, and they did it anyway,” said Tina Christian.   

Disclosure: Mountain State Spotlight Board of Directors Chairman Ben Bailey, a Charleston attorney, represented the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection in the agency’s suit against Pinnacle Mining.

Wyoming County residents say a coal mine contaminated their creek. State regulators just approved more mining. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

While West Virginia’s Republican representatives in Congress won the last election by huge margins, their own constituents are continually asking them to have public town hall meetings. 

The representatives and senators are dodging those sorts of public events. They reply to phone calls and emails with canned responses — or no responses at all.

Now, in the last three weeks, Sen. Jim Justice has called off as many appearances in the state. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and Rep. Carol Miller have not announced any town hall events. Rep. Riley Moore touted what he called a town hall, but was really a teleconference sponsored by a conservative special interest group. 

Moore posted this week on the social platform X that he participated in a “tele town hall” about the Big Beautiful Bill on Aug. 19, hosted by the West Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity. 

But unless you had one of the 150,000 phone numbers the conservative political advocacy group, founded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, said they dialed that evening, you wouldn’t have been able to participate. 

Karina Meilkeljohn, a participant in the town hall from Berkeley County, said she received a call at 5 p.m. and missed it. Twenty minutes later, she answered a second call, and an automated message said a town hall was in progress with the representative.

Jason Huffman, executive director of the AFP-WV, confirmed they did not publicly announce the event. He said the phone calls were enough promotion. 

He said the numbers they called came from a list of registered voters, and the calls were made using a third-party telemarketer outfit. 

While Huffman acted as a moderator on the call, people listening in could sign up to ask their own questions directly to Moore. Huffman said the calls were screened primarily to make sure people stayed on topic about the impacts of the highly controversial spending package. 

“I thought it was a fairly well-rounded discussion,” he said, noting West Virginians were, on the whole, happy with the permanent tax cuts in the recent spending bill. 

Meiklejohn said she had participated in similar town halls in the past when Republican Alex Mooney represented the district.  

“I was honestly surprised that there was more pushback in the questions than I had heard on Mooney’s town halls,” she said. “In general it seemed the mood was concerned, but still positive toward Moore. No one was hostile.” 

Meiklejohn recalled that one man, a veteran, was outspoken about healthcare costs under TRICARE, the insurance used by veterans and those in the military. 

The next day Moore’s post on X, thanked the participants. 

Moore’s office didn’t answer questions about why he hasn’t held an in-person town hall or participated in one that isn’t backed by a special interest group. 

Capito, who is seeking reelection next year, also has not held any town hall meetings. She was in Charleston this week and posed for photos with Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano. As she walked into the federal building, Capito would not answer questions. Bisignano also would not answer questions.

Meanwhile, Justice has scheduled three events in recent weeks and canceled each one the day before. 

On Aug. 6, Justice, a sometimes farmer, was scheduled to give remarks at the Capitol Market in Charleston, but canceled. On Aug. 18, he nixed a tour of a mine with the West Virginia Coal Association. Then, the 74-year-old senator scuttled an appearance at the Upshur County Senior Center on Aug. 21. 

But William O’Grady, a spokesman for Justice, noted the junior senator was at the state fair. 

A picture on Facebook shows him grinning with state treasurer Larry Pack while sitting in a golf cart next to Baby Dog. 

The next day, he appeared in Lexington, Kentucky, to speak at a dinner held by the commonwealth’s Republican Party. 

O’Grady said the Senator’s schedule is busy and cancellations are pretty typical. 

“We unfortunately get overbooked at times.”

Erin Beck contributed reporting to this story.

Screened town halls and overbooked senators: Public appearances still sparse for West Virginia’s Congressional reps appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

On the Ohio River in Wood County, officials are clearing hurdles to prepare sites for new businesses. 

Two locations, 70 acres of farmland and a sprawling industrial park, are set to become suitable for development, thanks to the first $150,000 grant from a new state program designed to make “shovel-ready” sites attractive for businesses.

But these projects are the exception. 

Across the state, properties lack the infrastructure needed to attract new employers. Old industrial sites sometimes need extensive cleanup, while others lack sewer, water or broadband. 

