By Quenton King, West Virginia Watch 

This year was not the “start of a different path” that I had hoped for the West Virginia Legislature.  

In January, I wrote that environmental advocacy organizations in West Virginia came together to write a blueprint for environmental policy. It contains concrete steps that the Legislature, governor or state agencies could take to begin addressing real problems facing West Virginians.  

As I said then, West Virginians have been vocal about their frustrations regarding high energy bills, unsafe water, lack of flood protections and the fact that our lawmakers seem intent on sacrificing our communities at the altar of almighty data centers.   

We’re not alone in feeling that frustration. Many in the country are fed up with seeing their electric, gas and water bills continuing to rise. And they’re angry that corporations continue to get away with polluting our air and water because state and federal regulators turn a blind eye.  

With all of that in mind, this year West Virginia legislators had the chance to pick up the pieces that the Trump administration is dropping as it cuts environmental protections.  

So what did we get? 
 
Empty promises. After ramming the data center bill through in 2025, West Virginians made their voices loud and clear. They want a say when it comes to development in their communities. Some lawmakers have expressed some range of remorse or second thoughts. Even Senate President Randy Smith told his district that some changes are in order and that it was hard to vote against the governor’s bill last.  

But he made no such moves. The law creating the high impact microgrid and data center program sits unchanged. Local control is still nonexistent. Gigantic natural gas plants and diesel generators are coming for your children’s air and the data centers are coming for your grandchildren’s water.  

We’ve seen several lawmakers happily post on social media about selling their communities out for data centers. I encourage you to remember their names.  

While this unfolds, don’t expect to see your utility bills decrease anytime soon, either. The West Virginia Senate spent precious committee and floor time debating and amending bills to force Appalachian Power and First Energy to fire coal plants even when it wouldn’t be cost effective to do so. Even Public Service Commission Chair Charlotte Lane advised against a bill. Senators didn’t listen.  

That bill, which would effectively force power plants to burn coal no matter what, didn’t pass. However, lawmakers didn’t spend much time considering proactive ways to reduce power bills. Other states — even Texas — are deploying utility-scale solar and wind energy to provide cheap power quickly. Our state doesn’t seem to want to include renewable energy in our future, even though it is part of the rest of the country’s future. In legislation to essentially codify the governor’s 50 gigawatt by 2050 plan, lawmakers removed references to energy efficiency and renewable energy.  

It seems like every year we revive the same old aboveground storage tank dance between environmental advocates and the oil and gas industry. In 2014, lawmakers placed registration and inspection requirements on tanks that store toxic chemicals following the chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without water. Since then, the oil and gas industry and their lawmakers have chipped away at the requirements, removing tank after tank from required inspections.  

This year, industry and lawmakers engaged in a blatant smear and misinformation campaign. That misinformation included passing out pamphlets to lawmakers with incorrect information on the contents of some tanks, as well as claiming that it’s “mom and pop” shops that are under assault. Most of the tanks are owned by large, regional producers. Ultimately their bill was reduced in scope, but we all know they will try again.  

It was another year in which the worst didn’t happen, but we must ask for more than crumbs. I look at my colleagues in other states that are securing policy wins that will create meaningful improvements in people’s lives. There is another world that we can seize. That includes cleaner air, stable water infrastructure, protecting democratic norms, lower energy bills and more. But we have to demand more from our lawmakers to get to that world.