"I know that's how he makes his money, but he represents all of us, not just a few of us." "It doesn't take a genius to know you can't survive on coal, and needs to do better," Morgantown resident Whitney Lancaster told the Washington Examiner. They've pointed to his cozy relationship with "Big Coal" and claim all the money he's made could be clouding his judgment. Joe Manchin of putting his own financial well-being ahead of the state's and argue that pandering to nostalgia does more harm than good. While it's true that West Virginia's economic prosperity has long been tied to coal and global supply shortages have pushed prices for the fuel to record highs recently, residents and small-business owners are starting to accuse Democratic Sen. Claudio told the Examiner that the state needs to diversify and not rely solely on one industry. Juliana Claudio owns Arts & Antiques Marketplace in Fairmont, West Virginia. "The longer you wait, the harder it gets." "For so long it's been coal, coal, coal, but things have to change," Juliana Claudio, owner of Arts and Antiques Marketplace, a mixed-use retail space in Fairmont, West Virginia, told the Washington Examiner. Like Hannah, others told the Washington Examiner that it's imperative the state diversify as quickly as possible. "Coal is an industry that's dying, and it's tough because you look back at the past, or even 100 years in West Virginia, and you see a legacy of empty promises being made - empty promises by politicians that didn't lead to much." They're "caught in the middle and tired of being in the tug of war of politics," Hannah said. The swings in success and loss have made some West Virginians skeptical of what lies ahead. Now, only 13,000 coal-associated jobs remain in the state. West Virginia, the nation's second-largest coal producer, has lost 56% of its coal mining jobs since 2009 as power plants pivoted toward renewable energy sources. Much of the decline is the result of jobs in coal and steel being wiped out. The 2020 census found that West Virginia lost a greater percentage of its residents than any other state in the past decade and is now the only state that has fewer residents than it did in the 1950s.
These days, Hannah, the conservation coordinator for Coalfield Development, is back and working to diversify West Virginia so a new generation won't be forced to rely solely on the success of one industry. Picture of James Hannah's restaurant Lock, Stock and Barrel in Williamson, West Virginia. You're giving all that up because you're forced to." You're leaving behind traditions and music, culture, food, fellowship, and, really, identity. "You're leaving behind people that you loved. "A lot of folks in Appalachia have family cemeteries on their property, and you're leaving behind more than land," he said.
"When the jobs went, everything else collapsed."Īfter his father was laid off, the family moved to the northern end of the state for work like so many others.įULL STEAM AHEAD: WEST VIRGINIA'S PROGRAM TO PAY PEOPLE $12K TO MOVE TO COAL COUNTRY GAINS MOMENTUM "Everything was built to serve this one industry," he told the Washington Examiner. He watched in horror as vibrant towns turned into hollowed-out shells. But he was also there for the bad times, when jobs dried up and people were forced out of their homes, away from their families, and the only employment they had known. His father worked in the mines, just like his father had before him.Īs a child, Hannah saw the economic prosperity that the industry brought to his town. He was born and raised near the Billion Dollar Coalfield in the southern part of the state. He is the conservation coordinator for Coalfield Development and believes West Virginia needs to diversify in order to survive.įAIRMONT, West Virginia - West Virginia coal is in Jacob Hannah's blood. Jacob Hannah was born in Kelly Knob, West Virginia.
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