Talk of the Town August 25, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klerksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike notlting Well.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good Monday morning.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
It is nine oh six clouds and sixty three in
the University City. Good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk
of the Town on AM fourteen forty FM one oh
four point five WAJR producing the program this morning is
Sophia Wasick. You'll be able to get her at eight

(00:48):
hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five. Also
have a text line. I'd love to hear your thoughts
on any and everything. That number is three or four
talk three well. This morning we'll get a recap first
week of classes at WVU with Evan Witters, the Associate
Provost for Undergraduate Education. We'll dive into some numbers and

(01:12):
talk about the support system for first generation and brand
new freshman students. And Commissioners to the South and Marion
County have voted to endorse the extension of the I
sixty eight Energy Corridor from I seventy nine near Morgantown
westward to West Virginia Route too.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Along the Ohio River Valley.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
A longtime advocate of that project, Bob Miller, joins us
at nine to thirty and we'll get an update on
the ten county coalition including Mond County that are all
being asked to endorse that project. Let's take a look
at a couple of headlines. Thanks to all the listeners
and sponsors of the WVRC Media Cares for Kids radiothon

(01:57):
for WVU Medicine Children's Hospital. That two day event brought
in more than two hundred twenty four thousand dollars for
that facility, and once again coming up next week, they'll
be celebrating their third birthday.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Next hour.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
In the Monn County Justice Center, jury selection begins in
the first degree murder trial of twenty four year old
Jonathan Ramirez, Wheremerez was indicted for a first degree murder, burglary,
and conspiracy in connection with the stabbing death of Jacob
Lowe and his Milford Street home in January of twenty
twenty four. The twenty six year old low was found

(02:35):
in his apartment by a co worker. Had been stabbed
multiple times. Opening statements are expected to begin tomorrow. O'
Clarksburg police say an accidental shooting injured a juvenile on
West Pike Street Sunday evening. A juvenile suffered a hand
injury and was taken to United Hospital Center for treatment.

(02:56):
No word on the condition and no charges have been filed.
A status hearing set for today in the ongoing legal
battle over the state's school entry vaccination requirements and religious exemptions.
That is scheduled for noon today in Beckley and this
evening at six at North Marion High School at the

(03:17):
football stadium. There, WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and helmet manufacturer
Riddell will kick off a new helmet safety initiative for
middle and high school football players. Boone County player Coencratick
died a year ago Sunday after suffering a head injury

(03:38):
in during football practice. Coming up later this morning, David
TJ We'll have a guest on Metro News talk Line
to talk about that event happening tonight at North Marion
High School at the football stadium there. The powerball jackpod
continues to grow after nobody matched all the numbers following

(04:00):
Saturday's drawing jackpot will be at an estimated seven hundred
and fifty million dollars For tonight's drawing, West Virginia Lottery
says it's the tenth largest jackpot ever for Powerball.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Don't forget the.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Next drawing is tonight, so get out and get your tickets.
Metro new Zaki Weather says a little bit more fall
like for this week as we close out summer. Today,
mostly sunny and I have seventy four degrees. Tonight could
see some patchy fog very early in the morning. Otherwise
mostly clear, fifty two for the low, and then Tuesday,

(04:39):
a string of fall like weather continues with mostly sunny
skies and a high of seventy one degrees. When we
come back, we're going to talk with the Associate Provost
for undergraduate Students, Evan Witters, at West Virginia University. We'll
get a recap on the first days of classes, and

(05:01):
we'll get Evid maybe to talk with us about some
of the support systems that are available for first gen
and also new freshman students. This just in from West Virginia.
Five one one paving operations are now underway somewhere in
the vicinity of the intersection of Kingwood Pike and green

(05:23):
Bag Road Dorsey Avenue. In that area getting reports and
some Texters saying that traffic is certainly backing up on
green Bag Road, so watch that area, avoid it if
you can. That's the intersection of Kingwood Pike, green Bag Road,
Dorsey Avenue. It looks like some paving operations or some

(05:43):
preliminary construction work.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Going on there.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
When we come back, it'll be Evan Winters, Associate Provost
for Undergraduate Affairs. It's coming up next on Talk of
the Town AM fourteen forty FM one four point five WAJR.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
Talk of the Town.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, good Monday morning.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
It is nine seventeen, some clouds and sixty three degrees
and once again you might want to avoid the area
of Dorsey Avenue green Bag Road in Kingwood Pike. Looks
like some paving operations have slowed traffic dramatically in that area.
Today begins the first full week of classes on the

(06:38):
campus of WVU here in Morgantown. On the phone, we've
got the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, Evan Witters with
us and Evan good morning, sir.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
How are you good morning, Mike, I'm good.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
How are you hey, I'm doing good.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Thank you very much for asking. I guess how did
things go last week?

