Issues

Data Centers: Huge warehouses full of computers to store, process, and manage vast amounts of data, are suddenly appearing everywhere as Artificial Intelligence is taking over. The computers and the systems needed to keep the computers cool consume vast amounts of energy. As a result, the national electricity grid now faces an unprecedented surge in demand for energy. Further, fans or water are used for cooling. Fans generate excessive noise pollution and water consumption puts a huge strain on local water supplies. Despite these problems, our state government wants to attract data centers to West Virginia. Why in West Virginia? Unlike other states that have been pushing back on such facilities, West Virginia’s governor is eager to have them. Last year the state passed a law that put giant data centers in their own regulatory districts, which are controlled by the state, effectively blocking all local objections to the projects. 

Multiple centers are under consideration
   • Fundamental Data in Tucker County, with a gas-fired power plant microgrid. See our Spring 2026 newsletter for an article about this proposal.
   • TransGas Development Systems in Mingo County. Go to West Virginia Watch for details. 
   • Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County. See the Clean View website for details. Further information on citizens' concerns can be found at WV MetroNews.
   • Penzance Bedington Campus in Berkeley County. Go to West Virginia Watch for details. 
   • QTS at Kearneysville. Comprises two data center buildings on 300 acres. The properties have access to a natural gas pipeline and two high-capacity electric transmission lines.
   • Google proposal in Putnam County. Go to West Virginia Watch for details. 

For further information go to the West Virginia Sierra Club blog page on this topic. Environmental recommendations for data centers have been compiled by the West Virginia Sierra Club chapter into a PDF document. 

Microgrids: To attract data centers, the WV legislature passed HB 2014, the microgrid bill. A microgrid is a private electricity generator independent of major centralized national grids. Microgrids that rely on renewable energy with battery storage are a good thing. But, this being West Virginia, the intention of HB 2014 is to keep our fossil fuel production and consumption alive and well. Fundamental Data received a permit to build a gas-fired plant solely to power its data center. The permit was appealed by three groups, including the WV Sierra Cub. The DEP ignored the expert testimony and ruled in favor of Fundamental Data. A second appeal to the WV Supreme Court has been filed. See our Summer 2025 newsletter for more information.

Data Centers that will draw their power from regional grids are putting a huge strain on existing infrastructure. Old coal-fired power plants like Fort Martin near Morgantown are being kept running beyond their life span. It’s a double whammy; old coal-fired power plants will be kept running at ratepayers’ expense, and the demand for fracked natural gas will increase in order to run these plants, which will impose noise and light pollution on nearby communities—a lose-lose deal. 

The big news this summer concern efforts by FirstEnergy to build a 1,200 MW gas-fired power plant at Fort Martin near Morgantown. FirstEnergy subsidiaries, MonPower and Potomac Edison, filed an application for a “Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity” with the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) in February seeking authorization to build the plant and to charge ratepayers for it.

Those costs include “Generation Projects Surcharge” (GPS) as well as “Abandonment Authority.” The GPS means that ratepayers start paying for it before they have even begun construction, and years before it starts generating electricity. The Abandonment Authority means that ratepayers reimburse FirstEnergy for all costs (plus enough to give the company a healthy profit) even if the utility must abandon the project before it is paid off. The WV PSC has been holding meetings to hear comments on this proposal. See News for information on the July 15 meeting in Charleston. For more information see our Fall Newsletter.

A number of major announcements of new fossil fuel power plants over the past 18 months suggest that West Virginia is going in the wrong direction in the global 
effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to the Fort Martin power plant noted above, there has been recent news of possible new power plants in Tucker, Mingo, Logan, Putnam, Berkeley, Jefferson, Doddridge, and Grant counties in West Virginia. Gov. Morrisey is promoting these and other fossil fuel developments in the state. For more information check the article in the Fall 2026 Newsletter.

Anyone who pays an electricity bill every month will know that it keeps going up. We are not just paying for the energy itself but for the entire infrastructure that generates and delivers it. Utilities have been allowed, for the past 100 years, to build the infrastructure and socialize the cost to consumers, who have no other options. Utilities are allowed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set those charges high enough to recoup every dollar they spend on building, plus a regulated rate of profit—usually about 10%. So they have no incentive to keep the costs down. And in West Virginia, a state dominated by the coal and gas industry, our state legislature is passing laws that require aging coal plants, that are more expensive to run, to remain in operation. The scale is tilted well away from cheaper, cleaner renewable energy.

The Ratepayers Bill of Rights states that all residents and businesses must be treated fairly and transparently by all electric, gas, and water utilities regulated by the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC). To learn more, go to West Virginians for Energy Freedom website or read the article in our Spring 2026 newsletter.

Corridor H is a major Appalachian highway project—part of the Appalachian Development Highway System—designed to create a high‑speed east–west route from Virginia across the mountains of West Virginia. Its proposed route near Parsons, Thomas, and the Blackwater Canyon and River has been strongly opposed because of its effect on wildlife in that area. In 2024 West Virginia’s Blackwater River made the American Rivers list of the ten most endangered rivers in the country. Action is needed to address the issues that are threatening what the late Senator Robert Byrd called the “crown jewel” of West Virginia rivers. A  draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) will come out in June, 2026 followed by a comment period. Watch for an action alert. Read about the Corridor H road proposal and its possible effects on the environment in our Summer 2024 newsletter. The Winter 2024 newsletter has an article on the Wardensville section of the road. More recent information about the Wardensville section of the road can be seen in our Summer 2025 and Spring 2026 newsletters. An article in our Fall newsletter reports on the problems involved in completing this project. Also see also the Friends of Blackwater Corridor H website, the Go North website and the Save Wardensville website for further information. 

The Roadless Conservation Rule protects large, roadless tracts of national forest lands from timbering and exploitation, thereby protecting wildlife, water quality, and recreational opportunities. It covers almost one-third of National Forest acreage, including critical habitats for over 1600 threatened and endangered plants and animals. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to repeal that rule, claiming it would allow more timber harvests and help fight forest fires, even though 90% of wildfires occur within half a mile a road. For more information on this see the Fall 2025 newsletter. Further information is available in the Sierra Club Roadless Rule Fact Sheet.

West Virginia has an estimated 50,000 abandoned oil and gas wells. They leak methane and other toxic chemicals, making them a climate menace, as well as polluting surrounding soil and water. It costs at least $100,000 to properly plug a single vertical well but the bond money posted to do so is only $5,000. Who wouldn’t forfeit the bond money rather than pay the full cost to plug the well? 

In the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions, Delegate Evan Hansen introduced House Bill 3415 - The New and Existing Orphan Well Prevention Act. It would require drillers to pay the cost to plug the well before drilling. But this common-sense bill didn’t move. Tell your legislators you support making drillers pay up front to plug their wells. To obtain more information on West Virginia's abandoned well problems go here. 

West Virginia’s Water Crisis: A Decades-Old Public Health Emergency. See more in our Spring 2026 newsletter.

Citizens Weigh In on PFAS at Workshops in the Panhandles. See more in our Winter 2025 newsletter.