West Virginia‘s three elected representatives have been bust bringing home the bacon to the Mountain State.

Democrat Reps. Alan Mollohan, Nick Rahall, and Republican Shelley Moore Capito have earmarked over $45 million for 41 projects in thew State of West Virginia. The grand total comes to $45,887,000, spread out among seven appropriations bills.

Joining Sen. Robert Byrd as the West Virginia earmark co-king is Mollohan, who requested $28,151,000 in earmarks. This includes at least two projects being managed by the Vandalia Heritage Foundation. We have been following those two projects – the first being the Cottrill’s Opera House:

Mollohan earmarked $150,000 for the Cottrill’s Opera House restoration project, located in Thomas, W.Va. The funding comes from the Fiscal Year 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill, through the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Grant Program. There are 456 earmarks in the 2010 Interior budget, totaling $467,788,000.

The current Cottrill’s Opera House structure has been in existence since 1902. Despite being called an opera house, the facility was a vaudeville theater serving the local coal mining and lumber communities. Later serving as a movie theater until closing in 1973. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The other project is the design of a new Army National Guard Armory/Civic Center in Parkersburg:

Mollohan included two earmarks for the design of a new Army National Guard facility on Fort Boreman Hill in Parkersburg, W.Va. in the 2010 House Military Construction Appropriations Bill. $967,000 was earmarked for a Field Maintenance Shop and $2,234,000 was earmarked for a Readiness Center. The new facility would also double as arena for entertainment events. The Wood County Development Authority is buying a piece of property on the hill for $4 million and recently named Vandalia as the project manager for the site.

West Virginia Watchdog – Mollohan Earmarks Money for New Vandalia Project

Vandalia Heritage Foundation, the partner for both projects, is one of five non-profit groups that have benefited from the majority of Mollohan’s earmarks. Between 1999 and 2006 Vandalia received 92 percent of their funding from Mollohan earmarks. Mollohan is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for the last three years due to not reporting his income and the funneling of millions of dollars of earmarks to friends and associates. Laura Kuhns, the President and CEO of Vandalia, is a former Mollohan staff member.

Coming in behind Mollohan in earmarks were Capito, with $9,300,000 in requests, and Rahall, with $8,436,000 in requests.

But, as usual, don’t take our word for it. We have complied all the earmarks in a handy report below:

House Earmarks

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