WVEC Action AlertDecember 10, 2007Important Oil and Gas Rule on Agenda Tuesday On Tuesday the Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee will consider an important new rule proposal from the Division of Natural Resources that would reduce the impacts from oil and gas drilling operations in West Virginia’s state forests. WVEC urges you to contact the members of this committee and ask them to pass this rule as proposed. The committee will meet Tuesday, December 11 at 3:00 PM, so please contact these legislators before then. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Senate Judiciary Committee Room, 208W, if you would like to attend and show your support for this rule. Contact information is at the end of this message. 58CSR35, Rules for Oil and Gas Drilling in State Forests -- This is an excellent new rule proposed by DNR that includes extra early notice to the State Forests of drilling and maintenance activities, and allows the DNR to require the use of native plants in reclamation, among many other protections for all State Forests. Ask the Rule-Making Review Committee members to pass this rule as proposed. Additional Interims Update: The Legislative Rule-Making Review Committee held a special public hearing Saturday, December 8, on two rules proposed by the Department of Environmental Protection that significantly affect the way West Virginia rivers and streams are protected from future pollution. The two rules are 60CSR5, the Antidegradation Implementation Procedures Rule, and 47CSR2, the Water Quality Standards Rule. In the antideg rule, DEP is proposing to cut in half the number of high quality streams on the Tier 2.5 stream list that would be protected from future degradation. The water quality standards rule, however, is an excellent DEP rule that greatly expands the list of trout streams (called the “B2” list) which qualify for water quality standards that are higher than drinking water standards. Once again industry’s “dirty water coalition” has flooded committee members with misinformation about these rules, and legislators are having difficulty deciding how to deal with them. Both of these rules were pulled from the committee’s agenda for this month, and have been rescheduled for the final Interim Session in January. We will keep you posted. Here is the contact information for members of the Rule-Making Review Committee (phone calls are most effective): Delegate Bonnie Brown, House Chair Delegate Tim Miley, House Vice Chair Delegate Mike Burdiss Delegate John Overington Delegate Kelly Sobonya Delegate Joe Talbott Speaker Rick Thompson -- Ex Officio, Nonvoting Senator Joe Minard, Senate Chair Senator John Pat Fanning, Senate Vice Chair Senator Donna Boley Senator Roman Prezioso President Earl Ray Tomblin -- Ex Officio, Nonvoting |