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Morrisey kicks off Governor’s Energy Summit with energy agenda

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey , the Republican candidate for governor, speaks Tuesday morning at the 2024 Governor’s Energy Summit in Charleston. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — He may only have over two months left in his final term, but Attorney General Patrick Morrisey assured energy industry leaders that the state will continue to fight federal overreach in 2025 and remove cumbersome regulations if he is elected governor next week.

Morrisey, a Republican candidate for governor, presented an energy litigation overview Tuesday morning at the 2024 Governor’s Energy Summit at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. But much of Morrisey’s remarks focused on what his energy and economic agenda will be.

“There’s an opportunity for West Virginia to be known as the energy state in America, and I’d like to be known as an energy governor,” Morrisey said. “There’s a lot that we need to do to make that happen. The good news is we start from a position of strength, not only in terms of where we are ranked in the energy marketplace, but in terms of the background of the work we’ve done to lead the way on the big issues of the day.”

Morrisey said one of the first things he will do if elected governor is conduct a thorough review of state legislative rules and agency regulations that make West Virginia uncompetitive with nearby states when it comes to energy production, economic development, and workforce development.

“We’re going to be looking at every single major regulation that West Virginia has. We’re going to be comparing them to every state that we touch,” Morrisey said. “If I’m fortunate enough to be elected as your next governor, I intend to spend every day and night thinking about that.”

“We’re going to go in and we’re going to be very aggressive. We’re not going to accept the status quo,” Morrisey continued. “All of it is designed to drive workforce participation and population and to eliminate the barriers that limit why people want to live, work, and play in the State of West Virginia, or barriers that limit the flow of capital into our state because we know we need significant amounts of investment.”

Earlier this month, the U.S Supreme Court declined an application for a stay of the latest attempt by the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as litigation continues.

The EPA released a new regulation in May that would require coal-fired and gas-fired power plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2039, moving up a previous requirement by one year. Plants could also utilize underground carbon capture and sequestration to meet the 90% requirement, though companies are concerned about the cost of compliance.

“Make no mistake about it, the Biden-Harris administration wants to end the use of coal-fired power plants, period,” Morrisey said. “Think about what that does to West Virginia. We’ve been leading the charge to stop that fight, and it’s been a long, long fight.”

West Virginia, more than two dozen states and several energy companies filed suit in May against the EPA in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit seeking to block the new EPA rule. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in a brief explanation released on Oct. 16, said there was time for the appeal court to rule before the new rules would go into effect.

“In my view, the applicants have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits as to at least some of their challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule,” Kavanaugh wrote. “But because the applicants need not start compliance work until June 2025, they are unlikely to suffer irreparable harm before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decides the merits.”

The Attorney General’s Office secured two victories against the EPA before the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 and 2022 over the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and in defense of the Trump-era Affordable Clean Energy Rule.

“We’re in litigation right now in the D.C. circuit, and we’re pushing back against this,” Morrisey said. “I think we’ve got 0-5 with the D.C. circuit, but we’ve won the U.S. Supreme Court when it counts, and we’re to keep doing that again and again. We have to shelve that rule or it will lead to catastrophic consequences.”

The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office has submitted comments regarding proposed rules limiting for methane emissions, filed suit challenging the EPA/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, and joined other states in challenging a Biden administration emissions rule on motor vehicles meant to speed the transition to electric vehicles.

Morrisey, who was first elected as attorney general in 2012, is nearing the end of his third four-year term. Morrisey won the May GOP primary for governor. Gov. Jim Justice is limited to two terms and is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Joe Manchin, I-W.Va.

Morrisey faces Democratic Huntington Mayor Steve Williams in the general election on Tuesday. Voters will decide next week whether two-term Republican State Auditor J.B. McCuskey or Democratic Wheeling attorney Teresa Toriseva will succeed Morrisey in 2025.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 60% of U.S. electrical generation in 2023 came for fossil fuel sources, such as coal, natural gas and oil. Of that, coal made up 16.2%, and natural gas made up 43.1%.

According to the state Public Energy Authority, West Virginia has nine coal-fired power plants accounting for 88.9% of the electricity generated in the state and five natural gas-fired plants accounting for 4.9% of the electricity generated in West Virginia.

The state Department of Economic Development’s Office of Energy puts on the annual conference, bringing together leaders in the coal, natural gas, and renewable energy industries. Panel discussions included updates on the ARCH2 and the regional hydrogen hub, expanding coal exports, creating new markets for West Virginia energy production, and the future of nuclear energy.

The energy industry celebrated Manchin Tuesday evening for his contributions in protecting the state’s coal and natural gas industry, as well as supporting domestic energy production. Manchin, who chairs the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, will retire from the U.S. Senate at the end of the year.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., today will be presented with the inaugural West Virginia Women in Energy Award. Capito is the ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and could become the chair of the committee if Republicans take the majority in the Senate after next week’s elections.

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