Neighboring states from Ohio to North Carolina already maintain catalogs of dozens of ready-to-build properties. Both Kentucky and Virginia list more than 30 certified industrial sites. But West Virginia has none, and a three-year-old program to change that has barely gotten underway.

Currently, nearly 600 buildings and empty properties are listed on the state’s economic development website. But none fit the bill for what the state considers investment-ready.  

“We’re hoping that with this funding, we will get the first two stamps of approval,” said Lindsey Piersol, director of the Wood County Economic Development office. 

Without this program, West Virginia economic development leaders say companies could turn to neighboring states with shovel-ready properties, taking their investments with them. 

“We’re basically doing a company’s due diligence and their homework for them,” Piersol said. “It’s the most important aspect of economic development.” 

The cost of not being ready for new businesses

In 2018, West Virginia lost a $1.6 billion Toyota and Mazda car manufacturing facility to Alabama in part because the state did not have an inventory of shovel-ready properties. 

Woody Thrasher, former state secretary of commerce, said the deal also fell through because officials needed to perform environmental studies at two proposed sites that would have taken at least nine months to complete.

“We scrambled like crazy to find a singular site, but Alabama offered them nine different ones,” he said. “It just shone a light on the fact that we really weren’t ready to move quickly,” he said.

Alabama has poured $30 million into its site evaluation grant program since its creation last year and currently has 29 certified sites available for businesses.

Dave Lieving, president of the Huntington Area Development Council, said states without a catalog of development-ready sites can miss out on jobs and investment. 

He said companies want a strong labor workforce, a favorable business climate and enough flat land to grow. 

“Companies don’t want to wait around years and years for you to clean up your property before you want to get all your ducks in a row,” Lieving said.

Ruthana Beezley has spent the past four years trying to bring jobs and businesses to the Greenbrier Valley. 

As the head of the region’s economic development agency, she says the lack of adequately prepared business sites makes it tough.

“We’re prioritizing the folks that have already invested here,” she said. “It’s easier to grow somebody who’s already here than to attract somebody.”

A slow start in West Virginia 

The Legislature tried to address the problem in 2022, when Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, sponsored a bill creating a program to improve the readiness of industrial sites. Riley works for Thrasher Group, the largest consulting and engineering firm in the state. 

The state’s Economic Development Department administers the program and includes a grant program to provide developers up to $75,000 per site to make them ready for new businesses.

Other states have invested in these programs, pouring millions of dollars into site readiness. In 2024, Virginia lawmakers poured $126 million in development grants for sites, while $35 million was handed out in Kentucky.

Riley said lawmakers put $5 million into the fund in 2022, but Morrisey’s announcement in Wood County in 2025 marked the first allocation. 

In the years that followed the initial allocation, the state hired consultants to evaluate more than 100 potential sites for development. That list was eventually narrowed to just 10 viable locations.

“It’s been something that the economic development world has talked about for a number of years,” he said. “I think it was definitely a step in the right direction.” 

Steve Roberts, long-time president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, said business leaders have been warning the state for decades that it is falling behind. 

“States that surround us are far ahead in having reasonable, well thought through and well funded efforts to keep and attract jobs,” he said, “This is simply a matter of priorities.” 

West Virginia lags behind its neighbors in sites for new businesses. The state is moving on a plan to change that. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

In north-central West Virginia, a few miles of country road takes you from a high-energy college town to quiet country life. 

Last week, Mountain State Spotlight and the League of Women Voters of West Virginia hosted four community listening sessions in Monongalia and Preston counties. 

The pace of life might be different for residents in Morgantown and Kingwood, but many of their conversations sounded remarkably similar. Residents spoke candidly about the struggles they face and the things they value. 

“We take care of other people,” said Morgantown resident Kris Potter, who has lived in the area for over 50 years.

But both counties face some of the same issues: a shortage of affordable homes, gaps in internet service, job loss and frustration over rising health care costs.

Here is what people in both counties told us.

Broadband is not ‘equitable’

For years, residents across West Virginia have complained about slow internet speeds and unreliable providers. Some have even turned to nontraditional providers like Starlink while waiting for the state to complete a $1.2 billion broadband buildout.

Kenny Kidd runs the Arthurdale Heritage Center, where old portraits of Eleanor Roosevelt dancing with residents dotted the walls. It was once home to dozens of families who lived and worked together during the early 1930s. 

