| WV state officials expect a $353 million deficit for the current budget year as revenues from unearthing coal, oil and natural gas continue to fall.
The Department of Revenue said Wednesday they projected a continued dive in severance tax revenue.
West Virginia's coal industry has been drying up in addition to low natural gas prices, related to a natural gas glut.
The decline in coal is linked to competition from other coal regions, reducing demand, dismal markets, ever dwindling coal seams and regulations, politicians blaming the decline of "Obama's War on Coal."
WV state government has had a longtime dependence on extractables to operate the state, critics saying the state economy has failed to diversify.
In October, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin cut most state agencies by 4 percent amid the budget woes. | 
