Interesting. I wondered why WV was at 5.1. I thought coal was on the decline. I found this.
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While coal production is certainly on a downswing, the past six months have seen a bump over last year because of the bitterly cold winter that required a lot more coal for utilities to keep homes warm. But when it comes to the natural gas side of the energy sector, Deskins explained there is a huge boon happening in the state as companies are extracting gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.
That certainly lends to the overall health of the economy, he explained.
“Natural gas is the huge driver in this index,” Deskins said. “There’s a growth of more than 20 percent in the last year — nothing else is even close to that
“It’s a big boost to our state,” he said. “Last year our state had the third-fastest growth in GDP among all of the states, mostly driven by the natural gas boon.”
http://www.timeswv.com/news/article_e2ec5c5c-33fe-11e4-accf-001a4bcf887a.html