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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. January 27, 2012
By Donald S. Garvin, Jr. Week 3 – The Department of Environmental What? While the legislation says that the fees and costs can be levied against either party, it is clearly aimed at only one group – the plaintiffs. That’s you and me, folks. Citizens. The bill provides that the fees and costs can be levied upon “a finding that a claim was brought in bad faith or for the purposes of harassment.” Well, you can recognize a threat when you see one, can’t you? Never mind that it flies directly in the face of the citizen suit provisions of the federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Were this legislation to pass, it would have a huge chilling effect on citizen groups and non-profit environmental organizations in opposing DEP’s pro-industry permit decisions in court or at the appellate board. But, of course, that is DEP’s intent. They have always seen themselves as the Department of Environmental Permitting, instead of the Department of Environmental Protection. The bill number is HB 4283, and we expect to see a companion bill in the Senate any day now. What with the mild weather we have been experiencing, you may not think it is still winter. But our fine-feathered friends know better, so please remember to keep your bird feeders full. By Leslee McCarty, WVEC When is hazardous material not hazardous material? When the federal government says it isn’t! This was the first exemption that oil and gas got for their operations at the federal level. So now, we are dealing with waste, which might otherwise be considered hazardous being treated like “special waste” at our landfills. Of course, the industry scored big again by getting the “Halliburton Loophole” passed, which makes their industry exempt from the federal Clean Water Act. It’s like the oil and gas industry is zipping around the racetrack in a Lamborghini and the public is out here in a beat-up old clunker, still trying to get information, pass rules and slow down the juggernaut. This past week, we managed to get a small victory, in that we stopped the DEP rules bill on solid waste from going through because of our concerns about Marcellus drill cutting going into our landfills and about new cells being constructed just for Marcellus waste. Now we are meeting with DEP to express our concerns. We will update next week on how far we get, but at least we are asking for more transparency and a comprehensive statewide approach to dealing with any and all waste from Marcellus operations. Update on Supreme Court Pilot Project By Carol Warren, OVEC It’s been a tough year. The WV Supreme Court Public Campaign Financing Pilot Project, enacted by the Legislature in 2010, has seen its share of difficulties. In January 2011, advocates for the program, which is to provide a public financing option for the two Supreme Court seats to be contested in 2012, narrowly missed gaining additional funding in a last minute failure in Senate Finance Committee. It was hoped that a larger pool of funds for the Pilot would give prospective candidates more certainty that there would be adequate matching funds if they were substantially outspent by non-participating opponents. But in June, the concept of matching funds based on an opponent’s spending was ruled a violation of the opponent’s free speech in the Arizona McComish vs Bennett case. That put a wrench in the West Virginia program that has yet to be addressed, as the matching funds in the state’s Pilot Project are similarly structured. WV Citizens for Clean Elections immediately provided Secretary of State Natalie Tennant’s staff with draft legislation for a possible new plan, which would allow candidates to continue raising small contributions after they qualify for the program. Those contributions would be matched by the Public Financing Fund at a ratio of 3:1, removing any comparison to opponent spending. The Secretary of State’s staff tried unsuccessfully to have the legislative fix included in the Call for one of the Special Sessions in 2011, hoping to have the matter resolved prior to the beginning of the qualifying period in September. On January 6, several Clean Elections coalition members met with the Secretary and four members of her elections and legislative staff to talk about the future of the Pilot Project. All were in general agreement that between the demands of three “extraordinary” elections in 2010 and 2011, and the uncertainty caused by the McComish decision, the Pilot Project had truly not been able to proceed as planned. Advocates asked the Secretary to consider introducing legislation in the 2012 Regular Session to fix the matching fund provision and to extend the Pilot to the next judicial election cycle in 2016. The Pilot is due to sunset at the end of 2012, and it would be unfortunate for the project not to be given as fair a chance of success as possible. The Secretary and her staff were supportive, and agreed to request the extension until 2016 immediately. They wished to wait until the end of the filing period (end of January 2012) to see if any candidate has qualified for the program in 2012 before deciding what course to adopt with regard to a fix of the matching fund provisions. Coalition members checked with House and Senate allies, and found no one who was opposed to the idea of an extension, especially if requested by the Secretary of State’s office, the agency in charge of the Pilot Project oversight. They recall that were good reasons for the legislation establishing the project. West Virginia received several black eyes due to the conduct of certain Supreme Court justices. Public financing was one possible solution recommended by then Governor Manchin’s Independent Commission on Judicial Reform. All of these reasons are still operative in favor of giving the Pilot Project a fair shake. Governor Signs “Cracker” Tax Break Bill HB 4086 sailed through both the House and Senate this week and was promptly signed by Governor Tomblin before