WV Governor Morrisey Announces $850 Million Frontieras North America Investment
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey today announced that Frontieras North America has closed on 183 acres in Mason County, where the company will build a flagship $850 million advanced coal reformation facility that is expected to create more than 2,000 construction jobs and over 200 full-time positions once operational.
“We are excited to welcome Frontieras North America and its state-of-the-art project to Mason County. This investment demonstrates that West Virginia’s workforce and business climate can attract world-class companies and investments,” said Governor Morrisey. “Frontieras is completely aligned with our 50 by 50 energy plan and our red tape-cutting strategy. This terrific announcement for West Virginia will create so many high-paying jobs and economic growth.”
Patrick Morrisey
The Mason County facility will be the first commercial-scale deployment of Frontieras’ patented FASForm™ process, which converts coal into fuels, fertilizers, and industrial carbon products with zero waste. The site offers more than a mile of Ohio River frontage for barge transport, Class I rail access via CSX, and close proximity to Appalachian coal reserves and a skilled regional workforce.
“West Virginia gave us every reason to build here—natural resources, world-class logistics, and a government that understands the importance of industrial growth,” said Matthew McKean, CEO and Co-Founder of Frontieras North America.
Governor Morrisey emphasized the importance of expanding the commercial uses of coal beyond traditional electricity generation and steelmaking.
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Trump's Revived Coal Council Includes Kentucky Executives
The National Coal Council met at the White House late last week for the first time since the Trump administration revived it.
Trump’s energy and interior secretaries greeted the roomful of coal industry and utility executives in Washington.
“No coal, no modern world,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright. “No coal, no lifestyle we have today. It’s just that simple.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum thanked the industry.
Doug Burgum
“Thanks for keeping the lights on on the coldest days of the year,” Burgum said. “You’re making a difference for this country on affordability and on national security and we’re grateful for all of you.”
The coal council includes Kentuckians such as Sam McKown, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, and Joe Craft, president, CEO and director of Alliance Resource Partners, and a prominent Kentucky political donor.
It also includes Tony Campbell, retired president CEO of East Kentucky Power Cooperative, based in Winchester, and Don Gulley, president and CEO of Big Rivers Electric Cooperative, based in Owensboro.
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Trump Energy Chief Outlines Coal's Crucial Role in Affordability as Admin Pushes to Keep Plants Running
Energy Secretary Christopher Wright affirmed the Trump administration’s plan to keep U.S. coal-fired power plants operating amid rising electricity prices and increasing grid reliability concerns tied to growing demand.
"It's crucial to the reliability and affordability of electricity in the U.S.," he told FOX Business on Monday.
"The states that have rushed to close their coal plants have also had rapidly escalating electricity prices. Americans don't like that. President Trump doesn't like it."
Chris Wright
Last week, White House officials reiterated the administration’s commitment to delay the retirement of certain coal-fired power plants that had been slated to close, a move supported by coal industry advocates but criticized by environmental groups.
The Trump administration has also reinstated the National Coal Council, a federal advisory committee to the Energy Department whose charter expired in 2021 under the Biden administration before being revived in 2025.
Wright told Stuart Varney that coal-fired plants targeted for closure in some states remain critical to grid reliability.
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America NEEDS the Coal Industry to Thrive
America NEEDS the coal industry to thrive.
You can’t separate energy from the economy or national security. The coal industry is the backbone of BOTH.
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An AI Power Tipping Point
The AI and data center boom is now driving the electricity and affordability crisis. Just this week, President Trump took to Truth Social to show he’s focused on the challenge, writing, “I never want Americans to pay higher electricity bills because of data centers.” He added that his team is now working with technology companies to ensure they “pay their own way.”
The President’s focus is well timed. Data centers are rarely paying their own way—shorthand for bringing their own new generation onto the grid. Instead, they’ve gobbled up existing power supplies when they’re already stretched perilously thin, putting immense pressure on consumer prices.
Meta’s recent deal to buy up the output from two existing nuclear power plants in Ohio is case in point. The 20-year deal will see Meta essentially take that around-the-clock generating capacity out of the marketplace while it works to eventually add new small modular reactors (SMRs) to meet its surging electricity needs. Just when, or if, those SMRs get built is an open question.
While the deal is certainly good news for Vistra, the owner of the nuclear power plants, and provides financial certainty to keep the plants running and improve their performance over the next twenty years, consumers are getting the short end of the stick. Capacity prices in the PJM market are already through the roof as power demand surges and new capacity additions can’t keep up. Pulling two nuclear power plants out of the market is only going to raise prices for consumers that have already seen their bills surge over the past five years.
Tallying the Impact
In fact, PJM’s market monitor recently announced that data centers accounted for a staggering 40% of the $16 billion in capacity costs in the latest PJM capacity auction. Over the past three capacity auctions, incoming data center demand has driven $21.3 billion in costs—costs data centers aren’t picking up themselves but that are instead socialized across PJM’s 67 million customers. In New Jersey, for example, these surging capacity prices meant a 20% jump in residential power bills in June. Nothing about this is fair or sustainable.
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