The following was written by former WVEC board member and 2011 Mother Jones awardee, Mary Wimmer. She wrote and published this article in Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine at East Tennessee State University, Volume 12, Number 1 in 1995. It’s a fantastic summation and reflection on the origins of WVEC.
Birth of a Citizen Coalition: West Virginia’s Environmental Council
By Mary J. Wimmer
When it comes to environmental protection, Appalachia in general and West Virginia in particular are not generally regarded as cutting edge. In fact books such as Harry Caudill’s 1962 Night Comes to the Cumberlands speak to the region’s long history of exploiting its natural and human resources. How then did it come to be that a National Governors Association bulletin was able to report: “The [1991] West Virginia Ground Water Protection Act is one of the strongest state groundwater protection measures yet enacted”?
The main reason West Virginia has produced such strong environmental legislation can be traced to a group of citizens who organized into a powerful political force, the West Virginia Environmental Council (WVEC). As a member of the WVEC board since its christening at a meeting held in a Morgantown Hardees in late 1989, I have watched the WVEC develop into the central voice of the environmental movement in this Appalachian state.
The youngest of 40-some state environmental coalitions, the WVEC is one of the broadest-based of them all. Composed of national, statewide, and local groups, it includes a very eclectic mix of people, from housewives to professors to lawyers to farmers. In contrast to other more issue-oriented coalitions, the WVEC is unique in its involvement in virtually all the major environmental issues facing West Virginia.
By the late 1980s, citizens groups were forming all over West Virginia, groups such as the Friends of the Little Kanawha (FOLK); People Concerned with MIC (methyl isocyanate of Bhopal fame); the Team Effort Against Ruining Southern West Virginia (TEARS WV), and Mon Organization for a Viable Environment (MOVE). Such groups usually formed in response to a local environmental issue, such as a mega-landfill proposal, a strip mine expansion, chemical plant emissions, or some other perceived threat to a community’s quality of life.
Meanwhile, environmental issues had moved into the forefront of the nation’s agenda. Statewide and national groups, groups like the Sierra Club, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited, had established a presence in West Virginia. These groups deal with a host of issues, from the local to the national level. Because these groups tend to be around for the long haul, they often provide underlying support for many local initiatives.
All told, six main ingredients went into the development of the WVEC. The first essential ingredient was citizen volunteers, and West Virginia had hundreds of them in organizations scattered across the state. About a dozen West Virginia environmental leaders saw the need and the opportunity to create a formal coalition among the numerous citizen groups. We felt that by developing an efficient communication network, we could greatly expand our influence and harness the energy of the thousands of West Virginia citizens concerned about environmental matters.
We believed that we could make environmental protection a statewide priority.
The Groundwater Coalition
At a 1987 conference held at West Virginia University in Morgantown, 150 attendees heard experts describe the nature of the various threats to the state’s groundwater quality. Groundwater is found below the water table and serves as a source of both well water and stream water. Over 50 percent of West Virginia’s population, and over 90 percent of its rural population, depend directly on groundwater for their drinking water. The quality of West Virginia’s groundwater was being threatened by pollution from numerous human activities, such as coal mining, natural gas extraction, waste disposal, agricultural use of chemicals, and the operation of septic tanks.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a New York-based national organization that makes use of market forces and the courts to address environmental issues, had recently set up an office in Charleston. In 1989, EDF received a grant from the Virginia Environmental Endowment (VEE), a private foundation based in Richmond, Va.
One of VEE’s goals is to improve water quality in the Kanawha and Ohio River Valleys. The grant was to help EDF organize a West Virginia Groundwater Coalition to provide a political block strong enough to pass a good groundwater protection act, an act considered critical to the future of this relatively pure West Virginia resource. In 1990, when EDF closed its West Virginia office, the Endowment funded the West Virginia Citizen Action Group (WV CAG), a Charleston-based organization that works on issues related to health care, government ethics, and the environment. WV CAG was to finish the job that EDF had started.
What the VEE didn’t realize at the time was that these grants also planted the seeds for what was to become the WVEC. WV CAG ultimately hired a full-time environmental coordinator, a former coal operator named Norm Steenstra, to do the coalition’s organizing work. Today, Steenstra is still the environmental coordinator for WV CAG as well as a WVEC board member and its chief lobbyist.
