(Reporter's Notebook by Steven Allen Adams - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I’ve said it before, but energy is going to be a huge issue heading into the 2026 legislative session in January. But walking around the Governor’s Energy Summit last Thursday, I didn’t get a sense of excitement.

That was very clear during Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s remarks last Thursday morning. It had already started off on a somber note with the announcement of the death of miner Steve Lipscomb after rescuers found him in a Nicholas County mine.

Morrisey pivoted to his energy economic development announcements that have come to fruition since October, but many of the applause breaks that seemed to be written into Morrisey’s speech didn’t garner the applause he expected.

One announcement from Morrisey was a partnership between Kindle Energy, GE Vernova, Blackstone, and Wolf Summit Energy to invest $1.2 billion to build a 625-megawatt natural gas power plant in Harrison County. But I found out from talking to people in the room that there was nothing new about this project, which has been in the works for years.

The FirstEnergy $2.5 billion investment in a 1.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant and additional 70 megawatt utility-scale solar power plant was announced in October, though I had heard of this project before Morrisey announced his 50 by 50 plan to triple baseload electric capacity in the state from 16 gigawatts to 50 gigawatts by 2050. Morrisey announced the 50 by 50 plan back in August. But FirstEnergy doesn’t even know where it is putting this plant yet, let alone beginning to move dirt.

Morrisey also talked about the Diversified Energy announcement from the beginning of October, where the company will commit $70 million over the next 20 years to the Mountain State Plugging Fund with up to a $650 million financial protection over time. The Mountain State Plugging Fund was created to ensure that Diversified Energy’s natural gas and oil wells are safely plugged and retired without expense to West Virginia’s taxpayers.

All of these announcements (plus two announcements of business expansions) are great but not particularly exciting to a room full of energy executives who already knew about these announcements. And while it is great that only one of the projects announced includes direct state funding, are we not going to need to use state economic development loans in order to compete with neighboring states, such as Pennsylvania and Ohio?

Morrisey said that more economic development announcements are expected in the coming weeks, which is pretty common for governors getting ready for their annual State of the State speeches.

“The announcements you’re going to hear…are the tip of the iceberg,” Morrisey told summit attendees last week. “It’s by working on the fundamentals, not throwing money on the wall and hoping it’s going to stick.”

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One thing that some attendees were taken aback by were comments from Morrisey that seemed to pour cold water on economic development efforts by former governor (and now U.S. Senator) Jim Justice, lawmakers, and other state officials.

“I said that we’re going to be leading on energy policy, but it is something different to actually see it right in front of you, to be accountable and to make sure you know that we’re not just hot air,” Morrisey said. “I don’t announce things unless they’re going to happen. I want you guys to get used to that.

“You have a lot of skeptics who want to do things the way they were done in the past,” Morrisey continued. “We are not going backwards. West Virginia is going to soar, and we’re going to do it based on the fundamentals. All these people that are talking about, ‘oh, this is not how you do it.’ No, this is the right way to do it.”

Now, it is pretty easy to point to economic development announcements that didn’t come through over the years. The $83.7 billion China Energy deal, the Virgin Hyperloop certification center, anything with “Omnis” in the business name, etc. But a number of major Justice-era economic development announcements are underway, such as the Nucor steel mill project, Form Energy, and BHE Renewables/TIMET.

Go back even further. Remember the Braskem natural gas cracker plant under former governor Earl Ray Tomblin? Remember the frozen food manufacturer that was supposed to come to Parkersburg when Joe Manchin was governor?

Economic development and recruiting companies to the state is hard work, especially given the state’s many challenges with low workforce participation, education levels, etc. And yeah, sometimes the state leverages projects with taxpayer dollars and those projects fall through. It is important for state officials and lawmakers to constantly review these projects and for the press to hold the state accountable.

But I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for Morrisey to throw stones, especially when some of those officials are still around. Justice is on Capitol Hill now and still sensitive to Morrisey criticisms. You had several former and current legislative leaders at the Energy Summit who worked hand-in-hand “at the speed of business” with Justice to quickly push through economic development packages, as well as Secretary of State Kris Warner when he was head of the Economic Development Authority.

Even leaders of West Virginia University, Marshall University, and other higher education officials were involved in cross-country efforts to meet with major business and industry leaders to help sell the state as a good place to do business. Morrisey should be working with all of these people, not disparaging their efforts.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.