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WVEC Green Legislative UpdateTo read the update online, scroll down to articles (or click on index links below). If you want to view or print an exact copy of the printed newsletter, try the PDF version. February 23, 2007
Under the Dome By Donald S. Garvin, Jr. Week 7 – Whine, Whine, Whine This award for whining this year (and possibly for the decade) has to go to the WV Farm Bureau and the WV Forestry Association. Actually, they began their whining six years ago, immediately after the Legislature passed the antidegradation plan for protecting the water quality in our state’s most pristine streams – a compromise plan that they themselves had signed off on. Nonetheless, these two groups almost immediately launched a truly massive public misinformation campaign aimed at inflaming the indignant passions of their members and other rural landowners. They whined to farmers that if a stream running through their property were designated as a Tier 2.5 stream – "a water of special concern" – that they couldn’t add cattle to their herds, cut timber on their land, or subdivide the farm to pass down to their children. They whined that their property would be so devalued that they probably couldn’t even sell the farm, simply because they would no longer be allowed to pollute the stream. It was all propaganda, and it was all untrue. The truth is that all those agricultural and timbering and extraction activities – all with the potential to cause non-point source pollution – are EXEMPT from antidegradation review. No matter. Like any lie, if you repeat it often enough it becomes truth. And that’s what the Farm Bureau and the Forestry Association and the Chamber of Commerce did – they whined and repeated the myth over and over again, like a mantra. Fiction became fact. They continued this relentless assault on the truth throughout a long and extended public comment process that dragged on and on for way too long. DEP’s decision making process on Tier 2.5 stream designation lasted almost six years, with two separate comment periods that allowed only the filing of objections by landowners. So the Farm Bureau ginned up "objection" form letters and helped their members fill them out. DEP received almost 5,000 such letters, most of which contained no viable grounds or evidence on which to base the objection, other than the whining and misinformation contained in their own propaganda. And when DEP held thirteen regional meetings around the state, they made sure that their members showed up en masse to repeat the same worn out and baseless claims. These public forums only helped to further inflame rural folks and spread the misinformation, because no matter what DEP said about the reality of the antidegradation law, the whining and propaganda had already overwhelmed the truth. Long before our legislators came to Charleston for this legislative session, the damage to clean water had already been done. Delegates and Senators had received dozens, if not hundreds, of letters from angry farmers spewing out over and over again the same misinformation they had been fed for the last six years. When the antidegradation rule and Tier 2.5 stream list went to committee, the industry lobbyists continued the assault. "DEP didn’t provide landowners with sufficient legal notice," they whined. This also was blatantly untrue, but why worry about the truth now. "DEP and DNR don’t have sound data and evidence to base these stream designations on," they continued to whine. Also, simply just not true. Whine, whine, whine. And it paid off. This week Senator Walt Helmick (D-Pocahontas) made a motion in Natural Resources Committee to strike all but 38 streams from the Tier 2.5 stream list. The motion carried overwhelmingly, with only Senator Randy White (D-Webster) in opposition. Thank you, Randy, for not whining. It was refreshing. It’s still winter out there, so don’t let our fine-feathered friends become degraded. Keep those bird feeders full. by John B. Christensen, WVEC lobbyist We heard rumors early in the session that a bill may be introduced drastically changing West Virginia's solid waste management policy. This week, the rumors came true. SB 701 appeared under the cover of darkness on the last day the Senate could introduce bills. It abolishes the local/county solid waste management authorities' control, mandating the creation of regional solid waste authorities, and authorizing WV DEP to give final approval of the local solid waste plans. We monitored the House and Senate bill lists daily, talked with WV DEP officials, made visits to legislators hoping this bad legislation would not appear. This is legislation of the bad, nasty kind. We held our collective breaths that the rumors just weren’t going to amount to anything. Then it happened. Our worst fears were realized…. a really bad garbage bill was introduced. SB 701 was finally out of the cave and into the bill journal room in all its terrible splendor. There it was. All 116 pages of a bill that effectively does a major overhaul on our hard fought solid waste laws from the early nineties. This amounted to a sneak attack, a Pearl Harbor event in the annals of solid waste battles in West Virginia. Recon was essential to turn this around. SB 701 as introduced and sponsored by Sen. Brooks McCabe of Kanawha Co. with NO co-sponsors and does the following: 1) Abolishes the WV Solid Waste Management Board and transfers power to the WV DEP. 2) Abolishes county solid waste authorities and mandates the creation of Regional solid waste authorities. 