By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia leaders have made a key step toward making the state the potential site of a regional hub for massive federal investments to support the White House’s plan to decarbonize the industrial sector.
Critics of the plan want them to take a step back and consider alternatives, arguing that the plan to cut emissions from carbon-intensive goods like cement and steel would waste taxpayer subsidies by backing uneconomic technologies and fail to adequately cut carbon emissions.
A coalition formed by a majority of West Virginia’s congressional leaders and Gov. Jim Justice submitted a formal proposal to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s competition for a hydrogen hub funded by the agency…