Issue Position: Natural Gas

Issue Position

Our state is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. We should not be penalized for the region we are in and the opportunities that exist.

Marcellus Shale and natural gas will provide an enormous amount of new jobs, new investments, and new opportunities for our state and allow all West Virginians to prosper. I will continue to work to embrace this new Marcellus Shale region as well as work to help create a stable, secure, and fair rules & regulations environment for those wishing to develop. Companies will not invest or create jobs in WV if we do not work with them and be willing to create a structure that provides stability. As a Delegate I will continue to sell WV to those companies thinking of locating a cracker plant in our state as well as encourage those downstream investments to happen here in the Kanawha Valley and across our shale region.

While I was chairman of Small Business & Economic Development Committee my committee was the first to pass such legislation that created the rules and regulations to allow for consistency and structure when drilling in the Marcellus region.

I see tremendous opportunities at our two-year and four-year schools to provide world class teaching and training to those looking to make a career change into this industry. I will help create laws to provide the tools and resources to allow those schools to expand into these new fields and encourage all companies to utilize WV workers when locating in our state.

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