WVEC Action AlertFebruary 27, 2006Below:
Compromise Reached on Mercury RuleOn Friday, Feb. 24, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously adopted a strengthening amendment to DEP’s proposed rule for regulating mercury contained in air pollution -- Rule 45-CSR 37 (SB 316 and HB 4140). Mercury is a highly toxic, persistent and bioaccumulates in the food chain. There is a fish advisory recommending that individuals limit their consumption of fish caught in every West Virginia stream due to the high levels of mercury. Most mercury is emitted from coal fired electric plants. DEP had proposed adopting a controversial Bush administration EPA rule, a weak regulation for governing mercury emission. The regulations would, at best, require a 43% reduction in mercury by 2010 and a 77% reduction by 2018. The House Judiciary Committee, however, had second thoughts. They have adopted an amendment that will allow the weak regulation to go into effect, but also requires DEP and the Bureau of Public Health to conduct a study of the potential human health risk from mercury. DEP is also required to examine the availability and cost of technologies to limit mercury emissions. If DEP determines that West Virginians are exposed to potential health risk due to mercury contamination, then DEP is to submit a new rule to the legislature next year requiring reductions in mercury emissions “more stringent” than the federal EPA rule. This rule will now be bundled with all the other DEP rules and will be considered as a package on the House floor this week. The Senate will then vote on the House version. While we don’t anticipate a problem for the House version, we will be watching this carefully. The Sludge BillOur sludge safety bill (HB 4583) was introduced last week in the House of Delegates and sent to the House Judiciary Committee upon introduction. House Judiciary Chairman Jon Amores has told us he will not consider putting the bill on the agenda, or schedule a public hearing. But he has agreed to move forth with a study resolution on banning sludge impoundments and injection and the alternatives that exist. On Thursday, Senator Jon Hunter introduced a study resolution (SCR-49) that would study sludge impoundments and mining subsidence. The good news is that both of these resolutions can move out of committee and onto each floor anytime before the legislative session ends. We will keep you posted on the progress of these resolutions. Anti-Wilderness Resolution Sent to Sub-CommitteeDue to lots of pressure from phone calls and e-mail messages placed by our members - and especially from members of the groups that comprise the WV Wilderness Coalition, Senate Natural Resources Committee chairman John Pat Fanning removed SCR 13 from the committee’s agenda last week. This is a terrible resolution that urged the U.S. Forest Service not to propose any new wilderness areas in the Monongahela National Forest. Hopefully, that’s the last we will hear of SCR 13. No more phone calls are needed at this time. Fate of Clean Elections UncertainAlthough by most accounts the WV Public Campaign Financing Act (SB124) appears dead for this session, we are still holding out hope that the bill will be taken up and voted on by the Senate Finance Committee. The bill was on the committee’s agenda Thursday morning so members could hear testimony from Todd Lang, the executive director of the Citizens Clean Elections Commission in Arizona, one of the nation’s pioneering Clean Elections states. However, there was no discussion of the West Virginia legislation by the committee, and the bill was not put to a vote. There is still time this session to advance SB 124 ahead of the deadline for bills to be out of committee in the house of origin. Your phone calls and email messages to Senate Finance Committee members, especially committee chairman Walt Helmick, might help get the bill moved. Bottle Bill Hits Special Interest WallDespite a promising start, SB 136, the WV Container Recycling and Litter Control Act has gone where most progressive legislation appears to end up - Study Resolution Land. While having the bill get closer scrutiny is certainly our goal, we were in this same position last year with the promise of a study that never came. Facing strong opposition from the likes of the beer and soft drink industries, which apparently have money to burn, this legislation is being blocked by enormous greed and self-interest. So it goes. We are going to work hard to get the Bottle Bill studied during the Interims.
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