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This is a good thing. This kind of economic development is of course very positive.
I live in Maryland and our governor and state legislature only listens to the liberal elites in the DC area whose sensibilities would be violated by a natural gas industry. Many people wish we will be able to drill for gas in Western Maryland near WV but our government is standing in the way.
West Virginia is more business friendly in many ways and much friendlier to private industry, not just to natural gas and coal mining but business in general, including with the lower sales, gas, and alcohol and cigarette taxes.
It may seem that way, but WV is not known to be business friendly.
I always thought it was kind of funny when WV changed the slogan to "Open for Business" on it's highway signs. Then the backlash changed it to "Wild and Wonderful". Virginia turns arounds and adopts the same slogan and it is now on their signs leading into the state.
WV may not be business friendly compared to Virginia, but it IS compared to Maryland.
Business owners near the Maryland border really love governor O'Malley. Everytime our taxes go up they get more visitors. I have friends from Cumberland who cross into West Virginia for ALL of their cigarettes and alcohol, and will start doing that for ALL of their gas too now that Maryland just increased the taxes.
And trust me, West Virginia's coal mining and natural gas industry as this article mentions are at least allowed to exist........the same can't be said for Maryland especially when it comes to natural gas drilling. And I read on the news here in Baltimore that West Virginia is HEAVILY courting Beretta which has a firearms manufacturing plant in Maryland. As a gun rights advocate I hope Beretta does go to WV!!
Trust me the Maryland Democrats wil NEVER allow a natural gas processing plant to be built here. They are actually trying to shut down existing industrial facilities here. And they are against having an LNG exporting facility.
I think "open for business" is good since Wild and Wonderful is already the tourism slogan so the highways can do something different. I love how wild and wonderful usual refers to the natural beauty that West Virginia has but once I saw a commercial for the Charles Town casino with gamblers having a wild and wonderful time of a different sort......I know a football game in morgantown can also be wild and wonderful.
When you cross into Maryland the first sign announces in very large letters that Martin O'Malley is our governor. Then the second sign you see is ALWAYS the one that says in all upper case, bold black letters "STATE LAW NO TEXTING NO HANDHELD CELL PHONES"). And Maryland really isn't open for business, unless you work for the federal government or are an illegal immigrant.
WV may not be business friendly compared to Virginia, but it IS compared to Maryland.
Business owners near the Maryland border really love governor O'Malley. Everytime our taxes go up they get more visitors. I have friends from Cumberland who cross into West Virginia for ALL of their cigarettes and alcohol, and will start doing that for ALL of their gas too now that Maryland just increased the taxes.
And trust me, West Virginia's coal mining and natural gas industry as this article mentions are at least allowed to exist........the same can't be said for Maryland especially when it comes to natural gas drilling. And I read on the news here in Baltimore that West Virginia is HEAVILY courting Beretta which has a firearms manufacturing plant in Maryland. As a gun rights advocate I hope Beretta does go to WV!!
Trust me the Maryland Democrats wil NEVER allow a natural gas processing plant to be built here. They are actually trying to shut down existing industrial facilities here. And they are against having an LNG exporting facility.
I think "open for business" is good since Wild and Wonderful is already the tourism slogan so the highways can do something different. I love how wild and wonderful usual refers to the natural beauty that West Virginia has but once I saw a commercial for the Charles Town casino with gamblers having a wild and wonderful time of a different sort......I know a football game in morgantown can also be wild and wonderful.
When you cross into Maryland the first sign announces in very large letters that Martin O'Malley is our governor. Then the second sign you see is ALWAYS the one that says in all upper case, bold black letters "STATE LAW NO TEXTING NO HANDHELD CELL PHONES"). And Maryland really isn't open for business, unless you work for the federal government or are an illegal immigrant.
I'm absolutely amazed at the stupidity of state and local governments that promote illegal aliens at the expense of their own (and other areas) people. It is the sort of mindless connection to misguided idealism that ignores all facts, and the rights of others.
Maryland is controlled by the eastern interests in the state. Cumberland has fallen victim to that, and industrial areas are not allowed to flourish. They have some agricultural interests in the tidewater area that are not dependent on it, and most of the money comes form Federal workers in the DC area for the rest. A lot of those folks are wacko "environmentalists" who have the luxary of being that way because their regular government paychecks mean they don't have to depend on the economy for a living, and they have no problem forcing tens of thousands of people to live in comparitive poverty to advance their wharped version of idealism.
I will admit that these policies have, for the most part, resulted in an absolutely pristine western Maryland but we don't have the luxary of being stupid idealists here because few would have jobs, and to a degree we have to trade the pristine character for the opportunity to support ourselves and our families.
Very true about Maryland.....its actually just the DC area and Baltimore City that has the power. Only THREE Senators from outside these areas voted for our gas tax increase and it passed. Agriculture is seeing massive regulations and challenges from the state. Cumberland definitely has seen a long decline and so have parts of the Baltimore area where manufacturing used to be very big. I hope West Virginia does NOT become this way.....WV seems to be one fo the few places where the old time union blue collar Democrats (who actually do try to work for ordinary people and believe in traditional family values) are still very powerful, and not the yuppie/ghetto/illegal alien coalition that is dominant in many parts of America.
I think West Virginia should take advantage of its fewer regulations and business friendliness compared to Maryland. I do very much hope that Beretta USA moves to West Virginia as even in Maryland grants their exemptions in testing and importing assault weapons, Maryland is very hostile to the 2nd amendment and Beretta should show loyalty to its buyers' values and to its own future (nanny staters love to expand their ways to more and more places).
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