Justice defends coal, gas industry appointees to revamped Public Energy Authority
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CHARLESTON -- Gov. Jim Justice defended the appointments of coal and natural gas advocates to the long-dormant Public Energy Authority while it was unclear whether the authority has an environmental protection advocate as required by law.
Justice announced the reactivation of the West Virginia Public Energy Authority on Saturday during a keynote address at the West Virginia Coal Association's annual conference at the Justice-owned Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs.
Speaking Monday during his COVID-19 briefing at the State Capitol Building, Justice -- reading from a statement he released over the weekend -- praised the reactivation of the authority.
"One thing we want to try to ensure is that West Virginia will continue to be an energy powerhouse for the entire world," Justice said. "By reactivating the WVPEA, the State will maintain real time, firsthand knowledge of the status of each power plant, their life cycle, and whether there are concerns of household power supplies being disrupted."
According to state code, the Public Energy Authority was created to promote "reliable and dependable markets for the state's coal, natural gas and other natural resources…" The authority is empowered to finance, build, and even operate coal and natural gas-fired power plants.
The authority consists of the secretaries of the Department of Commerce and Department of Environmental Protection and director of the Economic Development Authority (now the secretary of the Department of Economic Development), along with four public members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Justice appointed Jeff Allen, senior vice president at Pardee Resources in Hurricane; Charlie Burd, executive director for the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia; Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association; and Jeff Herholdt, former director of the state Division of Energy and former chairman of the Public Energy Authority under former governors Joe Manchin and Earl Ray Tomblin.
The Public Energy Authority will help with coordinating energy output of merchant power plants in the state to help the state's other power plants. Authority members will develop public policy for maintaining current coal-fired power plants, developing next-generation coal-fired plants, and policies to use all West Virginia's resources for power generation.
"In the country today --whether it be coal, oil, or natural gas -- our energy industry is under attack," Justice said. "We want to embrace our renewables. But anybody who believes that today, in America and the world, we can just say 'oh, let's get rid of coal. Let's get rid of oil and gas,' it is an absolute frivolous thought. Today if we did that, we would have more disruptions than you could possibly imagine."
While it was unclear when the Public Energy Authority was created, the authority was re-vamped in 2007 with the passage of Senate Bill 177. That bill created the Division of Energy within the Department of Commerce. Public members served four-year terms on the authority, though the last four members barely served two-three years. The last member, Mike Ross, was appointed in 2010 and served until 2012.
State code requires at least one of the members of the authority to be "a person with significant experience in the advocacy of environmental protection." It also says that "no more than two public members may be employed by or associated with any industry the authority is empowered to affect."
Hamilton is associated with the coal industry. Burd is associated with the oil and natural gas industry. Hamilton and Burd both are registered lobbyists for the coal and natural gas industries. Allen's business focuses, in part, in coal, oil, and natural gas. Herholdt, as executive director of the Division of Energy, advocated for policies for multiple sources of energy.
Justice said he was not sure if there was already an environmental protection advocate already on the authority, but he was not opposed to appointing someone else in the future to fulfill that role.
"Fair representation is there," Justice said. "From the standpoint of someone who is leaning more towards the environment-side, it's always good to have the information and bounce off different folks."
As for the four men who were appointed, Justice defended their selection. He believes the new appointees to the authority will make fair decisions.
"These people are good people," Justice said. "These are rational thinkers. They're not one-sided thinking people. The biggest thing we have to absolutely always do in West Virginia is we should be very proud of who we are … we should really be proud of our coal miners and our gas workers in every way. We should try to perpetuate their industry."
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com