Speaker 2 (06:56):
In your estimation, sir.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
I think the eight one of the smoothest sort of
start off to the semesters. I can remember. We had
a fantastic move in despite some of the construction that
people may have noticed downtown, that went smoothly. We brought
in a class of over forty four hundred first time
freshmen and had a record setting class in our Honors college.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
You know that sounds great.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
Evan Winters is whether she's the Associate provost for undergraduate education.
Forty four hundred freshmen on campus this year. Break some
of those numbers down. Can you tell us how many
of those are in state out of state?

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Things like that.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Yeah, so it's roughly split about fifty to fifty in
state out of state. I think we had slightly more,
slightly higher percentage of in state students this semester than
last semester. Out of state our students, I mean, Pennsylvania
is where sort of the largest number of our out
of state students come from. We also get a lot

(07:56):
from Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, all the sort of surrounding
mid Atlantic area states.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Now, are we maybe far enough away from academic transformation
that we can start to maybe look at some new
trends about where our students are coming from post transformation.

Speaker 4 (08:17):
Well, I mean, I think we're far enough away from
academic transformation where we certainly don't hear it coming up
with students. As far as where are students coming from,
I mean, we have students from every state in the country.
We get Texas, we get California, Arizona. You know, probably
we'd like to get more from North Carolina, Tennessee, maybe Kentucky.

(08:39):
So there are certainly areas where we have opportunities to
recruit more students. And honestly, Mike, we really want more
students in West Virginia to come here.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
You know, in my.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
Opinion, too many of our high school students are for
going a four year degree. I think we really have
to get in the schools and convince students that they
can come to West Virginia and really have better career
outcomes than they would otherwise.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Let's talk a little bit about some of the support
systems that are in place for the freshmen because I'm sure,
you know, maybe getting a little bit homesick, maybe looking
around and wondering, you know, what the heck did I
come to Morgantown for? What do you have for those
students that are, you know, away from home for maybe

(09:24):
the first times in their life, and they're looking around
and maybe having second thoughts.

Speaker 4 (09:31):
Yeah, I mean, that's always something we worry about, So
which is why we start sort of the academic you're
off with Welcome Week. You know, we try to create
opportunities for students to connect with their dormmates or just
other students on campus and make first person connections. We
know that, you know, one of the reasons students lead
the university is they feel like they're homesick or they

(09:52):
just don't feel like they've made friends here. So we
want them, you know, as much as possible out of
their dorm rooms, meeting people, doing activities. We have up
all night on that first move in Saturday night, which
is a chance for them to go and do free
activities in the mountain lay all night long. Sunday we
had Sunday Night Lights where freshmen went to the football

(10:13):
stadium and watched the band and did activities and then
of course on Monday night we had Fallfest was West
Virginia artist Sierra Farrell, and then Tuesday ago in academic Day.
So really that whole move in week is designed to
get students familiar with how to make friends, what sort
of resources the university offers, where to go if they

(10:36):
have an issue to get things straightened out. We really
try to work on that aspect of their first week here.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
You know, one thing that I saw that got my
attention were the student experience managers that work out of
the WVU Purpose Center.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Tell us about what they do.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I think they play a pretty key role in just
about everything you just mentioned.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Sure, so Early On Purpose and our Career Services Center
are both engaging with students trying to get them to visualize,
you know, outside of a degree, what do they really
want to accomplish in their lives? Right, So, as part
of that process, we often give them straight and testing,
which is sort of a survey you take to figure
out where your inclinations are and what your purpose in

(11:23):
life is. And then they use that as sort of
a stepping stone to start larger discussions about visualization. I mean,
visualize yourself. Graduated in a career, where you're going, how
you're going to get there, and really try to make
it intentional for students to understand that, you know, the
education in college is leading up to something, right, You're

(11:45):
going somewhere after this process is complete and purpose is
great at this They've been an award winning office on
our campus for a number.

