The West Virginia-DOE Partnership is Now Official

January 21, 2002

DOE's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) and the State of West Virginia held the 5th Industries of the Future - West Virginia Symposium on December 5th - 6th, 2001 at the Charleston Town Center Marriott Hotel in Charleston, West Virginia. The symposium featured the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding" (MOU) as well as keynote speakers, workshops, short courses, and breakout sessions. The symposium also provided participants the opportunity to discuss ways to develop scientific and operational steps to increase production, save energy, cut costs, and bolster market competitiveness.

The Symposium opened with IOF-WV industry group reports given by the following:

Aluminum - Ric Love, Century Aluminum
Chemicals/Polymers - Rick Hodge, DuPont Chemicals
Glass - Berri Fox, Marble King
Metal Casting - Pat Minehardt, HK Castings
Mining - Scott Rotruck, Consol Energy
Steel - Tim Duke, Steel of West Virginia
Wood/Forest Products - Lori Hamer, Hamer Pellet Fuels
Cross Cutting Technologies - Jan Berkow, Applied Industrial Solutions, Inc.

OIT Denise Swink, Governor Bob Wise, and State IOF Coordinator Carl Irwin participated in a ceremonial MOU signing at the West Virginia IOF Symposium.

West Virginia State Senators Books McCabe and Vic Sprouse, and Governor Robert E. Wise all presented luncheon speeches addressing West Virginia's low energy costs and recruited business, environmental, labor, and education leaders to draft a 20-year state energy plan. Senator Sprouse said, "I look at Industries of the Future as being a role model that we can use in many other areas of the state. It is a model of academics, the public- and private-sector, in partnerships, all working and striving together to move our State forward in particular industries."

West Virginia Governor Bob Wise and DOE's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Technologies Denise Swink, signed the MOU in a ceremony at the symposium. The MOU signifies an intent to expand cooperative efforts through the national IOF program on energy efficiency projects and new technologies for West Virginia's energy-intensive manufacturing companies. Governor Wise stated, "Industries of the Future is a vital part of economic development, because one of our main goals is the retention of business. It's easier to help retain a business that has been here for a number of years and help it expand, than it is to lure a new business to our state."

"West Virginia was the first state to launch an IOF program," said Carl Irwin, West Virginia's IOF Director and West Virginia Director of Market Enhancement and Program Development at WVU's National Research Center for Coal and Energy. "After West Virginia became a State IOF, 25 additional states then initiated and established their own IOF programs."

For more information on the 5th Industries of the Future - West Virginia Symposium or States IOF, please contact Sandy Glatt at 202-526-3897 or sandy.glatt@ee.doe.gov.