West Virginia Agencies Shielding Details on $1.44B DOE Coal Bail-out Loan from Public

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Following two postponements, the West Virginia Department of Commerce has informed Sierra Club's West Virginia Chapter that there are, "no non-exempt records" responsive to the Club's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request pertaining to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to loan local utilities $1.44 billion to fund refurbishment projects at six unnamed West Virginia coal-fired power plants.

The DOE and Governor Patrick Morrisey first announced the $1.44 billion in coal refurbishment projects as part of a larger $4.2 billion suite of fossil-fuel expansions in November 2025. The projects are intended to extend the lives of the six coal plants up to 20 years. However, regardless of how long the coal plants manage to continue operating, payments on the low-interest DOE loans will be passed on to West Virginians' electric bills for decades.

According to the West Virginia Department of Commerce, "certain public records within the scope" of the Sierra Club's FOIA request are, "exempt from disclosure." In the January FOIA filing, Sierra Club requested a detailed list of the six plants set to receive loans, as well as information on the cost and the specific upgrades proposed at each plant.

In addition to funding the projects, West Virginians will also shoulder the public health impacts. According to a Sierra Club study , West Virginia's in-state coal plants currently account for hundreds of expensive hospital visits and 20 West Virginian deaths annually. West Virginia's coal plants also account for 335 out-of-state deaths annually.

"West Virginians are being kept in the dark," said Bill Price, Sierra Club West Virginia Chapter Chair . "Our local state agencies, tasked with serving the public interest, are expecting the public to repay billions of dollars in loans - blindfolded. No honest lender operates this way. No reasonable borrower would accept it. So why ask us to go along with the Governor's deal without any details? In this time of increasing energy costs and high bills, people need to know where their money is going. We will continue to seek the answers and transparency West Virginians deserve."

"West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act states quite clearly, 'The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments of government they have created.' Before the State loads down West Virginia citizens with over a billion dollars in loans, they should at least tell us what this is for, what we have to pay back, and who profits from these loans," added Jim Kotcon, Conservation Chair for Sierra Club West Virginia .