Speaker 3 (11:53):
Of years now, and Evan, I don't think I could
agree with you anymore because I look at some of
the materials. Some of these experience managers will visit more
than one hundred and fifty classes just in a semester.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Yeah, that's right. I mean it's amazing how much sort
of they're able to engage with students on an individual,
one on one level. And career services is very similar.

Speaker 5 (12:20):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
We want we want our freshmen to get into the
career services office. We don't want them waiting till their
seniors to develop a resume because at that point it's
sort of too late to add the things that businesses
are looking for to your resume. You want to get
in early as a freshman. We want to understand what
sort of direction you want to take in your career
path and then start working on internship, start working on

(12:42):
activities to pad that resume before you even get to
your junior year.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
The Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education over at WVU, Evan Witters,
is with us and now, Evan, I believe I've had
you on the program in the past, and we've talked
about awards that the university has one for their supportive
first generation college students.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Tell us about how that effort is going.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
And before you answer that, I must say that looking
at some retention figures that we've seen over the last
several months, I w can only assume that you're doing
very good work in that regard.

Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah, thanks, Mike, I appreciate that. It's really an area
where that we try very hard to support our first
generation students. We know that too many students maybe coming
to Morgantown is coming to the big city from their perspective,
and it's easy to feel lost. It's easy to feel
maybe like you don't belong on campus, you don't have that,
you know, maybe support network of family members who went

(13:45):
to college back home to tell you how everything works.
So we have a Reach Office, which is an office
that we set up with the help of a benedem grant,
and at that office, We really sort of intentionally out
to first generation students, try to get them to connect
with us, offer them resources, free printing snacks, people to

(14:08):
talk to, and try to make people familiarize with campus
and really get past that imposter syndrome, make them know
that we care about them here and we want them
to belong here.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
You know, are there any maybe one time former first
generation students that maybe act as ambassadors for you at
this point?

Speaker 4 (14:29):
Absolutely? Yeah, absolutely, And in fact, I think you know
Reagan Brunei Michelle Payden, who run our Reach office. I
believe they're both first generation and are really able to
channel that knowledge into helping the students understand what it
means to be a college student, and then we want
them here.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
You mentioned forty four a class of forty four hundred freshmen,
and I would guess that most of those forty four
hundred freshmen have maybe every Saturday watched a WVU football game,
and now we're just days away from them being able
to see that action first hand for themselves, or in

(15:11):
other words, maybe get their first real taste of what
college life is all about. What are you going to
do to maybe get him ready for the game against
Robert Morris.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Well, it's exciting, isn't it. Yeah. I mean you can
feel the energy here on campus. You know, we have
a new president, President Benson, who brings a ton of
pogitive energy to campus. He's a huge sports fan, very
interested in athletics, very interested in making sure our students
have sort of a wonderful experience here on campus and

(15:43):
have access to these athletic opportunities. I mean, we've got
a new football coach, We've got a new basketball coach.
I think everyone on campus is really excited about this
year and sort of the new seasons coming up.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
Definitely.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Evan Winters, he is the associate you provost for undergraduate education. Evan,
when will your freshman class numbers come into total focus?

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Well, we'll know a lot, Mike, around the middle of September,
sort of that by the middle of September, we're able
to tell pretty closely who's coming to class, who's paid
their tuition bill, who's you know, in it for the
for the long haul. Until that time, we generally have
a little bit of melt where some of the students

(16:32):
that we think are coming here maybe didn't come, or
maybe followed another opportunity but we're continually refining those numbers
sort of every week, and around the middle of September
we should have a pretty good idea of how the
class stabilized.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Okay, good deal, Evan Winners.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Hey, Evan, really do appreciate your time today and make
it a great Monday over there on campus.

