Background Photo Courtesy of K.Gregg Elliot
The Energy State of West Virginia |
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West Virginia is one of the country's three most mining-reliant states in the United States, the other two being Alaska and Wyoming (as measured by the sector's percentage of their state's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)).
The dynamics of energy extraction in West Virginia is an example of the motorboat effect.The state is in the strange situation of simultaneously facing an energy boom in central and northern West Virginia and a coal bust in the south. West Virginia's overall economy as measured by the GDP grew at a healthy rate of 5.1% in 2013.(West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy)
Most of the United States' energy is generated from the burning of fossil fuels. Although West Virginia's economy relies on the mining of these fossils fuels there is no way around the high cost to the environment and the overall health and well-being of its residents.
This site will examine the extent of both coal mining and natural gas drilling within the state.