POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — The hits just keep on coming for Mason County. This week Governor Patrick Morrisey’s office announced plans by two major companies, both of which have already announced plans to locate there, to collaborate on the same site.

Fidelis and Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) are joining forces for development of the B&W BrightLoop facility on a site north of Point Pleasant. Developers call it an “all of the above” approach to powering an on-site A-I data campus.

Mason County Commissioner Rick Handley said it will be a sprawling facility and will be another major employer for their county.

“Just to have this type of facility with Babcock and Wilcox working with Fidelis to come up with these data centers is going to be a tremendous boost to people all along the East Coast,” said Handley.

Beyond the impact of the development, he said it will also be a huge boost to his county and the entire state of West Virginia. The Bright Loop facility will use a cutting edge process to convert West Virginia’s abundant natural resources of coal, natural gas, and bio-fuels like wood into hydrogen. The hydrogen energy would power the data center to be built on the same site as well as other future development.

“A 60 inch gas line coming through Mason County, maybe 200 tons of coal per day and we’re talking about using electricity and we have power plants in this area,” he explained.

There are three power plants within only a few miles of the site which will cover more several hundred acres. Handley said they are even in the process of folding up the local airport to make more developable land.

“They wanted contiguous acres, they didn’t want 500 acres here and 500 acres five miles away. All of this is together and will come in phases. The first phase will include the airport along with property adjacent to the airport,” he explained.

The timeline on the project seems to be open-ended, but Handley believed creation of the alternative power would lead to more spinoff industries. He thinks Mason County’s true potential is only starting to be tapped by large companies who are realizing it’s available. The county includes two navigable rivers with barge access, railroads, and Handley said they have already had discussions with the Morrisey Administration about upgrading Route 2 to give trucks better access to the sites where industry is starting to grow.

“Nucor found us. Fidellis and Babcock and Wilcox is coming, who knows, we still have more land. If people want to come to Mason County send them on in,” he said.