Speaker 4 (16:55):
Thanks, Mike, I appreciate it. It's always good to talk
to you.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Absolutely, you have a great day.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Evan Winters is the Associate provost for undergraduate Education to WVU,
and today marks the first full week of classes on
the WVU campus and a freshman class of just a
little bit more than forty four hundred students, split just
about evenly right down the middle between in state and

(17:22):
out of state students.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Coming up next, we're going to talk.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
About an extension of I sixty eight. Now, the part
of the extension I think that would affect U is
the I seventy nine portion from near Morgantown westward to
Route two along the Ohio River Valley. It's called an
extension of the I sixty eight Energy Corridor. Now, over

(17:46):
the last four years, interest in that projects kind of
fallen along the wayside, and I think that when Patrick
Morrissey took office, held a press conference in Bridgeport back
in July and said, hey, you know what, we're really
not going to focus too much on new projects. We're
going to focus more on maintenance and repair and things

(18:07):
like that. And I think there were some supporters of
this particular initiative that were maybe disappointed by that announcement. However,
there have been maybe a few rays of light that
have shown through those statements and have given the coalition hope.
Now we're going to be speaking with Bob Miller. He

(18:29):
is an advocate of that project, and also he is
the executive director of the Route two I sixty eight Authority,
and he is a proponent of this project. We're going
to spend some time with Bob coming up next and
talk about how this project kind of came about, how

(18:49):
it faded off into the background, and now it's once
again making a comeback. Marion County commissioners have recently voted
to support that project in the form of resolution. I
believe Mond County commissioners will be asked to do the
same thing. So we'll spend some time with Bob and

(19:11):
we'll get the latest on the status of that effort
and getting all of the support in line. There are
ten counties that they're looking for support from, So we'll
be talking with Bob about that coming up next. Right now,
some clouds and sixty three degrees in the University City.

(19:33):
Taking a look at West Virginia five one one, it
looks like the primary backup is green Bag Road and
then into Kingwood Pike, that section leading into Preston County.
So if you're in that area, expect delays. If you
can avoid that area at all, might.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Be a good idea to do. So, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fifty five. This is the talk of
the town.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
Good Monday morning.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
The I sixty eight the Route to I sixty eight
Authority is an advocate of extending I sixty eight. Now
here's what it might look like from I seventy nine
near Morgantown to West Virginia route to at Kent, then
across the Ohio River to Clarington to I seventy seven
near Caldwell, then eventually westward to I seventy five between

(20:55):
Dayton and Middletown, Ohio. On the phone, we've got the
execut diirect of the authority.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
He is Bob Miller. Bob, good morning, how are you, sir?

Speaker 5 (21:05):
Good morning, Mike going great.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
It's a pleasure to have you on board. Bob.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
I guess let's do a quick synopsis of where the
project is now.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Well, at this point, we're trying to get Governor Morrissey
and Governor Wine on board. Conversations with the White House
started under the Trump forty five administration back in seventeen
and we had quite a few meetings over there and

(21:36):
that sent us on to the Department of Transportation, Energy,
and Commerce. There was good support there. We lost all
communications in January twenty one and have just picked up
again earlier this year with the white Trump forty seven group,
and we were more or less given. They laid it

(21:57):
out that we have to have the two governors on
board for we can move forward in Washington. But that's
where we stand right now, so hopefully we can build
some more support. We've started a campaign with resolutions from
different not just our ten member counties. We've started getting

(22:20):
those in from them to support this I sixty eight project,
but we're also encouraging municipalities, businesses, people in the orl
and gas industry and so on to also sign the
resolutions and send them into US. Copied the resolution are
available on our Facebook page and so they could download

(22:46):
them from there if they would need to have the
word version of that to put it on their own letterhead.
Contact information is on there that they can contact the
authority and we can send that out to them.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
Well, Bob, I want to tell you that here in
mon County we're at the intersection of I seventy nine
and I sixty eight, And you know, I can tell
you infrastructure definitely means jobs. Just over the last eighteen months,
I've seen the addition of an owens and minor logistical warehouse,
mountaintop beverage which is likely poised for an expansion and

(23:22):
other expansion at the Morgantown Industrial Park and west Ridge
Development as well. So help us understand exactly what type
of economic development that this could foster here in the
Mountain state, specifically north central West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
Well, you just touched on a few of the things
new big things that are happening in Morgantown and this
Traditionally cities where two interstates intersect. You have sixty eight now,
but with the continued westward intersection, it would bring more
traffic to that high way way and increase the accessibility.

