WV environmental, industry advocates reflect on legislative session that favored coal

House Bill 2014 would require utilities to maintain their generating units to be able to self-generate power and achieve at least a 69% capacity factor — a measure of how often a plant runs at full capacity and a move geared toward getting utilities’ plants to double down on self-generated, coal-fired power. HB 2014 requires utilities to keep a minimum 30-day coal supply on site at their coal-fired plants.

The Senate took another pro-coal step Saturday by confirming an appointment by then-outgoing Gov. Jim Justice, a coal magnate, of West Virginia Coal Association president Chris Hamilton to the state Public Energy Authority, a state agency with broad powers that Justice rebooted in 2021 to aid in what he said would be “developing the next generation of coal plants.�

Hamilton did not respond to a request for comment.

The Public Energy Authority has largely been inactive since that reboot but has broad powers that include buying, leasing and issuing bonds to build electric power or natural gas transmission projects, and representing the state regarding “national initiatives� and “international marketing activities� that concern the mineral development industry.

In a Senate floor speech after that body passed HB 2014 Friday night, Helton claimed “green buses� are too costly.

“We can’t afford to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into research and development companies that focus on green projects that are unproven and unproduced,� Helton said.

But it is renewable energy that has proven more cost-effective than coal as the state Legislature has doubled down on coal in recent years.

Renewable capacity additions, especially solar, will continue to drive American power generation over the next two years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected in January.

Electric generators have reported they plan to retire more than double the coal-fired capacity in 2025 that they did in 2024 — 4.7% of the total U.S. coal fleet that was in operation at 2024’s end, the EIA said in February.

The cost-competitiveness of renewables has lowered power bills across the globe. New renewable energy capacity added since 2000 reduced the electricity sector fuel bill in 2022 by at least $520 billion, according to a 2023 report by the International Renewable Energy Agency, a global intergovernmental agency that supports countries in their energy transitions.

High fuel costs as well as expenses from required maintenance and pollution reduction improvements have made coal-fired power increasingly cost-prohibitive, helping fuel the energy transition.

West Virginia has had the nation’s highest percentage of electricity powered by coal by far in recent years, a period in which power bills in the state have climbed faster than in most states. State ratepayers faced a 90% climb in average residential electricity retail price from 2005 to 2020, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Only Michigan had a greater increase by percentage.

But the Legislature’s pro-coal bent and aversion to renewable energy persisted in this year’s legislative session, forcing environmental and community advocates into the familiar position of playing defense.

“Much of our work this year centered on holding the line,� West Virginia Rivers Coalition executive director Jennie Smith said.

‘Why are we having to go to green energy?’

Some measures designed to benefit the coal industry or penalize renewable energy didn’t make it to final passage.

Those include:

• Senate Bill 505, which would have established a fossil fuel-friendly formula for determining a utility’s rate of return for new electric generation that would emphasize the generation resource’s capacity value, or contribution toward meeting peak energy demand. SB 505 stalled in the House Energy and Public Works Committee after the Senate passed it in a 22-11 vote on March 27.
• SB 763, which would have prohibited public entities from entering into a power purchase agreement that exceeds five years in duration. Solar power purchase agreements wouldn’t have been expected to meet SB 763’s power storage requirement, jeopardizing such agreements like one Calhoun County Schools projected in 2023 would save $740,000 over the next 25 years with no upfront cost for planned installation of two solar arrays.
• SB 439, which would have repealed a tax break set in 2007 for wind power projects, a move a wind industry representative said would threaten over $1 billion in planned industry investments in the state.

Sen. Scott Fuller, R-Wayne, questioned the scientific consensus that climate change is real and driven by human activity during a Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee meeting at which the panel advanced SB 763.

“Why are we having to go to green energy? And we all know that the climate change ... is not real,� Fuller said.

The bill stalled on its third and final reading in the Senate.

Nuclear, community solar legislation stalled 

But other legislation that would have broadened West Virginia’s energy landscape also failed.

Designed to encourage nuclear development, HB 2205 would have expanded Public Service Commission jurisdiction to cover advanced nuclear reactors, which are not ready for large-scale deployment. Proponents of nuclear development in West Virginia viewed HB 2205 as a key measure toward that end to build on SB 4 of 2022, which repealed state code that frowned upon nuclear power.

