| Opening Note
The Well is where conversations happen at the Capitol — where legislators, lobbyists, and staff compare notes, test the mood, and figure out what matters. This briefing is built the same way: a fast, disciplined read on what is moving in West Virginia government before the day begins.
Rotunda Roundup
West Virginia’s governing reality this morning is increasingly about execution rather than announcement. The state has opened a new federal nuclear-development lane, while the Public Service Commission and courts are simultaneously defining the rules around electric generation, transmission, school-choice spending and corrections liability — decisions that will determine what gets built, who pays and how quickly major policy initiatives can move.
What Matters Today
West Virginia has entered a federal nuclear-campus initiative, opening a potentially significant new energy-development track without guaranteeing a project.
West Virginia signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Energy to become the sixth state participating in the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative. The program is designed to explore campuses that could combine nuclear fuel-cycle activities, advanced reactors, power generation, research and manufacturing; DOE estimates an individual campus could ultimately represent investment of up to $50 billion and nearly 25,000 jobs, although those are program-level possibilities rather than West Virginia-specific commitments. Additional agreements, private investment and regulatory approvals would be required before a campus could move forward.
Why it Matters: West Virginia now has a formal place in a federal process that could materially expand the state’s power-generation and advanced-manufacturing strategy.
What to Watch: Specific site evaluations, a hosting agreement, private-sector partners and the regulatory path needed to turn the memorandum into an actual project.
Source: WV News
The Public Service Commission has set a Sept. 28 hearing on rules implementing HB 2014’s power-generation mandates.
The PSC will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. in Case No. 26-0633-E-GI on rules stemming from the 2025 law governing generation planning and operation. Among the law’s provisions are requirements involving economic dispatch, coal inventories, generation-plant maintenance and upgrades, and PSC review before certain generating units may be retired.
Why it Matters: The rulemaking will translate one of the Legislature’s major energy measures into operating requirements with direct implications for utilities, power-plant economics and ratepayers.
What to Watch: Notices of participation are due Sept. 18, supplemental comments or testimony are due Sept. 23, and the public hearing follows Sept. 28.
Source: WV News
Putnam County commissioners will consider a citizen-backed resolution seeking more transparency and local involvement in Google’s proposed Buffalo data center.
Putnam County Commission President Andy Skidmore said commissioners expect to take up a resolution submitted by Putnam United at their Sept. 29 meeting, potentially with minor revisions. The citizen group formed after plans for Google’s Buffalo-area data center were announced and is seeking greater transparency and public involvement, although West Virginia’s new data center law does not give county commissions approval authority over the project.
Why it Matters: The resolution will not change the state-controlled permitting structure, but it gives local officials a formal opportunity to respond to growing concerns about how House Bill 2014 limits county authority over large data center developments.
What to Watch: Whether commissioners adopt the resolution Sept. 29, what changes they make and whether similar local resolutions emerge in other counties targeted for data center development.
Source: WV MetroNews
A second major Mason County data center project would bring a proposed $12 billion investment and demand 2.16 gigawatts of electricity from the existing power grid.
The West Virginia Department of Commerce has certified two high-impact data center projects in Mason County, including previously unannounced “Project Tamarack,” proposed by Starwood Digital Ventures, an affiliate of Florida-based Starwood Capital Group. Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Starwood plans to invest $12 billion in the project, which would be located about 20 miles north of the proposed Nscale Monarch Campus and would draw approximately 2.16 gigawatts from the electric grid.
Morrisey said Starwood would pay the necessary infrastructure costs and asserted the project would not raise rates for existing customers. The project is expected to use a closed-loop cooling system, although a specific water source has not been identified publicly. Starwood officials credited House Bill 2014 and its certified data center framework with helping attract the project to West Virginia.
Why it Matters: Project Tamarack significantly raises the scale of West Virginia’s emerging data center buildout and puts new attention on electric-generation capacity, transmission infrastructure, ratepayer protections and the state-local balance established by HB 2014.
What to Watch: The project’s specific location, power-supply and interconnection arrangements, infrastructure requirements, water plans and whether state regulators substantiate assurances that existing customers will be insulated from project-related electric costs.
Source: West Virginia Watch
The PSC has refused to delay the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link case, keeping the major transmission proceeding on its existing schedule.
The commission denied a joint request for roughly an 11-week extension after route revisions to the proposed 107.5-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission project. Testimony remained due Sept. 8, the evidentiary hearing remains scheduled for Oct. 26-Nov. 2, and the PSC is operating under a statutory timetable requiring a final decision by March 6, 2027.
Why it Matters: The order preserves a compressed timeline for one of West Virginia’s largest pending transmission cases despite continuing disputes over routing, notice and the opportunity for affected landowners to respond.
What to Watch: The evidentiary record on the revised route, landowner notice, project need, reliability benefits, environmental impacts and costs.
Source: WV MetroNews
Treasurer Larry Pack says the state will oppose the new effort to block universal Hope Scholarship expansion.
Pack responded Tuesday to litigation seeking to prevent additional scholarship disbursements to first-time applicants who became eligible through the program’s universal expansion. The lawsuit also seeks additional information about disbursements, while lawmakers have budgeted roughly $277 million for the program during the 2026-27 school year.
Why it Matters: The case directly tests implementation of the Hope Scholarship’s universal phase while the Legislature continues to debate the broader financing pressures facing public schools.
What to Watch: Any request for emergency injunctive relief, the court’s briefing schedule and whether litigation produces more detailed data on scholarship participation and spending.
Source: West Virginia Watch
The West Virginia Supreme Court is weighing whether “deliberate indifference” can stand as an independent state-law claim against corrections officials.
Justices heard consolidated arguments involving Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation petitions arising from inmate-death litigation. The central question is whether deliberate indifference may support a standalone common-law damages claim in West Virginia or whether such claims must proceed through established federal civil-rights law or other recognized state causes of action. The court took the matter under advisement.
Why it Matters: The ruling could materially affect liability exposure and litigation strategy in wrongful-death and jail-condition cases involving state corrections officials.
What to Watch: Whether the court recognizes a distinct state-law cause of action and how broadly any eventual opinion defines government liability.
Source: WV News
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says bipartisan federal permitting talks are closer to producing legislation than in previous rounds, although major details remain unresolved.
Capito, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said discussions involving Congress and the White House have advanced and could address environmental reviews, judicial timelines, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and historic-preservation requirements. No final legislative text or voting schedule has been announced.
Why it Matters: A federal permitting package could directly affect West Virginia energy, pipeline, transmission, manufacturing and large-load development projects.
What to Watch: Release of actual bill language, bipartisan co-sponsors, committee action and the White House’s position on a final package.
Source: WV MetroNews
State officials say West Virginia recorded declines in violent crime, property crime and overdose deaths in 2025.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey and State Police officials released figures showing reported violent crime falling 5.6%, from 4,310 incidents to 4,070, and property crime falling 13.5%, from 19,289 to 16,685. The administration also reported overdose deaths declined by 12%, or 99 deaths, during the year.
Why it Matters: The figures will become part of the policy baseline for legislative decisions on public safety, corrections, substance-use programs and opioid-settlement spending.
What to Watch: Additional underlying agency data and how lawmakers and the West Virginia First Foundation incorporate the trends into 2027 spending and policy priorities.
Source: WV MetroNews
West Virginia is opening a new Disaster SNAP application period for four counties affected by July flooding.
The Department of Human Services said residents who lived or worked in Lewis, Upshur, Ritchie or Pleasants counties when flooding struck July 21 may apply for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits from Sept. 21-25. The federally authorized program provides one month of food assistance to eligible households, including some that do not normally receive SNAP.
Why it Matters: The federal disaster authorization is moving from approval to direct household assistance, creating an immediate implementation responsibility for DoHS in four affected counties.
What to Watch: Application volume, benefit delivery and whether additional disaster-related assistance is approved or extended.
Source: West Virginia Department of Human Services
A Teamsters strike against The Beverage Market has passed 100 days with no agreement in sight, prolonging a labor dispute affecting beer and beverage distribution across much of West Virginia.
Drivers represented by Teamsters Local 175 remain on strike against the Charleston-area distributor as replacement drivers continue making deliveries. Union representative Steve Day said the parties have met at least three times with a federal mediator but remain far apart; The Beverage Market, which distributes products including Miller, Modelo and Red Bull in 30 West Virginia counties, did not respond to MetroNews for comment.
Why it Matters: The prolonged work stoppage has implications for West Virginia’s alcohol distribution system and retailers, particularly because some stores have declined deliveries made by replacement drivers.
What to Watch: Whether federal mediation produces renewed bargaining, how long replacement-driver operations continue and whether the dispute begins creating broader distribution or retail disruptions.
Source: WV MetroNews
What to Watch
- Utility proceedings accelerate Wednesday and Thursday. The PSC is scheduled to take up Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power’s Mitchell Power Plant cooling-tower certificate case Sept. 9, followed Sept. 10 by Hope Gas’ “Red Lines” proceeding involving proposed removal of gathering facilities.
- Oil and gas pooling returns to the docket. The West Virginia Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has multiple Antero Resources and EQT Production pooling matters scheduled Sept. 9 in Charleston.
- Legislative interim agendas remain the next Capitol signal. Lawmakers return Sept. 13-15, with committees covering finance, education, children and families, corrections, health accountability, energy and other policy areas; the Legislature’s schedule had not yet posted detailed agendas for the meetings.
- Substance-use planners are approaching a Sept. 11 feedback deadline. Public input on West Virginia’s 2027 Substance Use Response Plan closes Friday, giving agencies another data point as prevention, treatment and recovery priorities are set for the coming year.
- A federal air-permit deadline arrives Sept. 14. EPA lists Sept. 14 as the public petition deadline associated with the Title V operating-permit renewal for Steel of West Virginia.
Dates Ahead
- Sept. 9 — PSC evidentiary hearing at 9:30 a.m. in Case No. 26-0130-E-CN concerning Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power’s proposed mechanical-draft cooling tower at the Mitchell Power Plant; multiple Oil and Gas Conservation Commission pooling hearings are also scheduled that day.
- Sept. 10 — PSC evidentiary hearing at 9:30 a.m. in Case No. 26-0448-G-PC, Hope Gas’ proceeding involving proposed removal of portions of its “Red Lines” gathering system.
- Sept. 11 — Public feedback closes on West Virginia’s 2027 Substance Use Response Plan.
- Sept. 13-15 — West Virginia Legislature interim committee meetings at the Capitol.
- Sept. 14 — EPA public petition deadline for the Title V operating-permit renewal involving Steel of West Virginia.
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