(24:02):
So definitely in the Fairmont, Clarksburg, Morgantown area, I believe
this would help going out through cross country and on westward.
It would increase the cross country traffic going through here
and make it a better known route to draw companies
when they're looking for locations. Would improve that. Ohio is

(24:28):
known for being a great manufacturing state. Plus they have
the shell oil and oil gas and raw materials advantage
that we have, so with that is a big reason
that we've started this push. Of course, the I sixty
eight project has been proposed for probably over forty years now,

(24:53):
and there was never enough economic incentive in between to
make it happen between here and between Morgantown and the
River Higher River. But now with sitting on top of
the energy that can power the manufacturers, they're also sitting

(25:14):
on top of the raw materials. As far as with
our location, we're within seven hundred miles of seventy percent
of the biggest market in the world, and that's the
sort of demographic, that's the sort of thing that manufacturers
look for when they're placing their companies in the centralized
location like we are. They're sitting on top of their energy.

(25:36):
They're sitting on top a lot of the companies with
plastics and so on related tight natural resources, they're sitting
on top of that too. So that brings costs way
down because you don't have to transport the energy, you
don't have to transport the raw materials to the plants.

(25:56):
Great cavera marketing director with Shell Crest at the USA.
It's a nonprofit made up of oil and gas owners investors.
They have traveled globally since probably about fifteen, twenty fifteen,
twenty sixteen, trying to bring more business into this area.

(26:21):
But they have great numbers. Great Cauzera had been at
most of the meetings in Washington with me back seventeen
and eighteen, in the conversations with the White House on
through twenty and the Department of Energy was probably the
biggest promoter of this, which surprised me. I thought transportation

(26:44):
would be the big supporter, But the Department of Energy
back then, they really pushed it. They get it and
so you have accessibility. Government's job is to provide infrastructure,
not to build the plants, and this is exactly what
we're trying to do here.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Got the executive director of the West Virginia Route to
I sixty eight Authority, Bob Miller with us. And now, Bob,
you mentioned that basically the dialogue went dark at the
close of the Trump forty five administration. Okay, now we're
at Trump forty seven. What are you hearing?

Speaker 2 (27:22):
If anything, we had.

Speaker 5 (27:25):
A meeting back in May at teleconference. We didn't go
over for this meeting. I had had surgery and couldn't
make it over. But basically the Deputy Director of inter
Governmental Affairs that oversees all the different possible branches of

(27:47):
government that would be dealing with the White House, we
had the meeting with her, and she more or less
came back and said, we have to have Governor Morrissey
and Governor to Whine on board to starting negotiations to
see if we can move forward with this. So that's
the stage we're at now. Tomorrow and Charleston Pray Casa

(28:09):
with Shellcrest and Senator Charles Clements. He's in your district there, Charles.
He had my position here at the Authority while he
was a Senator and head of the Chairman of Transportation
in the West Virginia Senate. But anyway, Charlie's going to
be at the meeting tomorrow also with the Department of Highways,

(28:31):
and we're going to kind of go back and forth
and see if we can't move this on to the
Governor's office and get Governor Morris he engaged, and hopefully
with his help we can pull Governor to wine in.
We believe that, of course, we want to see West
Virginia succeed. It's like a like a team effort in

(28:54):
my opinion that basically Ohio is a strong state and
the highway goes on through. It's nothing to our loss
that I see. It's gained for all of us because
we have more pool with having two states trying to
get this highway extended, Bob, they think it would benefit
us all.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Now, Bob, I guess wondering you mentioned that you're trying
to marshal the support of the county commissions in the
ten counties that are affected and beyond. Are you willing
maybe to come down to a place like Morgantown, Mont
County Commission and present something to the commissioners in order

(29:36):
to maybe at least get their feedback or have you
already presented something to them.

