Presley, Morefield offer different strategies for helping region

While they both list as a top priority helping the region out of its current economic malaise, the two candidates seeking the 3^rd District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates have different strategies for helping the area along Southwest Virginia’s northern boundary reach this goal.

“We need to continue diversifying our economy,” Democrat Vern Presley said in an interview about his campaign. “We’ve made some really bold moves [in Buchanan County] and I’d like to see them continue.”

Presley’s opponent in the Nov. 8 election, Delegate Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, also thinks the region needs to diversify its economy over the long-term so it no longer relies on coal. But for now, the one-term incumbent said, the region should focus its efforts on building the demand for its resources.

“The only way we can create jobs is to create demand for our resources,” he said. “In order to create wealth [for Southwest Virginia] we have to start producing again and we have to start manufacturing again.”

Diversify

If elected to office, Presley said, his experience serving as the attorney for the town of Grundy and the Buchanan County Industrial Development Association will help him come up with ways to attract new business and industry to the region.

“I want to help be a recruiter,” the Democratic candidate said, adding that one of the area’s greatest strengths is the amount of space it has available in its industrial parks. “I want to try to show off our industrial parks and help our localities market their sites.”

Presley touted Grundy’s efforts to rebuild its downtown with the addition of a new Walmart and other businesses that came out of its floodplain project. He said the effort helped the town reestablish itself as being Buchanan County’s economic center.

But while he’s happy to tout the region’s strengths and successes, Presley also admitted there are several obstacles the region must overcome to continue its economic growth. Chief among them is its infrastructure, he said, noting that not every part of the 3^rd District has what businesses want.

“You’ve got to do the basics first,” Presley said, adding that once the region has addressed its water and sewer infrastructure it should work on strengthening its transportation and broadband offerings.

Protect

Morefield is well aware of the fact that Southwest Virginia’s coal reserves won’t last forever, which is why he thinks the region should start coming up with ways to create new jobs. But this process takes time, the incumbent legislator said, and money that neither the state nor the region has right now.

That’s why his top priority is to find a way to reduce the burden recent federal environmental regulations have placed on the coal industry. These regulations make it harder for state government to issue new mining permits, he said, and are keeping the region from capitalizing on its resource wealth.

“We could be producing significantly larger volumes of coal if more permits were approved,” Morefield said, adding that the demand for coal is out there – especially for its ability to be a low-cost source of electricity for power plants – and could be even greater if more barriers were removed.

Morefield also said he firmly believes that natural gas, which also figures highly into his picture of the region’s resource wealth, can be an economic driver for Southwest Virginia if new technologies were developed to help use and produce it.

Chief among the potential opportunities for resource-based development is a new industry that would focus on converting large vehicles and busses so they run on natural gas rather than diesel fuel or traditional gasoline.

“Natural gas will play a role in boosting our country’s independence from foreign oil,” Morefield said, adding that developing this technology would also play a role in helping Southwest Virginia’s economy by creating new jobs.

gmclean@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2518

THE CANDIDATES:

Two men are running in the Nov. 8 election for the Virginia House of Delegates’ 3^rd District seat, which represents parts of Bland, Buchanan, Russell and Tazewell counties. Members of the 100-member house serve a two-year term in office and earn 17,640 a year.

Will Morefield (incumbent)

• Age: 27
• Family: Single
• Party: Republican
• Elected office: Seeking his second two-year term in the House of Delegates, where he is its youngest member
• Occupation: Runs the Shipping Center in Tazewell, Va.

Vern Presley

• Age: 45
• Family: Married and has a 14-year-old son at Twin Valley High School.
• Party: Democrat
• Occupation: Partner at the Street Law Firm in Grundy, Va.
• Community service: Grundy town attorney and works with the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority.