CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced funding from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Energy (DOE), Agriculture (USDA), and Transportation (DOT), as well as the National Science Foundation (NSF), to support public health, infrastructure initiatives, rural economic development, and academic research projects in West Virginia.

HHS FUNDING: Senator Capito, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS), announced resources from HHS to support health center clusters and sexual violence prevention in West Virginia.

“I am pleased to deliver support for our state that will strengthen our local health centers to help them provide high quality health care for families across West Virginia. I was also proud to secure resources that aim to prevent sexual violence in our communities and keep West Virginians safe. As Ranking Member of the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, I will always advocate for tools that will deliver better care and education in West Virginia,” Ranking Member Capito said.

DOT FUNDING: Senator Capito, Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, announced grants from the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for programs that will aid communities across West Virginia recovering from severe flooding. Senator Capito also announced a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for Yeager Airport in Charleston, W.Va. to purchase a new deicing vehicle.

“As communities continue to recover from flooding across our state, it’s important we help repair and rebuild West Virginia’s core infrastructure. As the Ranking Member of the EPW Committee, I am pleased that this FHWA funding will help repair West Virginia’s damaged roads and bridges. I am also excited to deliver resources through the FAA that will help keep travel moving safely and efficiently though Yeager Airport in snowy conditions,” Senator Capito said.

USDA FUNDING: Senator Capito announced grants from the USDA for programs that assist rural communities with loans for economic development and a program at West Virginia University (WVU) that will provide expertise to help small water utilities in states, including West Virginia, work more efficiently.

“I’m proud to help secure these resources that will help our rural communities grow their economies and help WVU continue as a leader in assisting local utilities in West Virginia and our neighboring states deliver quality service for their customers,” Senator Capito said.

DOE FUNDING: Senator Capito announced grants from the DOE for two programs that will help chemical innovation processes in West Virginia.

“These resources from the DOE will aid the future of research and development for major chemical projects right here in West Virginia,” Senator Capito said. “I was proud to secure these resources for our state and I’m excited to see the benefits that this funding will have in the area.”

NSF FUNDING: Senator Capito, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, announced several grants from the NSF, including its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), to support research projects at West Virginia University (WVU).

“As a national leader in key research and innovation, I was glad to secure grants for WVU for projects that have the potential to unlock new knowledge and tools that will help grow our economy in critical industries like health care and agriculture,” Senator Capito said.

Individual HHS award details listed below:

  • $1,933,932 in HHS funding to Community Care of West Virginia, Inc. (Rock Cave, W.Va.) to support health center clusters.
  • $1,928,163 in HHS funding to Shenandoah Valley Medical System, Inc. (Martinsburg, W.Va.) to support health center clusters.
  • $1,401,735 in HHS funding to Community Health Systems, Inc. (Beckley, W.Va.) to support health center clusters.
  • $1,073,338 in HHS funding to New River Health Association, Inc. (Scarbro, W.Va.) to support health center clusters.
  • $331,711 in HHS funding to the WV DHHR (Charleston, W.Va.) to prevent sexual violence (SV) perpetration and victimization.

DOT award details listed below:

  • $2,538,696 FHWA Grant to the U.S. Forest Service (Elkins, W.Va.) to repair roads and trails in the Monongahela National Forest covering Pocahontas, Pendleton, Tucker, Randolph, and Grant Counties that were damaged by heavy rain and flooding in June 2019.
  • $1,906,100 FHWA Grant to the U.S. Forest Service (Elkins, W.Va.) to repair road and culvert damages in the South Fork of the Cranberry River Basin caused by a heavy rainfall event on August 11, 2022.
  • $1,731,036 FHWA Grant to the U.S. Forest Service (Elkins, W.Va.) to repair roads, bridges, and trails at nine sites in the Monongahela National Forest in Pocahontas, Webster, Nicholas, Pendleton, Tucker, Randolph, Grant, and Greenbrier Counties that were damaged by heavy rain and flooding on August 31, 2018.
  • $500,000 FHWA Grant to the U.S. Forest Service (Elkins, W.Va.) to repair roads and bridges in the northern half of West Virginia caused by heavy rainfall on May 8-9, 2023.
  • $409,500 FAA Grant to the Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority (Charleston, W.Va.) to purchase a new deicing vehicle for West Virginia International Yeager Airport to keep it serviceable and safe during snow periods.
  • $218,784 FHWA Grant to the U.S. Forest Service (Elkins, W.Va.) to repair 25 sites, including roads, bridges, and trails, in the Monongahela National Forest caused by unusually heavy rain sustained on October 30-31, 2017.

USDA award details listed below:

  • $459,200 USDA Rural Development Grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to provide free customized outreach and technical assistance to small rural water utilities throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
  • $51,005 USDA Rural Development Grant to Woodlands Community Lenders, Inc. (Elkins, W.Va.) to capitalize a Rural Microloan Revolving Fund to make microloans and provide technical assistance to rural microentrepreneurs and microenterprises in Randolph, Barbour and Tucker counties.

DOE award details listed below:

  • $3,000,000 DOE Grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to develop a novel, electrified chemical reactor for simultaneous production of ammonia and ethylene.
  • $1,150,000 DOE Grant to Covestro LLC (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a program that aims to decarbonize conventional industrial depolymerization processes that break down recycled polymers into building block chemicals.

Individual NSF award details listed below:

  • $1,076,144 NSF grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a project titled "CAREER: Securing the Future of Electric Field Measurements in Space Physics."
  • $697,973 NSF EPSCoR grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a project titled "CAREER: Impact of MRI contrast agent design on nanoscale interactions with neutrophils and platelets."
  • $548,943 NSF EPSCoR grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a project titled "CAREER: Leveraging Data Science & Policy to Promote Sustainable Development Via Resource Recovery."
  • $84,673 NSF EPSCoR grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a project titled "Collaborative Research: Precedent-Altering Opinions and Collegiality on the Supreme Court."
  • $50,000 NSF grant to WVU (Morgantown, W.Va.) to support a project titled "I-Corps: Predictive algorithms to determine individual feed intake in beef cattle."

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