A $47.8 million request was approved for Longview Power, LLC, a new 695 megawatt electrical power generating facility under construction in the Morgantown area. Requests were also granted from Appalachian Power Company ($35 million) and Ohio Power Company ($30 million) for projects at the John Amos Power Plant in Putnam County.

The EDA also heard an update from American Clean Energy, LLC President Thomas E. Loehr regarding a planned biomass fueled electric generating facility in Mingo County.

Loehr, a former state lawmaker and treasurer, told the board of directors the project is ahead of schedule. He plans to construct a $150 million wood waste power plant at the Harless Wood Products Industrial Park near the Mingo-Logan county line. Projected capacity has been increased to 60 megawatts to be implemented in three stages over a three-year period. That’s twice the output originally planned.

“This will creating supply jobs within a 50-mile radius of the plant location,” said Loehr, of the 900,000 tons of wood waste such as limbs and treetops will be utilized per year.

The board approved preliminary loan application requests from West Hills Development, LLC for a Cabell County expansion project and to Randox Laboratories, Ltd. for an Eastern Panhandle project.

West Hills is getting a $4.3 million loan to finance the purchase and renovation of a former Ames retail location in Huntington to be converted into a DIRECTV inbound call center. Spokesman Bob Childers said 100 jobs will be added to the existing 697 when the facility is relocated in the fall of 2010 from the former Arch Coal building.

Randox is getting a $522,000 loan to finance a sales, warehousing and distribution facility in the Jefferson County community of Kearneysville. Based in Northern Ireland, the company develops and manufactures diagnostic reagents and systems. The site is expected to be staffed by 50 employees within three years.

Also approved was a loan insurance application in the amount of $320,000 to West Union Bank for Troy, LLC, a manufacturer of non-woven textiles including trim products for the automotive industry. The EDA is insuring a bank loan for the Harrisville project which enables the company to retain 41 jobs with projected growth to 60 over a two-year period.