Speaker 5 (29:42):
Well, we haven't done a formal presentation, but when the
Authority was formed by West Virginia House Built twenty five
thirty nine back on April twelfth of nineteen ninety seven,
it was composed of ten member counties, and Mond County

(30:04):
is one of our member counties. There are two board members,
Delegate Joe Statler and also doctor John Deskins with WVU
Economic Department of Economics, and John puts together the economic
forecast annually in regions and presents this to the legislature

(30:29):
for helping planning with the upcoming years with his forecast.
So we've got a good team down there Inland County.
The Commission has been very supportive of us since I
came on board in twenty nineteen, and it's a good
group down there. Haven't done a formal presentation, but we've

(30:51):
talked have talked on the phone with some of the
commissioners over the years. We send them information periodic and
so yeah, we're in touchdown there, and of course I'd
be glad to come down and talk to them, but
I hate taking up their time with information that they
already know. But I'm willing to go down if they
ever meet us.

Speaker 3 (31:12):
Sure, Now, Bob, where can people get more information if
they'd like it?

Speaker 5 (31:19):
They can check out our website or our Facebook page
probably gets a lot more traffic. And that is WV
Route two and I sixty eight authority is what they
would look for on Facebook.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
And what about meetings? Do you have meetings maybe where
people could come and learn more?

Speaker 5 (31:42):
Yeah, we have them quarterly. And it's such a large area.
Our member counties follow the Higher River from the northern
tip of the Panhandle down to Parkersburg, so that is
Hancock County down through Wood County, and then we have
Marion County and monti Alia County over in your area.

(32:03):
So it's kind of a spread out block. So it's
hard to get all the members in. So we have
a centralized location and it seems to attract people. If
anybody familiar with Quinnette's Restaurant in New Martinsville, we have
quarterly meetings there.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
Okay, okay.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
You know, over the weekend, I was thinking about this
project and trying to trying to compare it to something
that we could present to the listeners to maybe, you know,
maybe help them understand a little bit more about what
the impact could be, and the only thing that I
could think of was the I seventy nine Tech Park

(32:41):
and how that, in its own small way, could be
an example for what could happen with the energy sector
along this corridor.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
Most definitely. That's why we up until originally we've been
referred to this project is the I sixty eight Energy Corridor.
And then as things developed and manufacturing potential with the
if you're familiar with the shell cracker up near Pittsburgh

(33:17):
about at the time it was built, about a six
billion dollars facility, and throughout our region up and down
the Ohigher River especially, there's potent. There was potential back
in the in seventeen eighteen for potential total of eight

(33:39):
five to eight total crackers of that magnitude. There was
one proposed across from Mountill, West Virginia, that would have
that worked its way up to ten million, and that
has yet to be built. But infrastructure like this encourages
that and a lot of the local businesses up and
down the Higher River Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburg or Fallen

(34:02):
Speak and so on, that they benefit from the shell
cracker that's up in Pittsburgh. It greatly reduces their raw
material cost transportation. Would take a month to two months
to get a train car of plastics up from Texas
is where they were getting the supply from. And at

(34:23):
this point within a matter of days, I've been told
by the former president up there that they can get
their materials in so they don't have to have excessive inventory.
It stabilizes their production, and that's the sort of thing
manufacturers look for when they're building. They don't like surprises,

(34:44):
and when you have distance, there's a chance that you
can't get your materials. So as things grow and time
goes on, I believe we'll have a lot more of
these huge crackers six billion, ten billion, I mean, those
are big plants. The one proposed across from Mountsville was
going to be the largest single plant construction ever done

(35:10):
in Ohio. Was just across the river from Mountsville, West Virginia.
So we're not talking small plants here absolutely.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Executive Director of the Route two I sixty eight Authority,
Bob Miller, Bob, appreciate your time this morning.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
Well, thank you very much, Mike for thinking of us.
You have a great day, and people were free to
contact us. I've posted the resolutions, as I said on
our Facebook page. If there are any organizations, businesses, or
municipalities so on, did one was support us by sending
us one of those, that would be great.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Okay, perfect, Bob Miller Executive, very much. Absolutely, you take care, Bob,
have a great Monday. We'll be back to wrap things
up after this on AM fourteen forty f M one
four point five w AJR.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.

Speaker 3 (36:14):
Well coming up later this week, we will welcome your
Community Foundation to the program. We'll be talking about their
mini educator grants and also we'll have some officials from
the Wisdom Academy coming that is another charter school here
in the city of Morgantown, and we'll get an update
on their status. And when we come back, we will

(36:35):
wrap things up and do the handoff to Metro News
talk Line on AM fourteen forty FM oneh four point
five WAJR