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Hi {contact.email_greeting},  Photographed by Perry Bennett during a House Energy & Public Works Committee meeting this session. Yet another data center announcement hit the presses this week, providing more information on plans for the site in Mason County. The county will become the newest AI data center site for London-based Nscale — the company’s second North American data center. They’ll be partnering with Microsoft on the Monarch Campus, a massive 2,200-acre plot. Multiple state leaders and lawmakers, including the Governor, gave their perspective following the announcement, largely all positive. WVEC Vice President Morgan King was quoted in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel this week. You can read more about it in ‘More data centers, not enough regulation’ later in this newsletter.  Photographed by Perry Bennett on Arts Day at the Capitol on February 11, 2026. This legislative session was busy. Our lobbyists worked hard to improve bad legislation that couldn’t be stopped and get good legislation passed. It’s because of their hard work that resolutions for Ohio River restoration and $5 million in funding for flood resiliency passed, and amendments to the Aboveground Storage Tank Act of 2014 were less harmful. Multiple concerning bills, such as SB 88 and HB 4194 relating to community air monitoring, were stopped. You can read more about Lucia Valentine and Kasey Russell’s reflections on this session in our last Weekly Legislative Update. Thank you to our lobbyists and partners for all of their hard work this year. While we weren’t able to publish a member organization profile for all of our member organizations during the session, you can learn more about The Downstream Project and the Buckhannon River Watershed Association online. Both organizations do tremendous work that is integral to our waterways and broader environment. Visit their websites to learn more about them and how you can support their work. Future newsletter editions will continue our Member Spotlight series. If you have room on your spring calendar, check out upcoming events and opportunities in ‘Happenings Around the Mountain.’ Several of our member organizations are hosting great events all over the state. There’s also a variety of excellent news publications to read over the weekend. This will be the last weekly newsletter until the 2027 Regular Legislative Session. We switch to a monthly publication for the rest of the year. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any future publications. In the meantime, consider joining an environmental group near you and donating to keep the fight going. Click an article title or thumbnail image to read the full article (text below is only an excerpt). |
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