grow within our state. Our tourism commissioner, Chelsea
Ruby, is doing a wonderful job in making tourism blossom
in West Virginia, but I think we can do better there also, so
we are working on that proactively. Our Division of Natural
Resources, under the leadership of Stephen McDaniel, is also
doing a good job. We have wonderful state parks and forests,
and I want to make sure we promote those to the best of our
ability. The diversification of our economy is a huge goal, and
each of the commerce agencies has a role in that transforma-
tion. We have been dependent on the extraction industries for
nearly 100 years, particularly coal and now natural gas. We
have to make sure we diversify our economy so that a down-
turn in either one of those is not crippling to our economy.
Lastly, a goal I have personally is to spend more time cele
brating the existing industries we already have in this state.
We spend a lot of time trying to attract new industry, and
sometimes I’m afraid we overlook those businesses that are
already here that have made investments. In June I embarked on
a statewide listening tour designed to find out what we can do
to assist existing businesses in continuing to grow and prosper.
University and Marshall University, as well as our community
and technical colleges—to help us in those efforts.
WVE: Because West Virginia’s regions all have
unique challenges and opportunities, there is no
one-size-fits-all economic solution. Given that, tell
us about the struggle you face in developing and
enforcing a statewide economic plan.
EG: This issue is front and center for me. We cannot have the
same strategy for the coal counties that we have for the Eastern
Panhandle or the high-tech corridor or the Huntington area or
the natural gas-producing areas of our state. The challenges are
different for all those areas, so our strategy has to be regional,
no question about it. I will tell you that we are not there yet,
but we are working on it. A lot of the information we need for
this will come from the statewide tour I began in June. Once
we have the strengths, challenges, opportunities and needs of
those regional areas, we will put each one of those together and
then try to wrap them into a statewide plan. That will take us
a few months to accomplish, but that is one of the things that
desperately needs to happen.
WVE: What do you see as the most
successful or fastest rising industries
in the state right now?
EG: The automotive industry is one, and
many of those are Japanese companies. We
now have 21 Japanese companies doing
business in West Virginia with a total
investment of about $2.7 billion, employing
more than 4,000 West Virginia workers. We
are also seeing growth in the technology
industry. We have recently announced that
Infor and Intuit are coming to West Virginia.
Both of those are large, world-renowned
companies in the tech field. And, of course,
there is the energy sector. We are seeing some
growth in the coal business, especially in
Gaunch meets with leadership team members at AHF Products in Beverly, WV.
metallurgical coal. We have potential there
Photo by WV Department of Commerce.
to expand that and have coal-to-liquids
operations. Then, of course, there is the
petrochemical industry that’s a natural follower of the abundance
WVE: What can we do to be more competitive with
of wet natural gas we have here. Failure in that regard is not surrounding states?
an option. We have to get this right, and I believe we are on
EG: That varies by industry or segment. For example, in the
the verge of a renaissance in the petrochemical industry in the tourism and leisure industry, we are actually very competitive,
Kanawha River and Ohio River valleys.
and we have not been selling that. We have the best incentives
of any of the surrounding states and, frankly, better than most
WVE: How do you plan to accomplish the goal of states in the U.S., so we need to sell that better. So, I would
diversifying our economy?
say we are ahead in that sector. In the technology sector, we
EG: We are being intentional in our recruitment efforts. are woefully behind because we haven’t updated our incentive
Some of the specific industries we are targeting where we want packages. For that reason, Michael Graney has assembled a
to see growth and development are automotive, aerospace, team that includes members of the development office and
knowledge and technology, tourism and leisure activities, tax and revenue office and a few legislative leaders. They
biomedical, agriculture and the energy and petrochemical plan to have a package of new incentives ready to be offered
sectors. Those last two almost go without saying, but we are during the next legislative session. We need to work on our
still an energy state and will probably always be an energy state. tax structure and regulatory climate. Is the government too
We just need to make sure those industries are all they can be, intrusive? Do we have too many obstacles? We are looking at
especially when it comes to the midstream and downstream all of those every day. And once again, we need a workforce.
possibilities. We are also forging strong relationships with We are collaborating with our education partners to make sure
our higher education institutions—particularly West Virginia we have skilled workers available.
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