Ohio Valley Resource

Gayle Manchin is the first West Virginian to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission in its 56-year history. Her husband, Sen. Joe Manchin, is a key vote for President Joe Biden in an evenly divided Senate. Biden can’t advance his priorities without the centrist Democrat’s support.

St. Vincent’s Mission has been doing the work of feeding, clothing and sheltering the people of Floyd County, Kentucky, since 1968. Recently, the mission looked for help to reduce overhead costs in a county with a poverty rate of 27%, well above the state and national average. The mission installed an array of solar panels.

As President Biden attempts to cut carbon emissions and clean up the electric power sector, Joe Manchin can shape energy legislation to help Appalachian coal communities that have lost jobs.

President Biden’s Energy Secretary, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said in an interview with the Ohio Valley ReSource that the region could gain jobs as a result of action against climate change.

UMWA Presiden Cecil Roberts is using the leverage he has — including a close relationship with his fellow West Virginian, Sen. Joe Manchin — in order to sway Biden’s policies to allow room for coal and win support for coal communities.

Unplugged oil and gas wells and abandoned mine lands pose serious health risks to residents. But according to reports from the regional think tank Ohio River Valley Institute, those sites could be providing thousands of jobs for the region, if the federal government invests in mitigating the issues.

FDA officials paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine out of “an abundance of caution” while they are investigating six cases of blood clots among the estimated 7 million people who have received the vaccine. State leaders around the Ohio Valley will temporarily have fewer doses of COVID-19 vaccine to distribute following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision Tuesday

In addition to chronic flooding, many Appalachian communities deal with landslides induced by rains. Climate change has been shown to increase the frequency and intensity of rainfall throughout the Ohio Valley, and major flooding events have now disrupted eastern Kentucky communities twice in the span of a month.Some residents say mining adds to the risk.

Monday marks 11 years since the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in Raleigh County, where 29 miners were killed on April 5, 2010.

The Biden administration released its first set of drug policy priorities Thursday after overdose deaths hit record numbers during the pandemic. Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Director Regina LaBelle discussed the office’s seven priorities, beginning with expanding access to drug treatment services.