Member Spotlight

This month, we’re featuring West Virginia Climate Alliance’s Ryan Kirkpatrick. Ryan is a Charleston local in love with West Virginia. He loves the outdoors and exploring the state’s many scenic small towns. 

He’s passionate about climate and utility justice. After learning about the state’s long history of extractive industry and the negative impact on many of our communities, he became an organizer to help with issues like chemical safety and risk management. We’re grateful to have Ryan to work alongside us in the broader fight for environmental justice in the Mountain State.

The following is a Q & A interview that we do with all of our member/member organization spotlights. Ryan wrote and submitted his responses. Enjoy!

Anna: What project(s) do you feel are most urgent or important to WV Climate Alliance right now?

Ryan: One of the most urgent and important issues facing the WV Climate Alliance right now is the rapid expansion of data centers across West Virginia and the legislation being introduced to accelerate that growth with very little public accountability. At our last in-person convening, nearly every organization present expressed concern about the environmental, economic, and political consequences tied to these projects.

Data center expansion is not just a technology issue; it sits at the intersection of many of the crises West Virginians are already facing. Specifically, it highlights growing concerns around water quality and water usage, utility provider profiteering, corporate influence over state policy, and legislative efforts to further expand coal and fossil fuel dependency under the banner of economic development.

These facilities require enormous amounts of electricity and water, yet communities are often left out of conversations about where those resources will come from and who will ultimately absorb the environmental and financial costs. Many residents are concerned that infrastructure upgrades and increased energy demand will lead to higher utility costs for everyday West Virginians while corporations receive tax incentives and political support with minimal oversight.

Recent legislation has only intensified these concerns. Senate Bill 623, the “West Virginia-Powered Data Center Incentive Act,” proposes significant tax incentives for data centers that commit to using coal-generated electricity. Rather than moving West Virginia toward a sustainable energy future, legislation like this risks tying the state even more deeply to extractive industries and pollution-heavy energy infrastructure. Similar energy proposals, including efforts tied to the “West Virginia First Energy Act,” prioritize increased coal and natural gas generation to support industrial expansion and projected data center demand. Many advocacy organizations view this as an attempt to use AI and technological development as justification for prolonging fossil fuel dependence instead of investing in renewable energy, environmental protections, and long-term community wellbeing.

Beyond the environmental concerns, many organizations within the Alliance also see this issue as part of a broader pattern of corporate influence and lack of transparency in decision-making throughout West Virginia. Communities are too often excluded from conversations that directly impact their health, environment, utility costs, and future economic stability. There is growing frustration around legislators and industry leaders promoting these developments as economic progress while minimizing legitimate concerns surrounding pollution, water usage, public health, and environmental justice.

For many members of the WV Climate Alliance, data center expansion has become symbolic of the larger fight facing West Virginia: whether the state will continue prioritizing corporate profits and extractive industries, or whether communities will have a meaningful voice in shaping a healthier, more transparent, and sustainable future. Addressing this issue requires an intersectional approach that connects environmental justice, energy democracy, water protection, corporate accountability, and community organizing

Anna:  What does the future of WV Climate Alliance look like?

Ryan: The future of the West Virginia Climate Alliance could become much bigger than just a coalition responding to individual environmental threats. With data center expansion now connecting so many issues at once, energy demand, water use, utility costs, fossil fuel expansion, land use, environmental justice, labor, and political influence the Alliance has an opportunity to position itself as a statewide coordinating force on what West Virginia’s future economy and environment will look like.

Going into the next annual convening, one possible direction is shifting from primarily reactive organizing to building a shared long-term vision. Instead of only responding to harmful legislation or proposed projects, the Alliance could identify a unified statewide framework around:

• community protection,
• energy democracy,
• environmental health,
• corporate accountability,
• and equitable economic development.

Data centers especially create an organizing bridge between groups that do not always traditionally work together. Climate advocates, labor groups, ratepayer advocates, civil rights organizations, public health leaders, rural communities, and digital infrastructure experts all have a stake in how these developments unfold. The Alliance could become the place where those conversations are coordinated instead of fragmented.

Some possible focus areas for the next year could include:

• Developing a statewide strategy around data center accountability, including transparency on energy use, water consumption, tax incentives, and utility impacts.
• Monitoring legislation that could weaken local oversight, expand fossil fuel dependency, or shift infrastructure costs onto residents.
• Building stronger relationships with frontline communities already impacted by pollution, extraction, and industrial development.
• Creating rapid response infrastructure for emerging environmental crises or legislative threats.
• Expanding public education efforts so people understand how seemingly technical issues like grid expansion, AI infrastructure, and utility regulation directly affect household bills, public health, and local resources.
• Pushing for community benefit agreements or stronger protections tied to major industrial developments.
• Connecting environmental issues to affordability and quality of life, especially in a state where many people are skeptical of climate messaging but deeply concerned about corruption, public health, and economic exploitation.

The Alliance could also evolve into a stronger political and narrative force. Right now, many decisions about West Virginia’s future are framed as “jobs versus the environment.” The Alliance has an opportunity to challenge that framing and instead ask:

• Who benefits from these projects?
• Who bears the costs?
• What kind of future is actually being built for West Virginians?

That kind of framing could unify organizations around a broader shared mission instead of individual issue silos.

The annual convening could be a major moment to define:

1. What the Alliance wants to be known for,
2. Which campaigns require collective action,
3. And what infrastructure is needed to sustain long-term organizing?

Rather than trying to take on every issue equally, the Alliance may benefit from identifying 2–3 flagship priorities for the year that tie multiple struggles together. Data centers could realistically become one of those anchor issues because they touch nearly every major environmental and economic concern currently emerging in West Virginia.

Anna:  What makes this work personal to you?

Ryan: This work is deeply personal to me because of the experiences and organizing work I was involved in before joining West Virginia Citizen Action Group. I first became engaged in environmental advocacy through Our Future West Virginia, where I organized around concerns related to ethylene oxide and other harmful chemical exposures affecting communities in Institute and across West Virginia. Through direct community outreach and neighborhood surveys, I heard firsthand from residents about the growing number of illnesses, respiratory conditions, and cancer diagnoses impacting families in these communities. Those conversations made it clear to me that West Virginia is facing a serious environmental and public health crisis that cannot continue to be ignored.

In addition to this work, I spent six months volunteering in southern West Virginia following devastating floods that were worsened by practices such as timber logging and strip mining. I witnessed entire communities struggling to recover after homes and livelihoods were destroyed. What stood out most to me was not only the scale of the devastation but also the lack of meaningful response to the underlying environmental conditions that left these communities so vulnerable in the first place. Those experiences reinforced my commitment to environmental justice and to advocating for policies that prioritize the health, safety, and well-being of West Virginians.