WVEC Action AlertApril 6, 2009Below (three separate issues):
There are three bad bills now before our House Judiciary committee: SB 45, SB 461, and SB 753. We need to stop these bills from passing out of this committee. Call and / or e-mail House Judiciary Members regarding these three terrible bills (see contact information below.) Please ask Chair Carrie Webster (D-Kanawha) and all the members of the committee to vote against passage of these bills. Here’s what these bills call for: SB 45 – Allowing DEP Secretary to sign NPDES permits! All three of these bills are detrimental to the environment and to citizens of West Virginia! Ask these legislators to oppose these bills. Delegate Carrie Webster (D-Kanawha), House Judiciary Chair: Delegate Tim Miley, (D-Harrison) Vice Chair Del. John Ellem, Minority Chair Del. Patrick Lane, (R-Kanawha) Minority Vice Chair Del. Larry Barker (D-Boone) Del. Bonnie Brown (D-Kanawha) Del. Mike Caputo (D-Marion) Del. Michael Ferro (D-Marshall) Del. Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia) Del. Mark Hunt (D-Kanawha) Del. Tal Hutchins (D-Ohio) Del. Linda Longstreth (D-Marion) Del. Harold Michael (D-Hardy) Del. Clif Moore (D-McDowell) Del. Alex Shook (D-Monongalia) Del. Sally Susman (D-Raleigh) Del. Robert Tabb (D-Jefferson) Del. Danny Wells (D-Kanawha) Del. Bill Wooton (D-Raleigh) Del. Bill Hamilton (R-Upshur) Del. John Overington (R-Berkeley) Del. Robert Schadler (R-Mineral) Del. Patti Schoen (R-Putnam) Del. Kelli Sobonya (R-Cabell) A $2,000 state income tax credit for homeowners installing solar energy systems to generate electricity, heat or cool a structure or to provide hot water could be nearing passage! The final hurdle for House Bill 2535, which also provides for net metering so the homeowner can sell excess electricity to the power company, is Senate Finance Committee. Calls and emails are needed to the office of Senator Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas), Chair of Senate Finance, asking him to place House Bill 2535 on the agenda and urging passage. This bill, sponsored by Delegate Bill Wooton (D-Raleigh) passed overwhelmingly in the House of Delegates. Please contact Senator Helmick as soon as possible and let him know this is a great bill! There is no fiscal impact to the state budget from this bill and it is a step towards energy independence for West Virginia homeowners! Here’s how to reach him: Phone: (304) 799-7172 SB 297 is now in the House Finance Committee. We need your help! Ask the House Finance Committee members to oppose this bill as written. Please contact the members of House Judiciary (contact information below) and ask them to oppose SB 297 as written. SB 297 creates a category of “alternative energy” which is used to define “clean coal” technologies, along with burning tires, and now includes natural gas and nuclear generation of power! Although the bill includes “renewable energy” sources, the presence of the category of “alternative” is a red flag that the state is not ready to deal with the true cost of coal! SB 297 undermines the goals and justification for such a bill in the first place – to reduce carbon dioxide emissions – and it creates a system that puts West Virginia completely out of step with other states in the country. Thirty-three (33) states now have “real” renewable portfolio standards – ask our legislators why West Virginia is not among them. This is a huge missed opportunity for the new renewable energy economy rising all around us! For more details, please refer to the “Under the Dome” article by Don Garvin in the April 3, 2009 edition of WVEC’s Legislative Update. WVEC website: www.wvecouncil.org House Finance Committee: Harry Keith White, (D-Mingo), Chair Thomas Campbell (D-Greenbrier), Vice-Chair William Anderson (R-Wood), Minority Chair Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson), Minority Vice-Chair Kevin Craig (D-Cabell) John Doyle (D-Jefferson) Jeff Eldridge (D-Lincoln) Nancy Guthrie (D-Kanawha) Richard Iaquinta (D-Harrison) Orphy Klempa (D-Ohio) Steven Kominar (D-Mingo) Virginia Mahan (D-Summers) Tim Manchin (D-Marion) Charlene Marshall (D-Monongalia) Don Perdue (D-Wayne) Linda Phillips (D-Wyoming) Mary M. Poling (D-Barbour) Doug Reynolds (D-Wayne) Sharon Spencer (D-Kanawha) Scott Varner (D-Marshall) Bob Ashley (R-Roane) Craig Blair (R-Berkeley) Larry Border (R-Wood) Allen Evans (R-Grant) Ron Walters (R-Kanawha)
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