In The News

PARKERSBURG — A U.S. Senator from West Virginia was in Parkersburg on Monday touring a health facility and a farming operation. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., visited Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital and the West Virginia University at Parkersburg Riverhawk Farm to see how both operations work and what support she could provide in Washington, D.C. Encompass Health Rehabilitation helps patients recover from serious brain injuries and other complex neurological... Read More

The Biden administration’s push to speed up the process of getting more electric vehicles (EVs) on the roads is drawing sharp criticism from both West Virginia U.S. senators. Proposed new auto pollution limits through the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) would require that about two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the nation to be electric by 2032. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., called the proposed new standards “misguided,” not reflecting some realities of the... Read More

More and more students are turning away from college and toward apprenticeships. Today, the nation’s colleges and universities enroll about 15 million undergraduate students, while companies employ about 800,000 apprentices. But federal data shows that in the past decade college enrollment has declined by about 15%, while the number of apprentices has increased by more than 50%. Apprenticeship programs are increasing in both number and variety, Robert Lerman, a labor economist at the Urban... Read More

WEIRTON, W.Va. (WV News) — Weirton, once the epicenter of West Virginia’s steel industry, is on the verge of beginning a project that developers say will attract billions of dollars in private investment and ultimately create thousands of new jobs. Officials with the Frontier Group of Companies, the developers behind the planned Weirton Frontier Crossing development, recently celebrated news they had received $1.5 million in congressionally directed spending thanks to U.S. Sens.... Read More

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - US Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R - W.Va.) visited West Virginia University at Parkersburg on April 24. Capito met with WVUP’s President and took a tour of Riverhawk Farm. WVUP operates the farm, where students in its agriculture program help grow potatoes sold to the West Virginia Potato Chip Company, which makes Mister Bee Chips. Senator Capito said she was pleased with the agricultural work she saw at WVUP. “There’s a real focus on American... Read More

West Virginia dignitaries gathered in Institute on Monday to formally christen the US Methanol plant now in service there, which they called the first of its kind in the state. According to company officials, the $250 million plant is now operating at about 95% capacity with 54 employees and has a goal of employing 60 total when it reaches full capacity “later this year.” Sixty percent of its current employees are local. Dubbed “Liberty One,” the plant that now stands in... Read More

Two bills dealing with the nation’s recycling and composting infrastructure have been reintroduced to Congress for a second year, drawing praise from several industry organizations.  The Recycling and Composting Accountability Act and the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act of 2023 were reintroduced on bipartisan lines by Democratic Senator Tom Carper, Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Republican Senator John Boozman.  Last year, both... Read More

A natural gas pipeline under construction in Appalachia got the thumbs up from a Biden administration official. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm wrote to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week in support of fast approval on any further action on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The 300-mile pipeline would transport 2 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas from northern West Virginia to the mid-Atlantic. It’s currently held up in federal court. The Fourth U.S. Circuit... Read More

INSTITUTE, W.Va— A project that has been in the works for around six years now, the methanol manufacturing facility in Kanawha County is finally complete, and it’s the first of its kind to get established in the Mountain State. Governor Jim Justice, Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, among other West Virginia and U.S representatives joined officials from KKCG, a Czech Republic and Switzerland-based investment and innovation company to recognize the official opening of US... Read More

INSTITUTE, W.Va. (WV News) — West Virginia officials attended a ceremony Monday celebrating the state’s first methanol production facility. US Methanol have invested more than $250 million into its Liberty Once facility in the Institute Industrial Complex, which will employ 56 workers and produce around 200,000 metric tons of methanol annually. “US Methanol’s investment comes at an integral time for our country as we work to reach our petrochemical, energy and... Read More

West Virginia lays claim to Lily’s Place, the nation’s first medical center specifically created for infants born from addicted parents. The Huntington facility is now expanding their services to support these growing infants’ siblings and families. Since 2014, Lily’s Place has served more than 350 babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). With Huntington having one of the highest opioid addiction rates in the country, organizers found the number of babies born... Read More

Both Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are pushing President Joe Biden to come to the negotiating table to iron out a deal on the nation’s debt limit. “We can’t default on our national debt,” Capito said Thursday during a virtual press briefing. “But we must have some concessions on spending.” She said Biden last met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Feb. 1 on dealing with the debt limit, which will have to be raised, but so... Read More

KENOVA/HUNTINGTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) traveled to Wayne and Cabell counties where she made visits focused on manufacturing, economic development, child health care, and addiction recovery. First, Senator Capito visited the Braskem facility in Kenova, W.Va., where she met with national leadership and received a tour. Braskem is the largest petrochemical company in the Americas and the world’s leading biopolymer producer, producing 529... Read More

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Huntington Friday for a new addition on to the youth counseling facility, Lily’s Place Children’s Center. U.S Senator Shelley Moore Capito paid a visit to the ceremony, welcoming the third expansion project to be made to Lily’s Place that will focus on youth and their families better being equipped in navigating their mental health. Funding for the new addition has come through a Congressionally Directed... Read More

The battle over the regs: The emissions regulations, as we wrote last week, are a sizeable regulatory stick meant to work alongside the enlarged carrots of tax credits for consumer electric vehicle purchases, all of which serve the administration’s goals of rapidly expanding EV sales. Sen. Ed Markey, who chairs the Environment and Public Works air and climate subcommittee, praised the new proposed rules during a hearing Tuesday and said the suite of EV actions would help... Read More

The hydrogen rush is on.After Congress provided $9.5 billion in funding through the 2021 public works legislation and tax credits through a 2022 climate law, politicians in Washington and U.S. states are jockeying to land federal funding for hydrogen technology demonstration projects.Together, these pillars have triggered broad interest in hydrogen, a ubiquitous element long held out, much like nuclear fusion technology, as a potential energy Shangri-La, providing stable power with scant... Read More

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Huntington Friday for a new addition on to the youth counseling facility, Lily’s Place Children’s Center. U.S Senator Shelley Moore Capito paid a visit to the ceremony, welcoming the third expansion project to be made to Lily’s Place that will focus on youth and their families better being equipped in navigating their mental health. Funding for the new addition has come through a Congressionally Directed... Read More

Funding totaling $2,710,000 is going to both Hardy County and the Eastern Panhandle town of Romney as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development Grant Program. The program is part of a commitment by the USDA to “improve the economy and quality of life in rural America,” according to the agency’s website.  “The funding from the USDA will help more West Virginians reliably access clean water and make distribution more efficient for all... Read More

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said she is “slightly encouraged” about the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) getting back on track. Capito said during a virtual press briefing Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service approval of a final environmental impact statement (FSEIS) to cross the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe County and Giles County, Va., is encouraging, but the court has shot those down before. Capito was referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in... Read More

The last few years have taught us all about the importance of supply chains. From the production of consumer goods to the stability of our economy and the health of our environment, sound supply chains strengthen our nation and keep our economy moving forward. It is essential that our nation make the investments necessary to capture recyclable materials so they can be remade and help to address gaps in our supply chain. In doing so, we will be creating a more sustainable and circular economy. As... Read More