Free Republic

The rush to tie up drilling rights in Marcellus shale is ramping up just west of the Interstate 81 corridor, as companies compete to sign leases. The black sedimentary rock runs from western New York south into West Virginia. It has been promoted as one of the most promising natural gas sources in the United States. Piping the gas through the hills and mountains of Appalachia, however, will not be easy. New technologies that include horizontal drilling and pumping in water to fracture the rock, have been found to release more gas and make recoveries in shale more economical. Rising...

A land deal involving a Democratic congressman and a defense contractor he helped receive a federal contract has come under scrutiny. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a 12-term congressman from West Virginia, last year jointly purchased a 300-acre farm along his state’s Cheat River along with Dale R. McBride, chief executive of FMW Composite Systems Inc. of Bridgeport, W.Va. Mollohan’s real estate holdings and financial disclosures have drawn the attention of federal investigators, and the farm purchase "is the most direct tie yet disclosed between Rep. Mollohan and a beneficiary of the federal spending he has steered toward his home state,”...

Charleston, W.Va. -- Thomas Esposito's campaign for the Legislature seemed to be following the usual pattern. The longtime Democratic mayor issued press releases, raised money and bought newspaper ads. Signs bearing his name popped up in yards around rural Logan County. But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law. The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia. Federal prosecutors say the gambit worked. They allege Esposito...

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) plans to announce today that he will seek a ninth term, ending months of speculation the 87-year-old lawmaker was considering retiring next year to avoid a grueling re-election campaign.

Charleston, W.Va. (AP) -- Eighty-seven-year-old Democrat Robert C. Byrd announced Tuesday he will seek a record ninth term in the Senate. Using the Capitol Rotunda as a stage, Byrd told supporters he was "ready to go. Another round." "I have the best job in America because I represent you, the people of West Virginia. And I want to keep this job," he said. Byrd has 47 years in the Senate and will become the longest-serving member in its history in June. He previously served six years in the U.S. House, and before that terms in both chambers of the West...

He gets revenge against a systemthat works unfairlyHe was shot at more than a dozen times during three strikes. Several of his employees were shot at, and a truck driver was shot and killed. Under state law, the State Police could not stop the violence because it happened during a strike. He did not get mad, he got even. He sued in federal court and had the law overturned. The violence ended. And now, Don Blankenship is getting back at the state's establishment. He spent a blue million last year in a 527 campaign to depose Warren McGraw as a...