by Ben Hunkler | May 10, 2022 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
For generations, Appalachia has powered the nation’s industrial growth with our region’s bountiful reserves of coal, gas, and oil. Today, our communities are suffering the effects of that legacy of extraction—air and water pollution, rampant greenhouse gas emissions,...
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 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 Ted Boettner | Sep 29, 2021 | Reports, Shared Prosperity, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
Click here to view and download the full report. For much of its history, the Appalachian region has lagged the rest of the nation in measures of economic prosperity, health, education, and infrastructure. The region, especially central Appalachia, has been rich in...
by Ben Hunkler | Aug 31, 2021 | Blog Posts, Clean Energy, Fair Democracy, Shared Prosperity
The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) launched one year ago, in August 2020, as an independent, nonprofit think tank designed to equip the region’s residents and decision-makers with the policy research and practical tools they need to advance long-term solutions to...
by Ben Hunkler | Jul 21, 2021 | Shared Prosperity, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
There are many parallels between economically struggling communities in Appalachia and Centralia, Washington, a chronically depressed coal town that lost its coal mine and is now losing its coal-fired power plant. But in Centralia, the economy, jobs and population are...
by Ted Boettner | May 7, 2021 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
Several weeks ago, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) released their plan for “Preserving Coal Country” amid national policy efforts to address climate change and regrow the economy with large-scale infrastructure investments. The UMWA plan listed several...
by Sean O'Leary | Sep 23, 2020 | Blog Posts, Research, Shared Prosperity
Earlier this year, the Belomar Regional Council, an economic planning and development council comprised of governments in Belmont County Ohio, and Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties in West Virginia, submitted an updated Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to...
by Ted Boettner | Sep 21, 2020 | Blog Posts, Shared Prosperity, Shared Prosperity and Clean Energy
Workers in West Virginia should be making $117,000 a year on average — and they would be too, if only we had pursued the same economic strategies we had in the 1970s. Instead, we’ve taken power away from workers, lowered taxes on the wealthy, and designed...