Hiring Steenstra moved us away from being a solely volunteer workforce and provided the fledgling organization with a person who had the time, as well as the energy, political savvy, love of media, and dedication to make this Coalition succeed. Having a paid staff person was the second key ingredient in what eventually evolved into the highly effective WVEC.
Being able to lay claim to office space was the third ingredient that moved the Coalition forward. The Groundwater Coalition was based in WV CAG’s office in Charleston. Located a few minutes from the state capitol, CAG became the main contact point and meeting place for those from all around the state who came to Charleston to lobby for environmental legislation. Staff members and volunteers could take phone messages, hold meetings, activate phone trees, have access to a computer and a Xerox, and, last but certainly not least, enjoy the luxury of having a place to change into comfortable clothes from more formal lobbying attire. Many of us found the CAG office a safe and comforting place after a day surrounded by industry lobbyists.
The fourth crucial ingredient was our newsletter. What began as the Groundwater Coalition Newsletter became GREEN, the Grass Roots Environmental Effort Newsletter of the WVEC. GREEN’s first editor, Sheila McEntee of the National Audubon Society, put it out at the end of every week of the legislative session, a feat begun by Steenstra and Joyce Cooper of WV CAG during the early Groundwater Coalition days. It usually came out monthly when the legislature was in recess. This report kept hundreds of people throughout the state up-to-date on environmental activities. It went to anyone who asked for it, free if need be.
Activists had fun reading GREEN. It was freewheeling environmentalism at its best, giving volunteers a fine platform for their issues. Not only was legislative action discussed, but also anything that dealt with the environment could find its way into GREEN’s pages from cartoons to profiles of WVEC members. Its reporting of environmental groups’ activities around the state always confirmed the strength of the movement, and Steenstra’s tongue-in-cheek humor could uplift any tired volunteer (as well as irritate a politician now and then).
Outgrowing a Name
It didn’t take long for Steenstra to realize that groundwater protection was only one of the many issues facing West Virginia. People began coming out of the woodwork to beat him over the head about their particular concerns: from mine reclamation and acid mine drainage to medical and hazardous waste incinerators to land use and public lands. To protect Norm’s precious head, the Coalition newsletter began covering these and other key topics.
Solid waste became a major rallying issue. Norm Steenstra dubbed this particular group of activists “The Garbage Crazies.” They were led by Martha Huffman of the Wetzel County group Halt Out-of-State Garbage (HOG). She was called the “Housewife from Hell” in a July 1991 Family Circle article on women who have made a difference.
Developers had proposed importing thousands of tons of municipal waste per day from out-of-state metropolitan areas. From 1988 to 1991, with pressure from the Coalition, the West Virginia Legislature passed some of the most progressive and comprehensive legislation on rural solid waste management in the nation.
They were drawn to West Virginia by the availability of lots of cheap land. Since rural West Virginia had no effective land use planning in place, its citizens did not have a say in land use decisions. The outside firms usually targeted economically depressed areas, such as McDowell or Berkeley counties, and promised them jobs. The two largest proposed landfills would each ultimately take in 3.6 million tons of garbage annually, together more than five times that generated by the entire state.
Soon people from all over the state were committed to stopping West Virginia from becoming the dumping capital of the East. Monstrous landfills for out-of-state waste would generate huge profits for the dump owners. Meanwhile, landfill leachate would threaten the quality of the state’s ground and surface waters. West Virginia’s mountain topography would be destroyed as its valleys and streams were filled. Its roads, which were not designed for huge haul trucks, would rapidly deteriorate. Finally, these massive landfills would promote a very common “out-of-sight and out-of-mind” mentality, undermining efforts at recycling, biodegradation, and conservation so badly needed nationwide.
Activists also realized that West Virginia’s own solid waste, amounting to approximately 120,000 tons per month at the time, needed to be dealt with more effectively. We needed to stop the waste from either ending up in unlined landfills or in roadside/riverside dumps. Recognizing the connection with groundwater protection, the solid waste groups naturally joined, first the Groundwater Coalition and later the WVEC. They became a great source of citizen influence in the state legislature.
