A couple of weekends ago Lynnda and I rode the Greenbrier Express Winter Special from Cass, West Virginia, to the small mountain village of Durbin, West Virginia.

Pulled by a 100-plus-year-old steam locomotive, the train follows the crystal-clear Greenbrier River through a wilderness portion of the Monongahela National Forest. Most of the scenery we saw is accessible only by train or on foot. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant in Durbin then grabbed some tasty scooped ice cream at a souvenir store before boarding the train for the return trip to Cass.

We had a chance to visit with others on the train and have lunch with travelers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. There were probably other West Virginians, but we didn’t meet any.

In 1985 a flood washed out major portions of this rail line including a bridge. A public/private initiative between the West Virginia State Rail Authority and the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad replaced the bridge and reconstructed the track, allowing train traffic to resume in 2023. The West Virginia Division of Tourism and the State Rail Authority have done a great job of marketing the state and the tourist railroads. The train was sold out.

The night before we stayed at a hotel in Elkins, West Virginia. At the outdoor fireplace, we met a group of women from Maryland who traveled to West Virginia for the weekend to hike in the National Forest. People are traveling to our region, staying in hotels, buying meals and enjoying our attractions. We live in a special area of the USA and the world, even if we don’t always realize it or appreciate it.

Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia (The Shale Crescent USA) has beautiful mountains, rivers, lakes, championship golf courses, ski resorts, white water rafting, hunting, fishing, professional sports, entertainment, theme parks with thrilling roller coasters and friendly communities to live in. I’m sure there are many other positive aspects of the Shale Crescent USA that I’m not aware of. We don’t always realize or appreciate what is all around us. I didn’t see many of the attractions in Ohio or Pennsylvania where we lived until we moved and I returned as a visitor or tourist. We can travel the world and miss what is in our own backyard.

The Shale Crescent USA organization has been having regular Zoom calls to Europe and Asia since SelectUSA last year. In preparation for our European trip in March, calls are weekly. Last week we talked with the managing director of a European company who has their U.S. facility in our region. We asked why they came and why they stay.

They came because of the large U.S. market, economical energy and incentives. Why they stay was eye opening. The director said, “People in your region work! They are more productive than our people in Europe.”

His next comment surprised me, “Your schools are better than ours.” I had been led to believe European education was superior to the USA. He then added, “Your schools are getting better. Ours are getting worse.” Of course, in the U.S. school quality can vary widely. It was still good to hear. Constant improvement is essential. We should know our strengths and what we are doing right.

European companies are concerned about their lack of energy and its cost. Public policy and infrastructure prevent us from sending more needed natural gas to Europe. Germany is putting more coal powered electricity on their grid. Even tearing down a wind farm to get to the coal under it. European companies are interested in coming here because of our dependable economical energy. They now know depending on Russia for energy was a mistake. Outsourcing manufacturing to China isn’t such a good idea if emissions are important. One comment we hear from Europeans is, “Don’t make the same mistakes we did on energy.” The Shale Crescent message is. … Come to the USA with your energy dependent processes and you can ship products all over the world.

Our region is changing even if we don’t notice it. It’s like the Kozera family reunion when I was a kid. My aunts who only saw us at the reunion would always say, “Oh, how much you have grown!”

We did grow a lot in a year. The relatives we saw regularly never noticed our growth. We don’t have a second cracker yet. Eventually we will. We are seeing manufacturing growth. Manufacturing plants of all types are springing up in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. We are less dependent on China. Shell, Nucor Steel and Intel are just three of many examples. In the Charleston area we have U.S. Methanol and Green Power Motor Co.

What we don’t notice is the quiet expansion of companies already here, like my friend in Jackson County adding three new lines. This week we met with the Business Manager of an organized labor council. When we met pre-pandemic, his two goals were; To increase the number of apprentices and have his members work locally sleeping in their own beds instead of working out of town. Both have happened.

Expansions of companies already here made this possible. His biggest concern now is meeting the demand for labor as new announced projects move to construction and maintenance.

People are coming to our region as tourists, like the train ride. They see the beauty we may be missing. Europeans see our energy, abundant water, education system, markets and work force as our strengths. People living here take much of this for granted. This is a great place to live. We have a quality of life people envy. Focusing on our weaknesses and short comings will leave us disappointed. Leaders develop people. They do that by identifying their people’s strengths and working to develop them. Our region has abundant strengths to further develop. We have a great story to tell.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.