The Legislature yet again passed on community solar legislation, this year in the form of HB 2419, sponsored by Delegate Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia and SB 34, sponsored by Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia. The bills would have enacted community solar, an arrangement other states have approved that renewable energy advocates say would slash energy costs and generate thousands of jobs.

Community solar arrangements allow customers to receive solar energy without having to install their own solar energy system. Customers typically benefit from energy generated at an offsite array.

Experts say community solar saves residential consumers about 10% in electricity costs. Proponents say it would open up affordable renewable electricity to low- and moderate-income customers and extend the benefits of solar to people who are unable or unwilling to have solar arrays installed where they live.

HB 2419 and SB 34 stalled in the House Energy and Public Works and Senate Energy, Industry and Mining panels, respectively.

HB 2418, another bill led in sponsorship by Hansen, would have authorized the Public Service Commission to require electric utilities to develop and implement plans for conservation and reduction of electricity use and mandate utilities to submit plans for reaching those goals.

“This is a much more affordable option than utility power,� West Virginia Citizen Action Group codirector Gary Zuckett said of community solar, bemoaning the latest failures of community solar legislation in the state.

WV Rivers Coalition: Rule change 'a major concern'

°Õ³ó±ðÌýWest Virginia Rivers Coalition’s Smith lamented the Legislature’s passage of HB 2233, legislation backed by the West Virginia Coal Association and West Virginia Manufacturers Association poised to allow increased water pollution.

HB 2233 is an environmental rules package that would allow removal of a drinking water use designation for surface waters in certain circumstances and risk a less precise indication of Ohio River fecal contamination.

The drinking water use designation removal, backed by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, was negotiated by that agency with the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, which has long fought for less stringent water quality oversight.

Manufacturers Association president Bill Bissett said his group is “thankful� the House of Delegates and Senate both approved HB 2233, noting it was supported by his group and the DEP.

But Smith called HB 2233’s drinking water use designation removal allowance “a major concern� that “sets a precedent that we don’t want to see repeated.�

“From a science and public health perspective, that change lowers water quality protections at a time when we should be reinforcing them,� Smith said.

Smith and Zuckett expressed gratitude that the Legislature didn’t pass SB 592, Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia-backed legislation that would have rolled back state oversight of toxic chemical-containing aboveground storage tanks.

After years of similar rollbacks, SB 592 would have further weakened regulations adopted through the 2014 Aboveground Storage Tank Act in response to that January’s Elk River chemical leak that contaminated the water supply of 300,000 people.

Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia president Charlie Burd didn’t address SB 592’s failure in an emailed statement, instead thanking the Legislature for advancing what he said are policies that would “strengthen West Virginia’s economy and energy future,� including through microgrid development incentives, streamlined permitting and expanded carbon storage capabilities.

Another Morrisey-requested bill the Legislature passed in addition to HB 2014 was HB 2002, which would set up a “one-stop shop� permitting dashboard for obtaining and renewing permits, licenses and business registrations and require the Department of Administration to coordinate permitting agencies in implementing the program.

Partisan resolution reflected Legislature's premium on coal  

Although it wasn’t adopted in the House of Delegates, Senate Concurrent Resolution 18 drew broad support from state lawmakers in the legislative session for its pro-coal provisions.

Led in sponsorship by Helton, SCR 18 reflected the makeup of the GOP-supermajority Legislature, naming former Democratic presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden as at fault for declining coal mining employment and productivity levels despite a steeper drop-off in the sector’s employment during President Donald Trump’s first term than in either Obama’s or Biden’s first terms.

SCR 18, which was approved by the Senate and advanced by the House Energy and Public Works Committee, would have required the Department of Commerce, the Public Energy Authority and the Office of Energy to strategize to “fully develop coal production and in-state coal consumption.�

The resolution would have required the agencies to consider:

• New coal-fired and coke plants and new coal-to-products operations
• Regulations needed to establish a program for coal-fired utilities to make regular coal plant upgrades and maintenance programs to run more efficiently and extend plant life
• Agreements to keep existing coal plants from closing prematurely
• Coal-fired utility regulations needed to prevent use of privatization for “closing coal-fired generationsâ€�

But even as SCR 18 languished on the House’s legislative docket Friday night, Helton said state lawmakers were succeeding by looking beyond “Green New Deal opportunities� in its economic development approach.

“[T]he citizens of West Virginia expect us to do the right things here,� Helton said.