by Ben Hunkler | Feb 14, 2022 | Blog Posts, Clean Energy, Hydrogen & Carbon Capture, Shared Prosperity
The newly announced initiative to develop a carbon capture and hydrogen hub in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia is a gamble in the guise of opportunity. The project, announced last week by a partnership of major oil and gas companies, would deploy costly,...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage
Congress made an historic investment in coal abandoned mine land (AML) cleanup with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). In the coming months, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) will issue the official guidance...
by Eric Dixon | Feb 7, 2022 | Abandoned Mine Lands, Blog Posts, Repairing the Damage, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
In November 2021, Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which made historic investments in the reclamation of land and water damaged by the coal industry before 1977. We have found that while the bill will only address about half of...
by Sean O'Leary | Jan 27, 2022 | Blog Posts, Hydrogen & Carbon Capture
The recent movie, “Don’t Look Up”, parodies our response to the climate crisis and, in particular, political leaders whose attitude seems to be, “Sure, we’ll all die if we don’t change . . . but can’t we do it in a way that takes care of me and my donors?” For those...
by Ben Hunkler | Jan 20, 2022 | Blog Posts, Natural Gas
A recent story in the Columbus Dispatch reported that “two small eastern Ohio counties in the heart of Ohio’s natural gas country posted the biggest economic gains among the state’s counties in 2020” and that “other counties in Appalachia also were among...
by Joanne Kilgour and Eric de Place | Dec 21, 2021 | Blog Posts, Hydrogen & Carbon Capture
When President Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure bill into law, he authorized billions of dollars in new federal spending to support the development of hydrogen and carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS) across the country. Although the spending...
by Ben Hunkler | Dec 21, 2021 | Blog Posts
As 2021 draws to a close, the Ohio River Valley Institute is looking back with gratitude and excitement on our first full year of operation. We’ve made some notable strides in the past twelve months toward addressing Appalachia’s most significant challenges, tracking...
by Eric de Place | Nov 29, 2021 | Blog Posts, Clean Energy, Shared Prosperity
Bitcoin is on the verge of going mainstream, with some companies — and even countries — recognizing the cryptocurrency as legal tender. The market cap of Bitcoin now surpasses both Facebook and Tesla, and it also recently became the 13th largest currency...
by Ben Hunkler | Nov 23, 2021 | Blog Posts, Petrochemicals & Plastics
Four years ago, petrochemical industry boosters predicted a new wave of industry would roll across the natural gas-producing region of Appalachia, spurring billions of dollars in capital investments and a veritable economic renaissance in a place that sorely needed...
by Sean O'Leary | Nov 19, 2021 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
January 25, 2022 may become the day the music died for a number of the remaining Appalachian coal-fired power plants. That’s when PJM, the regional transmission operator (RTO) that manages wholesale energy markets in all or parts of 13 mid-Atlantic and midwestern...
