Charleston, West Virginia – West Virginians for Reliable and Affordable Energy, a coalition focused on strengthening the state’s electric grid, has appointed former Senate President Craig Blair as executive director. He steps into the role with a rallying cry: don’t sit quietly if unreliable energy policies jeopardize an America First economy in West Virginia.

“Our electric transmission grid is becoming unreliable and unable to support growth for West Virginia families, workers, business and manufacturing. You can’t restore American energy dominance with 50-year-old wires. It’s time to stop treating transmission lines as a local inconvenience and start recognizing transmission lines as vital infrastructure, crucial for our economy, our farms, our national strength, and our modern, rechargeable society.”

West Virginians for Reliable and Affordable Energy brings blunt, fact-driven accountability to the state’s energy discussions, not the status quo. “We need an America-First ready grid to protect families and businesses from rising costs, rolling outages, and lost economic opportunity,” Blair said.

Craig Blair brings decades of leadership to his role as Executive Director of West Virginians for Reliable & Affordable Energy. As a former President of the West Virginia Senate and long-time state legislator, Craig has been a driving force behind common-sense energy policies that strengthen America’s energy backbone and ensure affordable, reliable power for families and businesses.

Grid-related outages have surged in the US in recent years. Blair calls it a crisis of delay, dysfunction, and disinvestment.

“The Trump Administration has it right. Modernizing our grid is vital to strengthening our economic backbone,” Blair said, referring to Trump Administration executive orders declaring an energy emergency.

“Let’s say it plainly: ignoring the grid is negligence,” Blair said. “We need real infrastructure, not slogans. We can secure economic growth for generations, but not if we kick the can down the road. A strong grid isn’t optional. It’s survival. And we’re not going to apologize for demanding it.”