U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D, W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R, W.Va., did an important this this week as they talked about the potential for the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub in West Virginia. They were optimistic, but avoided “This is a done deal that will immediately put our state’s economy on a rocket ship to prosperity” theatrics.
“We are not — and I think that people need to realize this — we are not in the final phase of a full thumbs up to move forward. So today, negotiations begin,” Capito said. “We are at the second critical juncture to which we can begin full implementation once we get the okay.”
How refreshing, to hear an elected official remind us economic good news does not mean we can all sit back, relax and wait for this year’s headline-grabber to start saving us.
“I think it’s going to be important for us to demonstrate not just as a whole state or region, but also as individual communities how we can benefit,” Capito said. “My understanding is it does play a role in terms of making sure you’re doing all the things that you need to do to secure the final funding that goes forward.”
In other words, we’ve still got to conduct ourselves as though we understand our economic prosperity depends on our own actions rather than the swooping-in of an outside element.
“Our entire state is going to benefit from this,” Manchin said. “We’ve got to be in a positive move. We’ve got to work through all the challenges we’re going to have, but we can overcome any of this and create so many more jobs and economic opportunity.”
Among the upcoming hurdles are permits to be granted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and whether there is housing (short-term, that is) for the thousands of workers who would build the project.
“Our little state is, again, punching way above its weight class,” Manchin said. “And we once again have the chance to be a leader in a groundbreaking energy industry that’s going to strengthen the nation’s energy and national security while reducing emissions and helping protect the environment that we love. That’s a responsibility.”
And our immediate responsibility it seems is to prepare our communities for the economic expansion and diversification we say we want, rather than waiting for the federal government to do all the work for us. If we do that, maybe we’ll be ready for what comes after the hub builders are gone.