3) Grants the WV DEP final approval on siting of solid waste facilities (aka siting plan). 4) Grants the WV DEP the ability to create the size & make up of the Regional waste sheds. 5) Dedicates 50% of the tipping fee currently set up for local Solid Waste Authority (SWA) grants to be used instead by WV DEP to be granted to anyone or used for administrative costs. 6) Authorizes the WV DEP the ability to "supersede" all powers granted to solid waste authorities. 7) Authorizes the WV DEP the final approval of the local solid waste plan. 8) Takes the authority away from the Public Service Commission of WV to issue single hauling permits in each county. This may open up the counties to competition for hauling residential and commercial waste which is the only part of this legislation that some solid waste authorities in the state actually wanted. My father always told me, "Son, if it ain't broke then don’t fix it!" That’s the main point to convey to Sen. McCabe (304 357-7990 Capitol office - or 1-877-565-3447) and WV DEP Cabinet Sec. Stephanie Timmermeyer. (1-800-654-5227) The environmental community worked very diligently fifteen years ago to craft a bill that would turn back the onslaught of out of state garbage that threatened to bury the mountain state. The challenge was that it be within the confines of Interstate Commerce Clause of the US Constitution which prohibits states from regulating interstate commerce, and that includes garbage. Former Sen. David Grubb was the principal author of our very progressive law that has stood the test of time and accomplished what it set out to do by limiting the size of landfills and mandating that proposed facilities demonstrate that there is a need for them. We wanted local control and a comprehensive recycling program. This was accomplished by creating the certificate of need process within the PSC, county solid waste authorities and the state solid waste management board in Charleston. This new bill offered up on the last day by only one Senator takes away local control and forces us to trust wholly in our WV DEP. History tells us this is not in our best interest. Bottle Bill Dies Again This Session by Linda Frame, linda@wvcag.org The WV Bottle Bill (HB 2773) is dead this session. We learned this week that there were not enough votes in House Judiciary to move the bill. This is disappointing news considering that five of the bill’s sponsors are on that committee, and that we were told by enough legislators that they would vote to move the bill to the Finance Committee. Unfortunately, committee leadership arrived at different numbers. As the fate of bills is decided and the session wears on, we will be regrouping on important progressive issues. The task of educating legislators, with new ones coming in every election, is daunting, and it’s much easier for law makers to be scared into apathy by the vast coalition of businesses opposing our bills. For instance, many legislators are still being told that retailers don’t want the burden of taking back the empty containers. This part of the law was removed years ago, yet is still being used to fire up retailers, convenience store owners and other businesses statewide. Legislators are also believing the falsehood that beverage containers make up just 9% of our litter problem. Even the lead lobbyist for the opposition can’t cite where that number comes from and doesn’t even believe it, yet it is still presented to legislators in letters, phone calls and personal meetings. Many other states have had this same long, rocky path to travel when getting their bottle bills passed. Pro-Bottle-Bill Maine businessman Mike McCray confirmed this during a visit here this legislative session and has taken the time to write a recap of his thoughts on our bill (see www.wvcag.org to view). Our two states are similar in many ways but the glaring difference is that Maine’s legislators had the political will to overcome the strong opposition and bring legislation to their state to fight the litter problem, increase recycling and virtually do away with highway clean-ups. And, guess what? Maine lawmakers decided to make the producers of the beverage containers foot the costs of their bottle bill (unlike in our bill where