Kidd said the strongest internet infrastructure runs along Interstate Highway 68 in northern Preston County. He noted that internet access is slowly expanding. 

“But the further south you move, there are noticeable gaps,” he said.

In Preston County, 30% of households and businesses are either underserved by or don’t have access to high-speed broadband. Meanwhile, next door, in Monongalia County, only 6% of residents are underserved or don’t have access to fast internet. 

Judy Ball serves as president of the League of Women Voters in Morgantown and Monongalia County. She said there are still parts of the county without internet access, while her own neighborhood now has two different providers. 

“And that really annoys me because it’s not equitable,” she said. 

The Interstate and university are a lifeline

Across both counties, I-68 brings thousands of visitors from Maryland and surrounding states, and industry hubs and businesses have set up shop along the route. 

But residents in Preston County say communities south of the interstate, like Kingwood, Arthurdale and Terra Alta, accessible only by two-lane roads, have been left out of major investments and economic development. 

Susan Teeple lives in Bruceton Mills right along the highway. 

She said it’s a small but mighty community trying hard to bring more jobs and new businesses to the area, but she still drives nearly 30 minutes back to Morgantown to shop. 

In Preston County, the largest employers include county school districts, the federal prison system in Hazelton and the Mon Health system. In Monongalia County, West Virginia University plays a major role in local development, employing about 7,600 people. 

But recent budget cuts have caused the university to lay off faculty and downsize departments. 

Barbara Fleischauer, a former state delegate, said a close friend of hers recently lost a job at the university during what she termed “this ridiculous so-called ‘transformation.’” 

She said the university’s declining enrollment could hurt the city’s economy, particularly in the downtown area where shops rely on business from students. 

Sarah Cranstoun has lived in Morgantown for almost a decade. 

She said the recent staff cuts at WVU have been demoralizing for many who moved to the city to work at the university and have been widespread across the county. 

“I have cried in Kroger with friends after they lost jobs,” she said.

Decreased investment in public education 

Statewide funding for public schools has decreased, and many students lack access to school resources. More than two dozen schools are projected to close or consolidate because of a lack of state funding. 

And next year, it’s projected to cost taxpayers $315 million to fund the state’s Hope Scholarship, which subsidizes costs for families to enroll students in private schools or homeschooling programs. 

In Preston County, school tax levies have repeatedly failed to pass to increase funding for public schools. 

Residents with children enrolled in the state’s public school system said local schools weren’t preparing them for the real world. 

“Our school systems do not make them (students) successful,” Morgantown resident Sarah Barnes said. “When they leave, they’re going to have to make up the difference.” 

Lack of investment in public education upsets some residents. 

“Educated people leave,” Bruceton Mills resident John Fillingham said. “Poor education and poverty contribute to poor health.”

Urban vs. rural health care 

Many Morgantown residents rely on WVU’s health care system. 

Lori Claypole said that she recognizes that access to dependable health care becomes harder when traveling out of the city. 

“We’re really lucky,” she said. “We’ve got more places for care here than most people, and most places only have one little hospital.”  

But Melissa Sidebottom, who lives in Terra Alta, expressed frustration with the local health care system. Her son has a serious illness that has taken time to diagnose. 

West Virginia hospitals are not home to a wide array of specialists, so Sidebottom has to travel out of state to Pittsburgh to access the care her son needs. He has been waiting months to get an appointment for specialized care in the state.  

And across the state, there is a shortage of nurses, doctors and physicians in clinics and hospitals due to low wages. There is a gap between rural and urban health care, and looming Medicare cuts will make it harder for residents to access necessary care. 

Nancy Morgan of Reedsburg is an addiction counselor. She said her community still sees substance use as a widespread problem. 

“They say it’s getting better, but it’s really not,” she said. 

Housing costs have increased 

Statewide home values are estimated to rise around 6% annually over the next two years. This creates a shortage of starter homes for new families, contributing to a decreasing younger population. 

“When people say they can’t find a house here, they’re not talking about being picky,” said Morgantown resident Debra Grant. “They’re saying there’s literally nothing available in their price range.” 

West Virginia does not require a statewide short-term rental licence, leading to a rising popularity of Airbnb, Vrbo and other rental platforms. And short-term rental platforms can make it harder for residents to afford homes. 