he took off for Houston, Texas, to attempt to woo Shell Oil Company into building an ethane cracker plant in West Virginia. The bill would allow cracker plants investments of $2 billion or more to be assessed at their scrap value, or 5 percent of their actual value. The valuation would be in effect for 25 years, and should save plant owners more than $25 million in property taxes in the first year alone, proponents say. West Virginia is in competition with Ohio and Pennsylvania for one or more of the plants, which would convert ethane - a byproduct from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling - to ethylene, an organic compound integral to production of a variety of chemicals and plastics. On Tuesday, Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette told the Senate Finance Committee the state would benefit from chemical and plastics plants that will locate near the cracker plant, even if the plant itself ends up in Ohio or Pennsylvania. (Compiled from Press Reports). Not Easy Being Green – In The Capitol Cafeteria By Leslee McCarty, WVECAt first, I was happy to hear that the vendors who were in the tiny little sandwich shop in the capitol basement had gotten the contract for the whole Capitol’s food service. They are very nice and hardworking and have good food. That was the good news. Here is the bad. There are styrofoam clamshells on all grill sandwiches, plastic encasing all salads and ready made sandwiches and only Styrofoam cups, even for soft drinks!! AAARRGGHH! And no effort is being made to recycle any of the stuff that can be recycled. Of course, this is unacceptable. How can the State not set a better example? I can’t make myself eat there more than about once a week, and I need to eat something. So, I talked to the contractor, a client of my former employer, WV Vocational Rehabilitation. He said it was too expensive to be green. How can paper cost more than Styrofoam??!! I could go on, but suffice it to say, we may have to have a bill to make them go green. Seems Rehab has a contract with a federal building, and they are forced to go green there, so it is possible. Since the contract is let for this year, we can only do what the contractor will do voluntarily, but I am thinking we may have to legislate to achieve this seemingly simple thing. Chant with me, folks, “Hey. Hey, Ho, Ho. Styrofoam has got to go!” WVU to Compete in 2013 Solar Decathlon By John Christensen, WVEC After months of preparation to submit a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy, a team of students from West Virginia University (WVU) has been selected to participate in the “Solar Decathlon” in Irvine, California in the fall of 2013. This is the first time a team from WVU attempted to get involved in the event. Only twenty colleges and universities are chosen to participate, so this is quite an honor. The student teams will compete to construct the most efficient solar-powered home. The WVU student project will look like a log home, and will be able to be de-constructed, put in a shipping container and reassembled in California. Mountain View Solar in Berkeley Springs is assisting the students in the project. By Mathew Louis-Rosenberg, Sludge Safety Project (SSP) The Sludge Safety Project had its annual Legislative Kickoff on Tuesday the 17th at the Capitol. Citizens from across southern West Virginia gathered to get training on how to lobby and talk to the media and get fired up about taking the fight to ban coal slurry injection to the Legislature for another year. UPDATE: Ban On Coal Slurry Injection Introduced in House DEP Releases Prenter Water Study On Tuesday the DEP released the results of a study of water wells in the Prenter community, saying they found only limited mining-related contamination of groundwater in the area. DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said, “This was a thorough, comprehensive study.” But then a day later, the agency had to issue a clarification of their statement because the study actually found a violation of federal drinking water limits for lead in one of the wells examined. Industries of the Future Day at the Capitol By John Christensen, WVEC One of the days I enjoy most at the Legislature each session came this week on Wednesday: Industries of the Future WV (IOF-WV) Day. The hope for a more efficient and renewable energy future for WV is the scope of this annual event (at least that’s what it says in the program). IOF-WV is a partnership program that works with energy-intensive industries to increase energy efficiency, reduce waste and promote competitive companies to locate and grow in our state. The program has been in operation for more than 12 years as a partnership between WVU, the WV Division Of Energy, WV Economic Development Office, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Since it was started the program has grown to include energy assessments for commercial buildings, and projects and studies on renewable energy and policy issues. The company I work for in my everyday life is Mountain View Solar, and they have made presentations during this conference for the past four years in the Senate Economic Development committee. This year was the best yet as Colin Williams, VP director of operations, was able to update the committee on the success of the company and thank them for passing key legislation last session that has helped the solar industry. We were also able to take Sen. Mike Hall (R-Putnam) out to the company’s new vehicle parked next to the Governor’s mansion and show him the Chevy Volt, explain to him how the car works, as well as the tax credit opportunities for residents and businesses who purchase and install a solar energy system. Now I am already looking forward to next year’s IOF Day.
(NOTE: We are tracking all of the legislative rules bills separately). E-Day! - Wednesday, February 8th At the Capitol E-Day Benefit Dinner & Award Ceremony
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2206 Washington Street East - Charleston, WV 25311 (304) 414-0143 www.wvecouncil.org |