CHARLESTON, WV — Governor Jim Justice’s Chief of Staff, Brian Abraham, shared the following statement today regarding the decision not to move forward with a Special Session initially planned to address a major economic opportunity in Southern West Virginia.
"For the past three years, the Governor has been pushing his team to get economic development projects into Southern West Virginia. We have seen so much growth and investment in many parts of the State, but the Governor specifically directed us to get big projects going in the southern coalfields. All of our people deserve opportunity.
A few weeks ago, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself. A major company that currently does business in West Virginia, together with one of our utility companies and leadership from both the House and Senate, approached us with a proposal to change one section of Code to enable the investment of tens of billions of dollars--without any request for public funds--in Southern West Virginia.
Tens of billions of dollars of investment in an area that too many people have written off. Tens of billions of dollars for the hardworking people who still call Southern West Virginia home. Tens of billions of dollars of economic activity to infuse into the community, provide tax dollars for schools, and create great jobs during construction and once built.
Given the Governor's coaching to all of us, we of course tried to make that happen. We met with Legislative leadership to plan a one-day special session right on the front end of already-scheduled interim meetings. One day. One bill. One enormous opportunity missed.
The Governor thoroughly instructed us to make certain that this was going to positively impact our miners and not hurt thermal coal jobs in the state. That was a mandatory requirement by Governor Justice.
A Special Session would have given the parties an opportunity to demonstrate and educate to the members of the Legislature how this would have benefited our coal industry as well as created opportunities that were previously not available in our state.
However, it became apparent that it would be better to wait until the Regular Session to give more opportunity to assure there's no negative impact on coal jobs. Anytime we can attract new business to West Virginia, it's worth trying to see if it can be done. But for now, it's better for the new Legislature take this up.
We pray that people will continue to work hard and bring this project to Southern West Virginia. We truly hope there's a viable way forward. Governor Justice will always believe Southern West Virginia deserves every chance it can get, because the people there are worth it."
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