By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Patrick Morrisey outlined his framework for West Virginia’s energy future in a speech in Wheeling Wednesday, pledging the state would develop a 25-year energy policy that aims to more than triple the state’s power generation capacity.
But although Morrisey promised the policy would be “grounded in science and common sense,” long-term energy and economic trends suggest it’s grounded in neither.
“The big question is who pays, and who is on the hook if these investments don’t pan out,” Brendan Pierpont, electricity modeling director at San Francisco-based climate policy firm Energy Innovation LLC said in response to Morrisey’s plan.
The plan calls for a fossil fuel-led effort in West Virginia to help the U.S. compete with more prolifically power-producing China and meet an expected sharp rise in national energy demand. Morrisey set a goal for West Virginia to increase its current, roughly 15-gigawatt capacity to 50 gigawatts by 2050.
