Fellow Story
Hansen on weakening West Virginia as coal severance crumbles
County by county, West Virginia’s coalfield communities are being forced to cut jobs, eliminate programs and slash benefits as they steadily collapse alongside the Mountain State’s plummeting coal severance tax revenue.
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But Evan Hansen, president of Downstream Strategies and one author of the white paper, said diversifying the economy might be the only way out.
“I don’t think there’s any good solution for the short term,” Hansen said. “In the long term, I don’t think there’s any alternative to strengthening the economy so it becomes more diversified.