From 1988 to 1991, with pressure from the Coalition, the West Virginia Legislature passed some of the most progressive and comprehensive legislation on rural solid waste management in the nation. Tom Degen of Chloe, W. Va., became WVEC’s expert on solid waste bills. Two of the most important pieces of legislation passed were the 1990 Solid Waste Referendum and the 1991 Comprehensive Solid Waste Acts.
The 1990 Solid Waste Referendum Act gave citizens the right to petition for a referendum in which they could vote on whether to approve construction in their county of a “Class A” landfill, one that accepts 10,000 or more tons of waste per month. The first referendum, made possible by the Barbour County Concerned Citizens aided by WVEC, halted a large landfill. When this developer went into nearby Webster County, Doyle Coakley, a local farmer, gathered his neighbors (and the signs used in Barbour County) and quickly drove him out. These victories were important examples of new local empowerment against out-of-state exploitation.
Governor Gaston Caperton actually called a Special Session of the State Legislature in 1991 to pass the West Virginia Comprehensive Solid Waste Act. Among other things, this law reduced what could legally be placed in landfills (no yard waste, tires, batteries). It increased recycling provisions, and, critical to addressing the problem of mega-landfills for out-of-state waste, it placed a cap on landfill size of 30,000 tons per month.
This limit did what a McDowell County referendum narrowly missed accomplishing: It drove out the Philadelphia, Pa., developer proposing a huge landfill there. Since passage of this legislation, there has been over a 15 percent reduction in the amount of local waste that has been deposited in West Virginia landfills.
Back to the Tale
Let’s see. So far, we have lots of volunteers, Norm Steenstra and staff, the CAG office, and GREEN. The last two ingredients were Environment Day (E-Day) in the legislature and the Annual Environmental Convention.
The first E-Day was on January 22, 1990. During this landmark event, over 600 people from around the state came to the Capitol to declare the 1990s as the “Decade of the Environment” in West Virginia. The diversity of groups, from Mountaineers for a Clean Environment to the new Vandalia Chapter of the State Audubon Council, showed in the numerous display tables overflowing with environmental propaganda and t-shirts. Speakers Lois Gibbs, who became an activist when she discovered that her Love Canal, N. Y., home had been built atop a toxic waste dump, and Brock Evans, a Washington lobbyist for the National Audubon Society, highlighted the day. Evans and I gave formal presentations on the condition of our state and federal environmental protection programs to the House of Delegates.
Constituents bombarded their legislators with environmental concerns. The events were covered by the statewide media, thanks largely to reporter Monty Fowler of the Huntington (W.Va.) Dispatch. This first E-Day’s great success solidified WVEC’s course.
The first Annual Environmental Convention was put together in September, 1989, at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center near Ripley, in the western part of the state. Open to everyone, the meeting’s main purpose was to assemble the state’s environmental advocates and put together the following year’s legislative and nonlegislative agendas.
The opening session, dubbed “We all live on a dot,” allowed us to share personally why we were there. This gathering, more than any other of the weekend, made me aware of how powerful we could be. The remaining sessions consisted of brainstorming and consensus building among the more than 100 attendees, with no formal voting. It worked great. All participants had a chance to contribute to the final product, Blueprint for the Environment, edited by Brian Hagenbuch. With its detailed descriptions of each issue, this booklet was a great aid in educating activists. Also out of this meeting came a working group charged with developing bylaws for a more formal, broad-based coalition that, by year’s end, had been named the West Virginia Environmental Council.
Over 300 people attended the 1990 Convention at Jackson’s Mill near Weston. The Saturday morning Dot session, as these key sessions came to be known, lasted for hours. The daunting task of reaching consensus was accomplished first by breaking into small groups, each focused on a specific issue, then by regrouping.
WVEC: Nuts & Bolts
Planners of WVEC decided early on not to make the Coalition a typical membership organization. Most activists were already committed to a particular group, and we wanted their energy augmented, not diminished in any way. Also, we did not want the Council bogged down in organizational paperwork. The WVEC has just enough of a structure to solidify the statewide coalition, but it grants a great deal of autonomy to the constituent individuals and groups who “join” simply by being put on the mailing list and showing up for Council actions. Sierra Club’s Jim Kotcon helped us construct a set of bylaws consistent with this open-policy goal. By and large, this important concept has served us well. In August 1991, WVEC was incorporated as a state non-profit organization.
