WV Environmental Council Urges Calls Today

February 28, 2011

West Virginia Environmental Council Action Alert February 28, 2011 HB 2878: Please contact all of your representatives in the House of Delegates – urge passage of HB 2878. We need to reach every member of the House today.  This bill MUST pass the House by Wednesday to remain active this session.  Although this bill lacks a lot of what [...]

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Newspapers Reveal Lax Regulation of Radioactive Marcellus Wastewater

February 28, 2011

Many US EPA scientists are alarmed, warning that drilling waste is a threat to drinking water in Pennsylvania as well as in West Virginia. Their concern is based partly on a 2009 study, never made public, written by a US EPA consultant who concluded that some sewage treatment plants were incapable of removing certain drilling waste [...]

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Landowner Sues Chesapeake Over Flipped Lease

February 28, 2011

Chesapeake Energy now controls 156 gas drilling leases in Ohio County previously owned by Range Resources.  Some confusion has been generated regarding rights and ownership in this shuffle; this confusion has led to a lawsuit by Ohio County resident Melvin Kahle, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, against Chesapeake.  Kahle claims that [...]

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Three Injured in Flash-fire at Marcellus Well in Washington County, Penna.

February 27, 2011

A flash-fire erupted shortly after 6 pm this past Wednesday, February 23rd, at a Chesapeake Energy well site at Avella in Penna., not far from Wellsburg, WV.  At least three storage tanks containing natural gas liquids were ablaze for about four hours.   Three workers, from Sardis, OH, from Clover, WV, and from New Martinsville, WV, [...]

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Legislative Update: Fracking Bills Pared Down

February 25, 2011

The West Virginia Legislature website has not been fully updated to reflect the amendments to hydraulic fracturing bills over the last 24 hours.  However, it is reported by sources who work at the Capital that the bills have been dramatically abbreviated.  This translates into less protective law. In review, two versions of bills were introduced [...]

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WV Sierra Club Issues Action Alert

February 23, 2011

Chuck Wyrostok, the WV Sierra Club Outreach Organizer, today issued the Action Alert below. Note that two committees are meeting as early as Wednesday Feb. 23rd so calls for those elected reps should be made on Wednesday ASAP. Marcellus Bill Advances ~ Help Keep It Moving This is a critical time in the Legislature for moving [...]

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House Judiciary Committee Strips Forced Pooling from Bill

February 22, 2011

Late Monday evening (2/21/11), news came through the email grapevine and through the press that a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee had unanimously voted to remove the contentious forced pooling provision from the Hydraulic Fracturing Bill.  It then advanced the bill to the full committee along with many amendments to strengthen the bill’s protective [...]

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Senate Endorses Tax Credits for Gas Industry Development

February 21, 2011

The Marcellus Gas and Manufacturing Development Act was passed out of the the Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee on Feb. 17th.   The purpose of the Act contained in Senate Bill 465 is to encourage and facilitate “the development of oil and gas wells and the downstream uses of natural gas in this state [...]

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“Forced Pooling” Provision Imperils Hydro-fracking Legislation

February 20, 2011

Legislation to protect the state’s land and groundwater could be derailed amid a fight between natural gas companies and mineral rights owners. Environmentalists, regulators and many lawmakers want to beef up environmental regulations ahead of the boom. They are responding to complaints  from residents who say gas companies are riding roughshod over landowners, polluting water and [...]

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Special Report: Task Force Charged with Opening Door to Chemical Industry in Kanawha Valley

February 18, 2011

Bayer Corporation wants to have a convenient supply of product for its New Martinsville,WV and Institute, WV manufacturing plants and Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has created a Marcellus to Manufacturing Task Force charged with the mission of making that happen for Bayer and potentially other chemical corporations.  The Governor has ordered the executives of [...]

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