NC West Virginia News

West Virginia University (WVU) researchers have developed a land search system similar to Zillow, aimed at repurposing former mine lands in West Virginia's southern coalfields for economic development. The platform is designed to facilitate clean energy and recreational opportunities on these lands.

The project involves collaboration with Coalfield Development Corporation and The Nature Conservancy, as part of the "Appalachian Climate Technology Now" initiative funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration through the Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant. WVU leads the Former Mine Lands to Sustainable Lands component of this project.

“There’s never been such a concerted effort to take these properties and find some beneficial use for them, find jobs for the folks down there,” said Brady Gutta, director of the Center for Sustainable Mine Lands at WVU's Institute for Sustainability and Energy Research (WISER). “This project could be a fundamental transformation for work in southern West Virginia.”

West Virginia has nearly 4,500 former mine lands across 21 southern coalfield counties. To assist investors and developers, properties are organized in an interactive database that functions like Zillow or Airbnb. This web-based tool analyzes sites based on their location and other attributes suitable for development. Users can filter searches according to specific criteria such as renewable energy options.

“You can select criteria that fit your developmental goals and objectives,” said Mike Strager, a spatial scientist and professor of resource economics at WVU Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “With Zillow, a user might need a home that’s three bedrooms within five miles of school and work, and you can create these filters to help you narrow down your options. So we took that as our inspiration and applied it to these former mine lands in the southern coalfield counties in West Virginia.”

The platform considers various development needs: solar farms require large non-forested areas near electrical substations; recreational sites need varied topography; carbon capture biomass crops thrive on grasslands; geothermal energy production benefits from previous underground mine pools near large energy users.

“That way, you’re not just indiscriminately developing individual sites but taking into consideration county level or regional needs that complement each other or provide diversification of industries,” Strager added.

In its second year, the WVU team plans to refine the tool further by providing users with sustainable development timeframes. Currently, 16 sites have been identified.

The tool is intended for use by private developers, industry stakeholders, regional economic groups, county organizations, and state authorities like the West Virginia Economic Development Authority.

The initiative involves multiple internal departments at WVU along with external collaborators such as Coalfield Development Corporation. Participating WVU entities include WISER, Brad and Alys Smith Outdoor Economic Development Collaborative, Natural Resource Analysis Center among others.

Gutta emphasized each group's role in assessing potential properties: WISER identifies suitable companies; law clinic performs title searches; Qualified Ventures develops funding mechanisms through grants or private capital stacking opportunities.

Coalfield Development will lead workforce development efforts while BRIDGE Initiative addresses regulatory barriers.

“We’ve got a five task project,” Gutta explained. “It’s a cradle-to-grave process that we use to repurpose these sites. We’ve got thousands of acres throughout West Virginia, and this project breaks down the steps necessary to take these properties that were once active mine sites and put them to some kind of beneficial reuse.”

Gutta also noted that this search system could eventually apply beyond West Virginia to other former extraction sites across the U.S., including those where different substances were mined.

Community engagement remains crucial throughout this process due to mining job losses' profound impact on local areas—a sentiment echoed by Strager who experienced similar effects growing up in Pittsburgh during steel mill closures.

“Growing up in Pittsburgh I had family & friends who worked in steel mills late 70s early 80s," he recalled."It was tough—steel mills closing overseas competition—people lost identities...Now helping rural areas—that’s what our state about."

Researchers believe transitioning towards sustainable energy will be gradual rather than instantaneous but see unique opportunities given West Virginia's rugged terrain challenges/assets balance—as highlighted by Danny Twilley assistant VP economic/community/asset dev Brad/Alys Smith Outdoor Econ Dev Collaborative:

“Our topography one greatest assets/challenges," Twilley stated."