Our structure is based on geography, not member groups. I believe this has worked to our advantage by minimizing the turf battles often typical of other environmental coalitions. We divided the state into eight regions; within each region, activists select three local representatives for three-year terms that rotate in order to provide continuity. These 24 people, along with three at-large members and the recent addition of three organizational members from issue-based state coalitions, such as the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, make up the 30-member Board of Directors. We operate by consensus.
Even with a large board, it works. The office of Council president is a key position. The president, currently computer consultant Beth Little of Hillsboro, facilitates our almost quarterly meetings and keeps the WVEC calendar of events on track. Acting as a WVEC spokesperson is often a minor part of the job. Due to the member groups’ autonomy, individuals are careful about what is said on behalf of the whole Council.
Past presidents Perry McDaniel, a Charleston lawyer, and Kim Baker, a Huntington environmental organizer, not only got the WVEC off to a good start, but they also dealt well with our initial growing pains. Most have been minor. Some of these, not surprisingly, involved personality clashes and turf conflicts. I believe that the latter were inevitable as we tried to fashion an umbrella group without infringing on the roles that the individual groups had traditionally played.
When a person or group is committed to a cause, the necessary funds somehow appear. What I have found amazing is how little money it really takes to make a big impact, especially when you consider the comparatively huge sums of money industry spends to counter our efforts. WVEC operates on an annual budget of under $10,000.
After the VEE grants got us off to a good start, WVEC scraped for funds from member organizations and individuals. In addition, we took advantage of WV CAG’s subsequent grants and generosity in terms of staff support, office space, and copying equipment, and we made it work. West Virginia’s mainstream environmental organizations provide most of the funds: WV Highlands Conservancy, Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, Audubon Council, WV Rivers Coalition, and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC). These funds, along with the free housing provided by Charleston environmentalists, give citizens who might not otherwise have the means the opportunity to devote significant hours on the legislative front. In addition to the funding, many individuals donate lots of volunteer time.
Education
One of the most important things WVEC is able to do is educate volunteers and staff on key issues by calling on activists who have specific areas of expertise. For example, for a question on incineration, we went to Missy Wolverton, a feisty woman who moved to Charleston from Calhoun County and became a critical part of our lobbying team. For a mining question, we started with Cindy Rank of Rock Cave or Tom Rodd of Morgantown; for air toxics, we had Brian Hagenbuch of Huntington. As the West Virginia University scientists in the group, Jim Kotcon and I, tagged the “technicrats,” were called upon to give scientific or technical interpretations, as well as to help draft and review lots of legislative bills. And of course, if we ever needed the proverbial “sound bite,” we went to Norm Steenstra.
Everyone gave legislative testimony. We became competent at quickly planning finely orchestrated presentations that analyzed the issue in question, conveyed broad public concern, and more than balanced the opponents’ efforts. Phone lines were always burning as our folks in Charleston reached out to our regional contacts with the latest news and needs.
The Groundwater Bandwagon
Initially, WVEC’s main legislative goal was passage of a bill that would effectively protect West Virginia’s groundwater. The main push, begun with the VEE Groundwater Coalition grant, culminated in 1991 with the passage of the West Virginia Groundwater Protection Act. The whole process took just over three years, not long for such a comprehensive piece of legislation.
During both the 1989 and 1990 legislative sessions, we attempted to get our own progressive bill passed with the help of House Speaker Chuck Chambers, a Democrat from Huntington who signed on as sponsor. The bill’s main feature was the “non-degradation” clause. This clause stipulated that West Virginia’s existing groundwater quality would be maintained, even if that quality actually surpassed what was necessary to provide safe drinking water. In contrast, industry wanted to allow groundwater pollution as long as the level of pollutants met standards that supposedly protect beneficial uses.
Another key part of our bill was a citizen suit provision which would allow a person to sue another for polluting groundwater, a provision that industry could not abide. The opposing forces – primarily coal, natural gas, chemical, and agricultural businesses and their trade groups – beat our legislation back repeatedly, but we kept making slow progress.
