Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed a half dozen bills on Thursday that he said will deliver on his “All-American, All-of-the-Above Energy Plan.”

“Today is a great day for Virginia energy and American energy,” Youngkin said. “With the bills I’m signing, we’re moving closer to delivering on the All-American, All-of-the-Above Energy Plan I put forward last year. We can, in fact, make Virginia energy more reliable, affordable and clean while creating jobs and spurring innovation, and today is a testament to that.”

Youngkin said the legislation will help make Southwest Virginia the energy capital of the commonwealth while unleashing potential for the entire state.

The bills include HB 2386, introduced by Del. Israel O’Quinn (R), that creates the Virginia Power Innovation Fund, intended to jumpstart the creation of energy technologies and start to set up a nuclear innovation hub in the state. Other technologies that it will fund include carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, and energy storage.

The governor also signed Quinn’s HB 1779, creating the Nuclear Energy Grant Fund that will award grants to the commonwealth’s colleges and schools for the creation of employment and training pathways in the nuclear power industry, including nuclear engineering and nuclear welding.

A third bill from Quinn also got signed by the governor: HB 1781, which empowers the Southwest Virginia Energy Research and Development Authority to promote projects on brownfield coal sites, develop the energy workforce in the region and advance southwest Virginia’s energy industry. The research and development authority is a panel that seeks to promote energy development in the region, consistent with Virginia’s Energy Plan.

Youngkin signed HB 1643, which was introduced by House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore (R), which holds that it is the policy of Virginia to use coal mine methane gas produced from an underground area associated with mined-out coal seams. It requires the Department of Energy to evaluate the resource’s potential and to come back with a report to Youngkin and legislators on its findings by Nov. 15.

“Having lived my whole life in Southwest Virginia, I know the promise that exists in our mountains and valleys,” Kilgore said. “Energy innovation brought good paying jobs, and my bill to support the capture and use of coal mine methane from former coal sites is another example of Southwest Virginia leading the way in energy innovation.”

Sen. Travis Hackworth’s (R) SB 1468 provides that funds in localities’ Coal and Gas Road Improvement Funds may go toward flood mitigation infrastructure in the southwest of the state. Current law allows localities to tax up to 1% of the revenue from coal and gas production for building out roads and new water and sewer infrastructure.

The final bill Youngkin signed came from Del. Will Moorefield (R). HB 2178 is meant to add more coal mine methane extraction to the jobs eligible to receive green and alternative energy job creation credits.