GREEN, Volume 31 Issue 11

Happy Summer!

Now that the Legislative Session is behind us we have returned to a bi-monthly newsletter. We hope that you will sign up for alerts and newsletters from our member groups to help you stay informed. There is no shortage of events and actions to take to help protect our environment!

Next up is our first in a series of town halls with the WV Department of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Advocate’s office. Please join us via Zoom on Thursday, June 17 from 5:30 – 7:00 PM to ask a question or discuss any concern you may have, or just listen in to the conversation. The town hall is open to the public but registration is required. 

The Environmental Advocate’s office “provides daily assistance to the public. The Environmental Advocate handles telephone requests or complaints on the office’s toll-free telephone. Requests for assistance can include questions about the public comment process; how to appeal agency decisions; how to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request; and the best method for getting agency attention for a community problem.” (from dep.wv.gov). Please go here to register for next week’s meeting. 

In other news, we are excited that Hannah King, our outreach coordinator and lobbyist, will monitor legislative interims and represent the WVEC throughout the rest of 2021! It has been a long-term WVEC goal to have a year-round staff person and we are so fortunate to have Hannah on board. This would not be possible without your donations and the support of our membership groups. To renew your membership or make a donation, please go here. 

As the world continues to reopen we hope to see you at our annual meeting on Saturday, October 9 at Coonskin Park in Charleston. Please save the date! This year’s event will be held in hybrid format so you can choose between attending in person or virtually. More details to come!

Thank you!
Linda Frame
WVEC President

Click an article title or thumbnail image to read the full article (text below is only an excerpt).

Chemical Plants and Protecting Your Community: Speak Up to EPA
OVEC
The EPA wants to hear from you as it revises the Clean Air Act’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. This rule is supposed to help community members and first responders understand and be better prepared to reduce risks from nearby chemical plants.
Tagged: Health, Pollution

Summer 2021 Fair Transition Webinar Series: “Putting Together the Pieces of a Fair Energy Transition – Leaving No One Behind.”
WV Center on Climate Change
In West Virginia and around the world, global warming and the climate crisis are driving a rapid transition to low-carbon-emission energy sources.  How can we secure a fair energy transition that provides effective climate solutions?
Tagged: Climate change

We Need Your Voice and Your Support – Demand Democracy: Help Pass the For the People Act
WV Citizen Action Group
To advance bold change in our democracy, we need bold solutions. The For the People Act (HR1/S1) is a once-in-a-generation democracy reform package to clean up our political system, expand and protect voting rights, end gerrymandering, and counter the power of big money in politics. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR4) would restore and update the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the most effective civil rights legislation in the history of the United States.
Tagged: Clean elections, Democracy, Legislation

Off-Highway Vehicles: A Threat to Our Public Lands
West Virginia Highlands Conservancy
Efforts have been persistent in promoting off-highway vehicle recreation on our public lands, Federal and state, in West Virginia in the state legislature for the last two years (see story on p. 10). For obvious reasons, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy strongly opposes allowing this activity on our public lands.
Tagged: Pollution, Water

Solar United Neighbors Hiring a West Virginia Program Associate
Solar United Neighbors
Solar United Neighbors is seeking a West Virginia Program Associate to lead SUN’s grassroots work and directly carry out SUN’s goals for its West Virginia program. Job duties, as well as additional responsibilities that may arise over the course of the year and in coordination with the Regional Director, can be found here.
Tagged: Opportunity