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    WV Senate proposes 15% cut in personal income tax

    Innovative construction method results in historic bridge build in Beckley

    McDonald’s employee stabs customer in neck during restroom robbery

    Pedestrian struck and killed by vehicle in Oak Hill

    Coal Fact for the Day: Rolling Coal on the River

    West Virginia Wesleyan College MBA Class Visits Mister Bee Potato Chips, Focuses on Challenges

    Capito, Miller respond to President Biden’s State of the Union address

    Character writing workshop scheduled at New River CTC

    Catbirds, Mockingbirds, and catch and release turkeys

    • Breaking
    • Crime
    • Local
    • National
      Members of the Navy work on a device on a vessel along the InterCoastal Waterway in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Using underwater drones, warships and inflatable vessels, the Navy is carrying out an extensive operation to gather all of the pieces of the massive Chinese spy balloon a U.S. fighter jet shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

      Navy divers begin pulling up Chinese spy balloon debris

      Biden aims to deliver reassurance in State of Union address

      A man carries the body of an earthquake victim in the Besnia village near the Turkish border, Idlib province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

      Rescuers scramble in Turkey, Syria after quake kills 3,400

      Photo Credit: Shutterstock

      Willie Nelson bests Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, others for ‘Best Country Album’ award

      Today is National Weatherperson’s Day

      China says US shooting down balloon a ‘serious violation of international practice,’ threatens repercussions

      US downs Chinese balloon over ocean, moves to recover debris

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      David William McConnell, 38, of Charlotte, NC

      Charlotte man sentenced to 10 years in prison for traveling to Beckley to have sex with minors

    • Politics

      WV Senate proposes 15% cut in personal income tax

      Capito, Miller respond to President Biden’s State of the Union address

      Senate Transportation advances bill requiring learner’s permit holders display “Student Driver” on vehicle

      West Virginia House OKs bill to encourage more birth centers

      UPDATE: Restructured math class for trade students bill passes unanimously through House

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      Biden 2024? Most Democrats say no thank you: AP-NORC poll

      House Gov Org Bill to Create WV Coalfields Energy Research and Economic Development Authority

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    • State

      WV Senate proposes 15% cut in personal income tax

      McDonald’s employee stabs customer in neck during restroom robbery

      Coal Fact for the Day: Rolling Coal on the River

      West Virginia Wesleyan College MBA Class Visits Mister Bee Potato Chips, Focuses on Challenges

      Senate Transportation advances bill requiring learner’s permit holders display “Student Driver” on vehicle

      House HHR Committee Advances Five Bills and Rejects One

      House approves bill to create vocational math class

      West Virginia House OKs bill to encourage more birth centers

      Summersville officers honored for lifesaving Narcan administration

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West Virginia could become a leading producer of coal-based fertilizer

Lootpress News Staff by Lootpress News Staff
Tuesday, February 23, 2021 4:59 pm

Raleigh County Commissioner Ron Hedrick shares his five-year plan to make West Virginia- and specifically Raleigh County- a lead producer of coal-based fertilizer.

According to Hedrick, a company out of Bluefield called ENGLO has partnered with professors and engineers at Mississippi State and George Washington University, where they have developed, tested and patented products made with West Virginia coal. Prior to partnering with Mississippi State and George Washington University, ENGLO was a company focused specifically on dust management.

Hedrick shared that the company and the universities’ engineers have found a way to take coal and turn it into a char, which can be mixed with chemicals to create fertilizer.

Scientists say that when it rains, 40 percent of regular, nutrient-rich fertilizer runs into the streams and pollute the water because of its high content of Nitrogen and Phosphorus. This can negatively affect aquatic life and cause harmful algal blooms (HABS), which occurs when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and even birds.

Coal-based fertilizer, which stays in the ground longer than other fertilizers, will not pollute the water because it is made mostly from a natural element. Additionally, when some of the coal-based fertilizer does eventually run into the streams, it will act as a water filter, carrying out present contaminants with it.

In 2019, Hedrick connected with the president of ENGLO and asked him to consider putting a factory in Raleigh County.

“Our goal is to plant the seed here first,” Hedrick stated. “They are using West Virginia coal, so if we can get that supply line up, they wouldn’t have any reason to go anywhere else.”

Before the pandemic, Hedrick, ENGLO, and several other major players in the project met for a briefing where ENGLO agreed to move forward in searching for a concept factory location in Raleigh County.

However, these plans had to be postponed during the summer and fall as COVID continued to intensify in the United States.

On Tuesday, Dec. 8, the team held a reboot meeting at the courthouse, which included all the original team members, as well as the mayor of Beckley and the director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority.

Hedrick stated that the meeting allowed everyone to refocus and get back on track to begin factory planning.

What’s next? According to Hedrick, engineers with Mississippi State are developing the layout for the concept factory, which should be completed by spring.

Once the design is finalized, the team will go to existing and vacant facility locations in Raleigh County to see which one best fits the layout. The team has already located four factories that meet the engineer’s initial requirements.

The team thinks the concept factory can produce one ton of product a day.

“We want to hit the ground running and are making plans now to move forward with this project,” Hedrick told Lootpress. “With the concept factory, we can produce a lot of product and get that into the hands of growers, who will see a viable product. Then, we can build a larger factory to mass-produce.”

“We have to figure out ways to use coal other than just burning it. If we have coal here, why not build a factory to use for alternative methods,” he continued. “Coal had always been labeled as ‘dirty,’ but this is a green product. We are taking coal and turning it into something that grows. We are changing the label.”

The commissioner says that this endeavor could help sustain employment for current coal miners, create new job opportunities in West Virginia, and even appeal to international buyers.

In addition to the coal-based fertilizer, engineers at Mississippi State and George Washington University have also developed a water-filtration product that can be laid down underneath soil and a coal-based pellet that is said to burn cleaner than wood pellets.

Hedrick hopes to get these products and others on the market in the future.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to show them what we can offer and had to offer,” Hedrick said. “I wanted to express the willingness this community and state has to attract something like this.”

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Lootpress News Staff

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