Mountain State Matters

There was an article in the State Journal this morning about the possibility that green jobs may be coming to West Virginia.

I’m not entirely sure why this didn’t happen a couple of years ago…the state is full of open space (albeit most of that space is on mountains) and definitely needs the economic development. The State Journal said that most of the jobs that will be coming only require a high school diploma, which in my mind means that the 75.2 percent of the state with a high school education should be able to take advantage of these jobs.

The article mentioned three jobs specifically: wind turbine technician, recycling center worker, and hybrid car manufacturer.

Dave Groberg of Invenergy said his company expects to employ about 20 people at salaries of about $35,000 at the facility it proposes for Greenbrier County.

“In some parts of the country where you have a more advanced industry and have a lot more projects, like west Texas, we are starting to see training programs crop up at local technical colleges,” Groberg said. “West Virginia certainly has the potential to create a decent-sized wind industry,” one that would justify training programs.

Ironically, running right next to this story in the Journal was another one about how green jobs will require new skills.

The lesson here is that if West Virginia wants to take advantage of the industry, the state will have to start providing the necessary skills to students in its vocational and technical schools. Otherwise, the companies will go back to West Texas, where there’s definitely a lot more flat land.

Photo: Friends Friends Friends

Friday’s news that Skybus, a Columbus-based low-cost airline, had filed for chapter 11 and would no longer be providing service came as a surprise. Just a month ago, there was excitement in Charleston when the Charleston and central West Virginia visitor’s bureaus voted to each give $500,000 to help bring Skybus to Yeager Airport.

In a story that aired on CBS Channel 13, County Commissioner Kent Carper said that he hoped the money that had been invested would be returned.

“We knew we could lose it all, but we didn’t know it was on such shaky ground,” he said.

What are the ethics involved here? When Skybus was taking West Virginia’s money in early March, the airline had to already have had an inkling that their financial status was not the most stable. Weren’t there annual reports, shareholders reports, etc. available?

As it turns out, the Gazette reported that the money invested will be returned. Charleston definitely needs a low-cost airline (round trip tickets from Chicago to Charleston, a roughly 1 1/2 hour flight usually start around $275), but with rising fuel costs (ATA also went belly-up last week) it doesn’t seem like they’ll be getting one any time soon. Now there’s a spare $1 million floating around…any suggestions?

Photo courtesy of marada