The state’s minimum wage is currently $8.75, and the median price of a home in 2025 is a little less than $250k, making it difficult to afford. 

“Lack of affordable housing is not a new problem,” resident Mary Bolt said. 

Catherine Grimm asked, “How are young people going to live?”

Mary Kay McFarland and Tyler Dedrick contributed reporting.

From Morgantown to Kingwood, residents want more housing, health care and internet appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

Late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a nationwide crackdown on doctors, nurses and other medical professionals it alleged had attempted to defraud government health programs out of $14.6 billion.

Companies sent false billing claims to Medicaid. They took bribes to diagnose and treat conditions that didn’t exist. An addiction treatment provider targeted Native Americans and people who were homeless, billed Medicaid and then never treated them.

This is what Medicaid fraud looks like.

The vast majority of it is committed by providers like hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies, who receive unearned taxpayer funds through tactics like falsifying records and taking payments for people they never saw, according to public records and former Medicaid officials.

But when explaining their votes for President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful” government spending bill, and its massive Medicaid cuts, West Virginia politicians said they were just trying to keep patients from taking advantage of the program.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said she didn’t want to cut “anybody’s benefit.” 

“But I am interested in making sure that we get rid of the fraud, that we make sure that we have a work requirement, that we make sure we have accountability, and those are money savings in Medicaid,” she said.

Andy Schneider, research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and former senior advisor at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said that politicians were using terms like “fraud” loosely.

“Regrettably, there is fraud against Medicaid,” Schneider wrote, in a statement Friday. “Most of it is committed by providers, with beneficiaries as the victims.”

Schneider said there are a few provisions of the bill that could address extremely rare cases of beneficiary fraud, including more frequent checks for deceased beneficiaries and address records.

But he noted the four provisions of the bill focused on waste, fraud and abuse save an estimated $25 billion over ten years, only about 2.5% of the nearly $1 trillion the bill cuts from Medicaid during that time. 

“If you’re using waste, fraud and abuse in the way those terms are normally used, not political rhetoric, very few of the savings for the federal government in this legislation are coming from waste, fraud and abuse,” he said.

And now, health analysts estimate Medicaid cuts will cost more than 10 million people their health care.

Jeremiah Samples, a former state health official who helped oversee Medicaid in West Virginia, said patient fraud is uncommon.

Examples of patient Medicaid fraud include using someone else’s medical card or reporting inaccurate income.

“It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” he said. “Even if you find the needle, it’s not going to be much money. They focus on what they are able to find and what’s more valuable.”

Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., posted on X that he wanted to eliminate Medicaid fraud.

He acknowledged West Virginia’s reliance on Medicaid in a linked Fox Business interview. 

In the older and more low-income state, more than 500,000 West Virginians — nearly one in three people — rely on Medicaid for care like hospital and nursing home stays, heart medications and cancer screenings. 

“We don’t have illegals,” the Republican and former governor said. “We don’t have all the abuse and everything, and to absolutely clean it up and make it right for those that are deserving, should we not be doing that? 

Under the new law, tens of thousands of his constituents could lose coverage.

Along with Justice and Capito, Rep. Riley Moore and Rep. Carol Miller, also Republicans, voted for the legislation, part of a broader spending bill that also extends tax cuts passed in 2017 and adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit. 

Moore said he didn’t want to cut people from the program who needed it but supported provisions to bar states from covering undocumented migrants and eliminate fraud. 

In a statement, Miller’s spokesperson said:

“Congresswoman Miller believes this bill is an excellent first step and will continue to monitor if there are even more places to crack down on fraudsters, be that companies, individuals, or governments.”

The offices of Capito, Justice and Moore didn’t respond to questions about why they focused on patients when health care companies are stealing tens of millions. 

In its news release about the crackdown last month, the Department of Justice reported it was seizing $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles and cryptocurrency.

Laura Jones, who runs Milan Puskar Health Right, a Morgantown free clinic that also accepts Medicaid, said she doesn’t see any patient fraud. 

“If Medicaid is something that an individual uses only if they’re sick, how could you possibly commit fraud?” she said. “If you were making tons of money, you’d have insurance.”

“It isn’t money-making for the patient. They only get what they need.”

Politicians say they’re fighting Medicaid fraud. Their plan punishes patients, not the providers who steal millions. appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.