Editor: Charleston Gazette, January 24, 2019

Thank you, to the Gazette-Mail, for it’s detailed, articulate coverage of our state’s journey to the strengthening of water-quality standards. Thanks, also, to the DEP, for standing by its recommendation that we follow federal EPA guidelines to increase monitoring of chemicals in our waters.

Finally, thank you, to members of the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee, for their unanimous vote to update standards using the 2015 science. This bipartisan support for improving the human health criteria used to judge water quality is a pivotal decision for the public health of West Virginians.

There is a popular, damaging and false dichotomy that we can either have a strong economy or a protected environment (and better health). Current research on renewable sources of energy shows that the opposite is the reality. In fact, the renewable energy sector is a key source for rapid growth in jobs that pay well, as surrounding states will attest.

Twenty-six states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Maryland, have passed legislation to make power purchase agreements legal, thus enabling third-party financing/development of distributed energy systems using solar panels or landfill bio-gas, for example. In fact, we will have the opportunity to support PPAs here, when bipartisan legislation is introduced in the Legislature very soon.

Please urge your representatives to support another legislative move toward improvement of our health, environment and our West Virginia economy.

>>> Holly Cloonan, Charleston, WV

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/gazette_opinion/letters_to_editor/letter-urge-wv-legislature-to-support-measures-on-environment-gazette/article_7668da69-f5d2-5b3e-8e35-007e6e436ef1.html