Can the state of West Virginia establish a coal liquefaction industry using only its own resources? Of course not. But does that mean that the state should not take an active role in promoting coal liquefaction? Again, of course not.

The issue came up last week, through a disagreement between Gov. Joe Manchin and Delegate Melvin Kessler, D-Raleigh County, who is challenging Manchin in the Democratic Party primary election.

Manchin has been a proponent of coal liquefaction plants — but Kessler seems to disagree. Proposals that coal liquefaction plants be built are “just something used in a political year of promises,” he said last week.

He added that he isn’t certain that coal liquefaction plants would be cost-effective. Then, in something of a stunner, Kessler stated that, “I am not sure what a larger demand of coal would end up doing to West Virginia’s environment, by the coal companies being exempted from all the laws.