WVEC Action Alert

December 15, 2009

Pre-Session Fundraiser

Dear Friends,

It is once again that time of year: the 2010 Session of the West Virginia Legislature convenes on January 13, and that means it is also time for us to ask for your financial support.
Why should you send us your hard-earned dollars?  Well, here are just a few examples of what our Lobby Team (and WV citizens) face every day of the year:

• In October at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public hearing in Charleston, Sen. TrumanChafin (D-Mingo) took the podium to say: “The Lord didn’t create many things without a purpose. But mosquitoes and the EPA come close, I think.”  Chafin is Senate majority leader.

• After the horrendous 30-mile fish kill on Dunkard Creek early this fall, reporters learned thatthe WV Department of Environmental Protection had actually approved two orders to suspend water quality standards for Dunkard Creek and other waterways being polluted by Consol Energy.

• Sen. Mike Green (D-Raleigh) held a re-election fundraiser recently. According to pressreports, hosts included Triana Energy Holdings CEO Henry Harmon, state Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Corky DeMarco, Oil and Natural Gas Association President Dave Spigelmyer, Dominion Resources lobbyist Bob Orndorff, and West Virginia Coal Association President Bill Raney. Green is chairman of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee.

• In a recent news column noting that regulators in New York and Pennsylvania have raisedconcerns about water quality and water quantity issues resulting from the drilling of Marcellus Shale gas wells, long-time industry lobbyist Corky DeMarco said, “We enjoy a relationship with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection that New York and Pennsylvania don’t necessarily have.”

Well, WVEC “enjoys” a different kind of relationship with DEP and the Legislature.

Since 1989 the West Virginia Environmental Council has been your voice for the environment at the State Legislature. During that time we have been more than just a presence at the Capitol – we have become an effective and respected voice for clean water, clean air, public health, and for all those special places we West Virginians hold so dear.

WVEC’s legislative agenda for 2010 is an aggressive one.  We are continuing our Renewable Energy Campaign, with legislation calling for energy efficiency standard goals for electricity producers, and the adoption of “Green Building” standards for the construction of state buildings. We are pushing for comprehensive legislation to address water quality and water quantity issues resulting from the drilling of Marcellus Shale gas wells. We are seeking a permanent ban on the injection of coal wastes into underground mines. And we are advocating that the Department of Health conducts a “public health impact assessment” on any new pollution standards proposed by DEP.

So as you consider renewing your support for WVEC this year, ask yourself the following questions: What would the Legislature be like without the WV Environmental Council?  And just how bad could things get “under the dome” if we weren’t there?

Please be generous. We need your support as much as ever.  Thanks for your consideration.

Danny Chiotos                                               Donald S. Garvin, Jr.
WVEC President                                             Legislative Coordinator

Representing West Virginia “Special Interests”:
People Who Want to Breathe Clean Air and Drink Clean Water