Mike Tony

The West Virginia Office of Energy will hold a public input session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, to take feedback and address questions on state programs allotted $88 million in federal dollars to incentivize home energy efficiency upgrades. The event is in-person and online, Wednesday at 2 p.m. and focuses on state plans for the United States Department of Energy-funded Home Energy Rebate Program enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act.

The United States Department of Energy has selected Form Energy for an award negotiation of up to $150 million. The move sets up Form Energy for a boost toward installing and operating a manufacturing line and hiring and training up to 600 employees in an enterprise it says will transform the nation’s electric grid. This month, Form Energy had already celebrated launching trial battery system production.

By Mike Tony [email protected] Boone County's TRUSTED news source. Click here to stay informed and subscribe to the Coal Valley News

United States Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., has spent a disproportionately high amount of his allotted budget on franked mail and printing and distribution while also spending a comparatively low amount on employee compensation. Mooney has a history of potentially impermissible personal use of staff, according to congressional investigators.

Witnesses for the West Virginia Public Service Commission's staff and Consumer Advocate Division urged changes in the vegetation management program for American Electric Power (AEP)-controlled Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power in a case in which they seek a $1.2 million annual revenue hike to support a surcharge for the program. The companies have a history of electric reliability struggles that their vegetation management program is intended to address.

Indiana-based 1st Source Bank has told a federal court talks toward settling its lawsuit seeking $4.5 million-plus from one of Gov. Jim Justice's coal companies, Bluestone Resources Inc., is possible. The bank cited the negotiation in asking the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia for a 30-day extension of a deadline to file a renewed motion for default judgment against Bluestone.

West Virginia's disproportionately heavy home energy burdens are the target of rebate programs being planned by the state Office of Energy, funded by the federal Inflation Reduction Act. The 2022 legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden has allotted $88.2 million for two home energy rebate programs the Office of Energy anticipates will benefit 10,000 state households.

West Virginia Public Service Commission staff slammed Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power for electric reliability struggles in a filing objecting to company proposals to weaken some reliability targets amid a history of failing to meet current targets. The targets apply to average outage duration and frequency for their West Virginia customers.

Atlantic Coast Pipeline developers face a new lawsuit amid reclamation work lingering over four years after the gas pipeline project was canceled. Upshur County landowners say Atlantic Coast Pipeline violated a right-of-way agreement by abandoning 523 feet of the pipeline, sediment control fabric and stakes in an unapproved place on their 137-acre property.

Environmental concerns have built over mining operations at Twin Falls Resort State Park and elsewhere in Wyoming County. Residents say area coalbed methane extraction has hurt their quality of life.