WVEC Sets Legislative Priorities at Annual Retreat

By Quenton King, WVEC Vice President

Last month, West Virginia Environmental Council’s member groups and other interested citizens from across the state met at Tygart Lake State Park for our annual retreat. Approximately 50 attendees heard presentations, discussed emerging environmental issues facing our Mountain State, and played a crucial role in shaping our 2025 legislative priorities. 

After a lively discussion about possible priorities for the next legislative session, the advantages and pitfalls for each, and our likelihood of making an impact in advancing or stopping legislation in each category, attendees voted on their top issues of concern, which were: 

Community air monitoring

Community air monitoring took many by surprise at the 2024 Legislative Session when industry lobbyists proposed a bill to weaken community monitoring programs. Morgan King, climate program manager at WV Citizen Action Group (CAG), presented the work she and others are doing to install Purple Air monitors in southern West Virginia and educate citizens about how to interpret their data and why that’s important. 

Thanks to the WV Environmental Council and our partners, last session’s anti-community air monitoring bill was defeated but we expect it to reemerge in 2025. The data collected from citizen air monitors helps residents understand the environmental factors affecting their neighborhoods and more effectively demand better action from lawmakers and regulators. King shared information about how to support their community air monitoring work, including sponsoring a Purple Air monitor for CAG to install on someone’s home.

Protecting net metering and solar policies

Thanks to federal incentives, there has been a significant boost in medium and major solar projects nationwide. For the most part, we haven’t seen many of those in West Virginia because our state continues to invest in fossil fuel infrastructure. Still, homeowners have benefited from renewable energy tax credits and installed solar on their roofs. Net metering, which allows homes with solar panels to sell their excess solar back to the grid, makes it more economically viable to install solar. Net metering has been under attack in West Virginia because it cuts into  electric utilities’ profits . WVEC supported a bill during the 2024 session to protect net metering and intends to continue that work next year. 

In addition, lawmakers can increase solar energy access for everyone, not just homeowners, by enabling community solar projects. Community solar allows people to subscribe to a local solar energy system, not on their home. Then, they can receive credit for the energy those panels generate, reducing their energy bill. While 22 other states allow community solar, it is not legal in West Virginia. 

Water quality standards

The legislature is revising Water Quality Standards during the 2025 legislative session. These revisions include both positive and negative changes. On the positive side, they are improving standards for bacterial contamination and proposing regulation for six “new” pollutants. However, the US EPA recognizes an additional 24 pollutants as priority pollutants for public health, but West Virginia continues to exclude them. Moreover, revisions include new categories for designating WV waters as “limited aquatic life” and “limited recreational contact,” which may undercut conservation and public access. For more information, see comments submitted to the WV Department of Environmental Protection by WV Rivers and partner organizations.

Public lands protection

Attendees also voted to support a package of public lands priorities, including protecting land and trails from expanded motorized vehicle use and protecting landowners’ rights. Off-road vehicles, like ATVs, can damage wildlife, vegetation, and trails, making it harder for people to enjoy our state parks.

Orphaned wells

Addressing the problem of orphaned gas wells is another critical issue that the WVEC will continue to address at the state legislature. Thousands of wells sit unattended in the state, many leaking methane gas into the air, warming our planet. These wells pose a direct safety risk to nearby people, as the gas-leaking wells can be poisonous or explode. 

The priorities discussed above are only some of the WV Environmental Council’s focus. WVEC and our partners stand ready to address any bills that threaten to pollute the environment and harm West Virginians.

Emerging issues and other topics 

Several presenters described other pressing and emerging topics. Jim Kotcon of the WV Sierra Club spoke about industry’s interest in developing a hydrogen hub in the state. ARCH2 is the name of a proposed major hub that would utilize unproven technologies at scale, such as using hydrogen (produced from fossil fuels) for energy and carbon capture and storage. Environmental advocates fear ARCH2 would lock the state into decades of continued greenhouse gas use and emissions, worsening climate change and polluting our air.

Judy Rodd celebrated the sale of nearly 3,000 acres to the U.S. Forest Service. Rodd and Friends of Blackwater have been working for over two decades to protect the land and put it under a federal agency. 

The annual meeting also featured a screening of the 2024 award winning documentary “Running for the Mountains.” This film digs into West Virginia’s history of “patriotic sacrifice,” unearthing veins of dark money and reckless policies. It features West Virginian Jesse Johnson along with grassroots candidates and ordinary citizens working to protect their land, air, water, health and communities. If you’re interested in hosting a community screening of the documentary you can find more information here. 

We want to thank all the presenters and attendees who helped make this another successful retreat. To learn more about these policy priorities and how you can help, please reach out to us. We encourage you to email or call your state lawmakers about your concerns. Stay tuned for upcoming opportunities from the WV Environmental Council and our partner organizations to learn more about these important issues and ways to get involved over the next few months.