we have tried futilely to dilute their opposition). Perhaps we are building such a political will here in West Virginia, legislator by legislator, and some day West Virginia can pass progressive public policy in Appalachia without the required crisis, pass a bill that would create jobs, clean up our litter and save taxpayers money. What a concept. Committee Approves Slurry Injection Study After weeks of working on final language and lobbying senators for support, the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee this week finally approved SCR 15, the resolution previously approved by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee providing for a study of the impacts of the practice of injecting coal sludge into underground mines. The resolution requires DEP to study the contents of coal slurry and the impacts on groundwater from disposing of it by injection into abandoned coal mine seams. The resolution also calls for the Bureau of Public Health to consult with DEP on the design of the study, and to review the results for the potential of impacting the health of coalfield residents. The resolution now goes to the Senate floor for passage. Clean Elections Stalled - Likely to Die this Weekend by Norm Steenstra, Clean Elections Coalition By the time you read this, the fate of our Clean Elections bill will probably be decided. Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick continues to hold up the bill in legislative purgatory. Earlier this week he promised at different times that he would take up the bill to the Council of Churches, the AFL-CIO, Senator Brooks McCabe, and our clean elections lobbyists. The bill is not on the Friday afternoon agenda. If the bill does not pass Helmick’s Committee by Saturday another years efforts to get Helmick to move the bill will be in vain. Helmick will likely defend his inaction by saying "the committee just ran out of time" - yet late Friday afternoon he had time to move a bill that would permit millions of tons of out of state garbage find its final resting place in McDowell County. Such is the system we must deal with. A system in which a very few powerful people oblivious and almost immune from public opinion can block progressive attempts to clean up the process. About all we can do yet this session is continue loudly to register a profound disgust of senate leadership’s dishonest treatment of Clean Elections. Again, if you haven’t done it yet, "spell check "Helmick" we wonder what the program writers knew. Bill Would Open the Door To Out of State Garbage by Norm Steenstra, WV Citizen Action Group A bill almost certain to pass the Senate next week would radically change solid waste management policy in our state. 16 years ago environmentalists led by then Senator David Grubb (WV-CAG Founder) carefully crafted a law that limited the size of landfills and made the cost of dumping quite expensive by imposing a fee of $8.25/ton. The law has worked for the past decade and a half. The flood of Out-of -State Garbage has slowed to a trickle. The higher fees made for a modest increase in recycling and encouraged landfill avoidance. It also provided for millions of dollars in local recycling grants to towns and counties. S.B.629 would change all that. The bill in its current form allows the McDowell landfill to increase its legal tonnage to 100,000 tons/month. Currently the state’s largest landfill accepts 30,000 tons of trash a month. Almost all of the new garbage would arrive in coal cars from the Norfolk, Virginia area. The bill also exempts half of this new tonnage from the current $8.25 tipping fee and instead allows for a $4.00/ton payment to various Mc Dowell government agencies. This set-up, in essence, grants a $2.4 million dollar tax break to the landfill’s owner at the expense of the DEP and the Solid Waste Authorities for 54 other counties. Our real hope is that Speaker Thompson and the House leadership will stop this bill over the next two weeks. I believe if they feel the outrage it will give them the courage to stand up to the powerful Out of State garbage lobby. Call your Delegate early next week, as well as the Speaker’s office, and ask them not to radically change our solid waste laws. Ask them to oppose SB 629. To those of you who have renewed your membership or sent in other contributions, our heartfelt thanks. But WVEC needs much more financial support to get us through this session and the upcoming year. If you have not renewed or made a contribution, please consider helping us out as best you can. (Note: We have removed from this list many of the bills that are "dead" because they will not meet the deadline for committee consideration. However, we are still watching those bills because they can still be originated in committee). |
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2206 Washington Street East - Charleston, WV 25311 (304) 414-0143 www.wvecouncil.org |