McDowell wins $75,000 Ready Sites grant to spur development

Governor Patrick Morrisey announced on January 12, 2026, that West Virginia awarded $2.1 million in Ready Sites Program grants to prepare development sites across 23 counties, with the McDowell County Economic Development Authority receiving $75,000. The Certified Sites & Development Readiness Program, administered by the Division of Economic Development, funds early-stage engineering, environmental and geotechnical work so communities can move faster when private employers evaluate locations.

The McDowell award is planning money, not construction money. Typical uses for a $75,000 grant include surveys, environmental assessments, geotechnical borings and similar pre-construction tasks that clear technical and regulatory hurdles. Those studies reduce uncertainty for site selectors by answering questions about soil stability, contamination risk, drainage and access before a company spends its own due diligence dollars.

For McDowell County the practical implications are straightforward. Rural areas often lose projects because a site appears risky or a developer faces long lead times waiting for baseline studies. By funding the kind of site readiness work that makes a parcel “shovel-ready,” the county improves its odds in a competitive market where employers compare prepared sites across regions. Smaller grants like this one can be catalytic if paired with local coordination on utilities, access roads and permitting timelines.

On a policy level, the grant follows a familiar economic development playbook: reduce information asymmetries and lower search and transaction costs for investors. State-level readiness programs concentrate scarce public dollars on tasks that typically block deals at the start of negotiations. For McDowell, that means the county can put a clearer, documented case in front of manufacturers, logistics firms or other employers considering expansion into Appalachia.

There are limits. A planning grant does not pay for utility extensions, site grading or building construction. Those capital needs remain hurdles that require private investment, federal infrastructure dollars or larger state grants. The value of the current award will depend on how McDowell EDA sequences the studies, prioritizes parcels with realistic access to power and transportation, and markets ready results to target industries.

The takeaway? This $75,000 is a practical, low-cost step toward making McDowell competitive in site selection rounds. Our two cents? Focus the funds on those definitive studies that remove the most uncertainty, coordinate with utility providers now, and get the resulting reports online so site evaluators can see McDowell is ready to move.