Charleston, W.Va. – January 6, 2026 – The Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia (GO-WV) appreciated the opportunity to provide comments on the development of Governor Patrick Morrisey’s Comprehensive Energy Policy, which were due December 23, 2025. Below is an excerpt from GO-WV’s full comments:
GO-WV represents the state’s upstream, midstream, and downstream natural gas and oil operators, service companies, and supply chain firms responsible for supporting tens of thousands of West Virginia jobs and billions in economic activity. We commend Governor Morrisey and the West Virginia Office of Energy (WVOE) for initiating a forward-looking framework that recognizes the essential role of reliable, affordable, West Virginia-produced energy in driving economic growth, enhancing grid stability and strengthening national security:
“GO-WV fully supports the Governor’s goal of more than tripling the state’s electric generating capacity to 50 GW by 2050,” the comments state.
“Natural gas will be indispensable in achieving this target. No other resource can be brought online as quickly, with the same scalability, affordability, emissions reductions or reliability benefits. West Virginia continues to hold some of the largest natural gas reserves in the United States, and the state’s strategic geography, storage capacity and pipeline network position it uniquely to build and support new natural gas-fired generation, including for baseload, intermediate, and firming needs.”
GO-WV recommends that the Comprehensive Energy Policy explicitly recognize:
- Natural gas as a backbone of the 35-GW growth expectation, particularly as federal data center development, industrial reshoring and manufacturing expansion require firm generation.
- The importance of state permitting transparency, ensuring developers can plan multi-year investments without delay or uncertainty.
West Virginia should lead the nation with an energy-development strategy grounded in abundant local resources while still pursuing innovations in emerging technologies.
