Urgent: Water Under Multiple Attacks!

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West Virginia Environmental Council Action Alert

Feb 3, 2015	View this Alert Online

THREE MAJOR ATTACKS ON WATER IN ONE ACTION ALERT!1) Drinking Water Protections in Jeopardy Waters classified as “Category A” by WV’s Water Quality Standards are protected for current or future drinking water use. An industry amendment to severely limit Category A protections is expected to be voted on by the Senate Natural Resources Committee tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2 p.m. Click here to view WV Rivers’ Category A Fact Sheet.Tell the members of this committee to protect our drinking water supplies and:a. Support DEP’s proposal to remove the Category A exemption for the Kanawha River.

b. Reject attempts to weaken Category A protections statewide.

The committee will also be considering a bill dealing with radioactive drilling waste in our landfills. Radioactive elements will leach from landfills and end up in our water supplies. Tell them protect our water, land and people and don’t increase radioactivity in our landfills!

Senate Committee Leadership: Robert L. Karnes – Chair robert.karnes@wvsenate.gov (304) 357-7906

Mark R. Maynard – Vice Chair Mark.Maynard@wvsenate.gov (304) 357-7808 Committee Members:

bob.beach@wvsenate.gov; douglas.facemire@wvsenate.gov; william.laird@wvsenate.gov; ronald.miller@wvsenate.gov; herb.snyder@wvsenate.gov; bob.williams@wvsenate.gov;

greg.boso@wvsenate.gov; Kent.Leonhardt@wvsenate.gov; mike.hall@wvsenate.gov; david.nohe@wvsenate.gov; drtomtakubo@gmail.com

2) Public Hearing on Coal Pollution Permits (H.B. 2566) This Thursday at 2 p.m. in Room 215-E, the House Energy Committee is holding a public hearing for citizens to weigh in on a bill that would remove from coal operators’ permits the requirement to comply with water quality standards. This removes a critical backstop in preventing pollution that harms life in streams, and in holding polluters accountable. Excusing coal producers from meeting water quality standards will set us up to cause our streams to be even more unhealthy and to place a greater burden on taxpayers to clean them up.

This bill also proposes calculation of aluminum criteria based on the hardness of the stream. This would significantly significantly weaken existing protections in all but the most pristine streams and, as hardness increases, it will become increasingly less stringent. And in high-hardness conditions witnessed typically in streams that are impacted by coal mining and quarrying, the rule represents a significant weakening of the existing criteria. So please come to the public hearing Thursday and express your objection to coal producers getting off the hook in keeping our rivers alive and healthy!

3) Industry Looking to Undo Tank Bill HB2574 was introduced today to gut the “tank bill” passed last year to protect our waters from leaky aboveground storage tanks. The bill is referred to the House Judiciary Committee. We need you to tell these committee members to reject this extreme attempt to undo protections passed unanimously last year. Tell these House Judiciary members to protect our water and reject H.B.2574:

House Committee Leadership: Delegate Shott – Chair john.shott@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3252

Delegate Lane – Vice-Chair patrick.lane@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3252 Delegate Manchin – Minority Chair tmanchin@manchininjurylaw.com (304) 340-3331 Delegate Skinner – Minority Vice-Chair stephen.skinner@wvhouse.gov (304) 340-3248 Committee Members: