Morgan King is WVEC’s vice president and the climate and energy manager for WV Citizen Action Group.
By Morgan King
It’s been over six weeks since the West Virginia Legislature adjourned the 2026 Legislative Session sine die. Yet the session’s impact, or really lack of impact, remains. Data center policy and proposals statewide were at the center of attention during the 60 days. With data center proposals moving through permitting processes in Mason, Mingo, and Tucker counties and new announcements for developments that are grid-tied in Berkeley County and are by corporate behemoths like Google in Putnam County, there’s public unrest around Governor Morrisey’s vision for West Virginia’s economic future.
Despite the introduction of numerous bills to legislate data centers, both good and bad, only HB 4983 made it through both the House and Senate and across the Governor’s desk. This served more as rulemaking than new legislation stemming from last year’s deeply unpopular legislation enabling microgrids for data centers (HB 2014). The Senate amended HB 4983 to define an inordinate burden, which the House concurred, but the language was vague and failed to take meaningful action on addressing the water concerns of data centers.
Photographed by Perry Bennett for the West Virginia Legislature.
Fortunately, certain pieces of legislation failed, like HB 4013, which would have given handouts to data center developers via tax credits for industrial development, and SB 623, which would have incentivized data center development in WV and required 80% coal fired power. Other bills, like the anti-community air monitoring bill, made an appearance for a third year via SB 88 but didn’t even move out of committee. Community air monitoring and science programs are one of the strongest tools for equipping residents with the resources necessary to independently monitor their environment and make decisions about their own health, especially in communities where data centers and fossil-based microgrids are proposed.
Residents representing Mason, Mingo, and Tucker counties came in force and solidarity to the Capitol in February for a data center advocacy day to send a message that their struggle in this fight is interconnected regardless of geography. What became clear to me during the 60-day legislative session is that no automation or form of artificial intelligence can replace the power of people and community. Grassroots lobbying played and will continue to play a critical role in supporting the West Virginia Environmental Council’s lobbying efforts this session and for sessions to come.
