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Guest Opinion: Some information about carbon capture

I’ve lived in the Ohio River Valley for 70 years, in Jefferson and Harrison counties. For decades, the residents of the Ohio Valley have been paying for the aftermath of extractive industries. That “beautiful clean coal” Presidnet Donald Trump refers to took lives, and left a legacy of mine shafts and acid mine run-off. Taxpayers continue to foot the bills to plug orphan oil and gas wells and clean-up un-reclaimed strip mined lands. Recently, the Ohio River Valley was targeted to become a carbon capture and sequestration hub. This hub will consist of a series of pipelines and ...

Guest Opinion: The executive secretary’s office

I can think of few things that pass through the Public Service Commission, coming in or going out, that aren’t touched by the executive secretary’s office. This office handles all of our mail, whether coming in or going out. If a utility files a case with the Commission, that must be made through the executive secretary and must be addressed to the executive secretary. Those filing documents are processed in her office. From that office, new cases are disbursed through the building. In fact, a case cannot get started without the executive secretary giving it a formal tracking ...

Life is based on certain once upon a times …

Once upon a time ... there was a 19-year-old girl. One Friday, she decided to go to her local mall with her best friend. She didn’t know why, but there was something inside this girl that told her she had to get to the mall as quickly as possible. Again, she wasn’t sure why she had ...

Avoiding the potential political malaise

Herbert Hoover was well-liked in his day, praised for his engineering prowess which he used to tackle major worldwide problems following World War I. He was a natural choice for president in 1928. But then the 1929 stock market crash happened, followed by the Great Depression. None of these things were exclusively the fault of Hoover, and frankly most of what his successor – Franklin Roosevelt – did to end the Great Depression worked until World War II broke out and we flexed our production muscles. But Roosevelt is remembered for ending the Great Depression and Hoover is ...

Some odds and ends to close out August

It was a surprise to a lot of people Wednesday when crews showed up to begin paving Penco Road. It’s a project long in need, and there was word it was supposed to be done sometime in August, but no start date had been announced by the West Virginia Division of Highways. From talking to a few people this week, not even Weirton city officials were aware until some of them drove by the area and saw the work being done. We didn’t receive any notification until just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday – seven hours after the WVDOH said the project was supposed to begin. Thankfully, the ...

September is National Voter Registration Month

In September, the National Association of Secretaries of State and the WV Secretary of State’s Office celebrates National Voter Registration Month. Since National Voter Registration Month was started in 2002, we use every September as a timely reminder that the foundation of our democracy rests not just on the right to vote — but on the responsibility to be ready to exercise that right. In every election, whether local, state, or national, the power of the vote is the most direct way citizens shape the future of their communities and country. But that power begins with one simple ...