By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Sean O’Leary was ready to explain the path toward economic renewal he had mapped out for a West Virginia coal community.
He didn’t get the chance.
The Wheeling native and senior researcher for the Ohio River Valley Institute, a nonprofit think tank, had in front of him his 33-page testimony and 14 exhibits filed on behalf of three clean energy advocate groups.
O’Leary had modeled a better economic future for Marshall County based on the revitalization of a community nearly 3,000 miles away. He cited a plant owner-funded $55 million economic transition plan for Centralia, Washington, finalized in 2011 to help that community deal with the closures of a coal mine and plant.
The stakes were high for Marshall County…