The West Virginia First Foundation, which was established to use drug lawsuit settlement money to try to alleviate problems related to addiction, reported having access to $378.5 million in financial resources and noted that more than $34 million in grants have been awarded since the organization’s start.

The West Virginia First Foundation met for a few minutes Thursday at Ascend West Virginia in Charleston. The meeting was also available for view through streaming.

Executive Director Jonathan Board highlighted the launch of the Community Catalyst Grant application and a statewide needs assessment intended to identify service gaps.

Designed as a three-year, outcomes-driven investment, the program will support projects focused on public safety response, day report centers and generational prevention efforts. The program opened for applications on June 1 and remains open through June 30.

“We’re very encouraged by the interest and engagement so far,” Board said.

The board also approved a $4 million funding request for the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute. The project is focused on expanding access to innovative addiction treatment and recovery support tools while building the technology and infrastructure needed to support implementation across West Virginia.

Additional details about the project and funding agreement are to be released in the coming weeks following the completion of final documentation. West Virginia First Foundation and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute plan to issue a joint announcement once the agreement process is complete.

“They’ve gone through a very rigorous process for the correct funding,” Board said. “Their team has presented an opportunity to fund a project that will build technology, training and support systems of care needed to expand access to an innovative addiction treatment approach throughout the state of West Virginia, and really beyond.”

The West Virginia First Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2023 to manage and distribute 72.5% of the state’s opioid settlement funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The organization is aimed at combatting the addiction crisis through grants and regional projects.

The next regular meeting of the Foundation’s Board of Directors is scheduled for Sept. 17 although it’s subject to change.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — A 107.5-mile transmission line project has been proposed, the MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, which would cut through parts of West Virginia to ultimately help power Virginia’s data center hub since there is not enough generation locally to serve them.

“Virginia gets the power and West Virginia gets the towers,” Del Chris Anders said. “What they did is they look west and said, hey, we’ll just use West Virginia but we’ll get this power and we’ll run this big extension cord. I’m all for exporting power from West Virginia. We are a power production state, but I’m not going to do so out of the wallets of West Virginians and allowing their property to be taken.”

During the 2026 legislative session, lawmakers put a bill on the table which was aimed at giving the state access to utilize these lines, but nothing made it to the finish line.

“We said, ‘Okay, if you’re going to run them through, you have to drop substations in West Virginia and by the way, West Virginia ratepayers will only pay for the amount of energy that stays within our state,’” Anders said.

A second line is also up for discussion. Valley Link Transmission hasn’t finalized any routes yet, but it would consist of 260 miles of transmission line and would add two substations between Frederick County, Maryland, and Putnam County.

With both of these lines, the main concern surrounding the proposals is who exactly is expected to foot the bill and whether or not it will ultimately fall back on West Virginia ratepayers.

“We’re going to be on the hook for anywhere between $440 million to over $900 million on both lines,” Anders said.

Lawmakers said those price tags continue to increase.

“At least for the MARL line, they went back to the grid operator, PJM, and said, ‘It’s going to cost significantly more money than it originally thought. Those estimates of the cost to West Virginia ratepayers are only going to go up,’” Del. Evan Hansen said.

These projects have gained bipartisan opposition. This is all beginning when representatives for these energy companies brought these proposals to lawmakers in January, noting that these lines would strengthen the entire grid.

But many lawmakers were not convinced, asking why they should support it if West Virginia has no direct benefit.

“It would increase our electric rates and private property owners might be faced with giving up their land or having their property values decline,” Hansen said.

It’s not only state officials voicing opposition. Public hearings have been held in the northern counties where community members shared their concerns with these projects that could go right through their backyards.

“We did hear from construction workers and electrical workers about the jobs, but otherwise it was uniformly against the construction of the project,” Hansen said.

An evidentiary hearing for MARL’s permit application will be held by the Public Service Commission on Oct. 26.