Joe Manchin

If a firm is not confident that it can find the workers that it needs... all the good positive tax climate, infrastructure... are not going to matter.

The economy is what we are worried about and how in the world do we jumpstart this economy?

So you can basically have a multi-faceted plant that produces off of gas, taking advantage of gas prices versus coal prices and is more reliable?

If anything, they fought you every step of the way and probably increased the cost by ?

I am more concerned today than I have ever been in the State of West Virginia when we have under 50 percent of the people that are eligible to be working as adults working and performing.

Ninety-four percent of our electricity in West Virginia comes from coal. We are switching it rapidly, very rapidly.

It is frustrating, I know for myself and I am sure for Senator Capito at times, they believe because we come from West Virginia and we represent West Virginia that we do not care about the environment.

We are located within two-thirds of the population of the United States of American and one-third that of Canada.

Gas is still interruptible no matter what you do with the pipeline.

I do not know all the answers but I know that it is absolutely crippling West Virginia.

I think you acknowledged that in your report.

The concentration of these job losses has created a great depression in six counties.

In a regional effort as mentioned by Senator Manchin, the Governors of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio signed a regional cooperation agreement.

Without West Virginia and the efforts that we have made over the last century, I assure you, we would not be sitting in the freest country on earth.

If you want to know how we feel in West Virginia, we feel like a returning Vietnam veteran.

We have got to start thinking in terms of a regional energy hub, a mid-Atlantic energy region.

Coal and natural gas are going to continue to be a critical part of our energy mix in our economy for decades to come.

They are entitled to their own opinions, just not entitled to their own facts.

More than ever, it is critical that we go the extra mile to examine the opportunities for jobs creation.

It is no secret that West Virginia has been economically challenged recently.

We are pleased to announce today that he will be coming.

Senator Capito and I will work across party lines and try to show a pathway forward in Washington.

I thank you for holding this hearing today.

I think is a prime example of this.

Congress' role in improving infrastructure is only a piece of what needs to be done.