West Virginia’s coal culture runs deep. It is also evolving.
Walking on the two-lane road that loops behind the Longview plant – West Virginia’s newest and cleanest coal-fired power facility – Steve Nelson and his boss had what he describes as a “slow epiphany.”
“Why fight with this?” he recalls asking about the relentless competition from natural gas. Now, on the same road where that discussion took place two years ago, he shows off where Longview Power, an independent power producer, plans to build a natural gas-fired facility as well as a solar-power installation.
It’s a diversification
