CHARLESTON — West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey talked a lot on the campaign trail last year about having an economic “Backyard Brawl” with neighboring states. He provided more details Thursday about those plans and the person who will be leading the charge.

In a press conference Thursday morning, Morrisey introduced Todd Johnston, deputy chief of staff and chairman of the new Energy, Infrastructure, and Competitiveness Council. Morrisey also discussed his top priorities for review: energy, infrastructure and competitiveness.

“Many of you have followed over the last few years where I’ve talked a lot about having a Backyard Brawl with all the states that we touch so we can grow economically,” Morrisey said. “I’m a believer in the power of competition; that if you start to look at what your state is doing in the economic arena and you compare it to all the states that you touch, you start to have barometers of where you stand and how you can be better at what you do.”

Taking its name from the rivalry between West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh, Morrisey’s Backyard Brawl will focus on comparing and contrasting West Virginia’s tax structure, rules and regulations against neighboring states and implementing plans to improve the Mountain State’s economic standing in comparison.

“Over the last few months, as we’ve been developing a number of ideas and also meeting with a lot of the personnel who would be wonderful advocates for the state of West Virginia,” Morrisey said. “Every single day that I wake up and every day that our whole cabinet wakes up, we’re focusing on how we can defeat all the states that we touch economically. And it’s a good, friendly competition.”

One of the individuals who will be working on fine-tuning West Virginia’s regulations is Johnston, who was previously the vice president of policy at ConservAmerica, a free-market nonprofit that works on environmental and conservation issues. Johnston also has a background in government, including serving as the staff director for the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittees on Energy and Environment.

“I really appreciate your confidence in me and the opportunity that we have before us,” Johnston said. “I’m looking forward to opening up the proverbial hood of the car and government here and seeing where we can make some real efficiency improvements and better coordinate our efforts with the federal government and get West Virginia up and running ready for business.”

“I think Todd has phenomenal experience working on a lot of the regulatory and competitiveness issues,” Morrisey said.

The first of eight executive orders issued by Morrisey last week directed all state departments, divisions, agencies and executive branch boards to begin reviews of all taxes, fees and legal requirements; create a comparison of those items with neighboring states; and report the findings to the Governor’s Office by April 24.

One area Morrisey wants to begin focusing on is permitting for energy, transportation and other infrastructure projects. Morrisey said he wants to remove any unnecessary red tape to speed up permit approvals at the state level and is already in conversations with the administration of President Donald Trump regarding federal permitting regulations.

“I think regulated businesses care a lot about having streamlined applications and how long it takes to get permits approved,” Morrisey said. “We’ve been in the process right now of reviewing that within the different departments … I want West Virginia to be known as the best in the country. We have a lot of construction projects coming out. We have a lot of things going on. I want to make sure that we’re moving with the right speed.”

Morrisey’s press conference was attended by representatives of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association and the Contractors Association of West Virginia. Morrisey said he wants to work closely with the business community, including on public-private partnerships and receiving feedback. A conference with business leaders is being planned for some time in March.

“If West Virginia starts to be number one with all the states that we touch, you’ll watch and see what it means in terms of moving up in the national economic rankings,” Morrisey said. “The goal is to get the business community engaged in this effort, because … we’re going to win, but we win as a team.”