WVEC Weekly Legislative Round-Up

By Lucia Valentine and Kasey Russell, WVEC Lobbyists

As we close out the third full week of the 2025 Legislative Session, we reflect on a hectic week filled with legislative developments and small victories (small victories are big victories this year)! We focused on water quality standards, protecting state parks, above-ground storage tanks, and more. In our spare time, we continue to meet with Delegates and Senators to discuss the issues that are important to all of us. 

Here are a few items we followed closely this week: 

Energy

Orphan Wells

President Randy Smith (R-Preston) reintroduced SB 11, The Orphan Well Protection Act, in the Senate. We are identifying Senators who support this bill and are waiting to see if it will appear on a committee agenda this year.  

Nuclear Energy

HB 2205, solely sponsored by Delegate Brandon Steele (R-Raleigh), passed to the amendment and discussion stage of the House of Delegates Energy and Manufacturing Subcommittee. The bill would expand the WV Public Service Commission (PSC) jurisdiction to cover advanced nuclear reactors. 

Clean Air and Water

Water Quality Standards

This week, the House Energy and Public Works Committee discussed the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rules bundle, HB 2233. The bundle includes the water quality standards rule, which is revised every three years. A committee substitute to the rule was introduced and passed, establishing a process for removing Category A (drinking water standards) protections from streams and rivers. The committee substitute also allows these protections to be removed without legislative review. However, another amendment was introduced and passed after the committee discussed eliminating legislative oversight. This amendment mandates that an emergency rule be filed if any changes are made. The emergency rule process includes a 45-day comment period and a public hearing before the WV DEP and U.S. EPA can approve any changes. 

Community Air Monitoring

SB 575 seeks to weaken citizen air monitoring programs. These programs empower local communities to enhance data collected by government bodies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the WV Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP). Thank you to everyone participating in action alerts to urge senators to oppose this bill. This bill was referred to the Senate Government Organization and has not moved since its introduction. 

Above Ground Storage Tank Act

SB 592 was introduced last week and referred to the Senate Energy, Industry, and Mining Committee. The Above Ground Storage Tank Act (AST) was passed unanimously in 2014 in response to the 2014 chemical leak that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe drinking water. Over the past few legislative sessions, there have been attempts to roll back regulations for tanks in “Zones of Critical Concern” (ZCC), including over 700 tanks located closest to our drinking water intakes. We’ll be releasing action alerts soon on this bill. 

Anti Science Bills

HB 2493/SB599, the so-called “Sound Science in Regulations Act,” was introduced in the House and Senate, raising legitimate concerns from citizens, scientists, and state agencies. These bills 1) prevent state agencies from using public health research, 2) prevent state agencies from using the best available science, and 3) are overly broad and would impact nearly every aspect of state agency regulations, including advisories, rules, and standards that protect public health and the environment. Look for ways to take action against these bills in the coming days, including a scientist sign-on letter. 

Public Lands

Carbon Storage  

SB 627 appeared on Tuesday’s Senate Economic Development Committee agenda (March 4th). The original bill language could have opened up our state parks to carbon storage injection sites with pipelines, surface disturbances, truck traffic, etc. Thanks to over 6,000 messages sent by our member groups to committee members, a committee substitute was prepared for the meeting, which added language that no disturbances could occur on state park surfaces—no roads, pipelines, timbering, etc. in relation to underground carbon storage. Thank you to Senator Jeffries and the committee for hearing West Virginians’ concerns! 

ATVs

SB 711 would open all state lands to ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) by removing the prohibition against establishing additional trail systems within state parks and forests. Senator Maynard (R-Wayne) is sponsoring this bill, which was referred to Transportation and Infrastructure and then to Natural Resources Committees. Watch for upcoming opportunities to take action against this bill.

General Updates

Public Input

There is now a public comment link on each house bill that exists. These links remain active at all times; however, according to the rules, a public comment is only accepted for placement into the legislative computer system and public record is after a bill is on the agenda and before it moves to the markup phase. The House Committee Staff is still ironing out the details of this new process. You can track bills you are curious about by signing up on the WV Legislature’s “Personalized Bill Tracking” webpage here.  Or make sure you are signed up to receive our WVEC legislative updates! You can also check out Committee Agendas by going to the WV Legislature website, clicking on ‘Senate” or “House,” and then going to “Committees.” Direct links: 

Senate Committees website

House of Delegates Committees website

Click here to check out WVEC’s complete list of 2025 Legislative Priorities. 

To reach our lobby team, please email luciavalentine10@gmail.com and russell.kasey@gmail.com