Project Oasis defines Southwest Virginia as a location of choice in the Commonwealth for data centers based on power and broadband infrastructure along with the use of geothermal cooling technology with the billions of gallons of water collected in underground mines as a significant energy and cost-savings tool.

The harvest of a new line of malt barley here in June is bringing hope for a new cash crop to Southwest Virginia where the double whammy of declining tobacco production and the mining industry has hurt the area.