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WVDEP Needs to Hear from You on Water Protections NOW!

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 19:48:05 +0000

Let’s protect all our streams all the time

Please Commemt to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection ASAP

From the WV Rivers Coalition, July 8, 2018

West Virginia’s Water Quality Standards are supposed to keep our water safe. Every three years the rules that govern what’s in West Virginia’s water undergo a revision process called the Triennial Review. West Virginia is in the midst of this process and WVDEP has released their proposed changes for public comment.

Share with WVDEP that you deserve safe water! Submit comments on Water Quality Standards by July 10. View our fact sheet on the Triennial Review and our full comments to WVDEP to learn more.

In a previous action alert, we shared information on toxic hotspots in our rivers that would result from WVDEP’s proposed revisions. Another substantial revision deals with something called human health criteria, which set limits on how much of a particular toxin can be in our water before it is dangerous to human health. These criteria make sure that our rivers can produce safe drinking water, as well as make sure they are safe for fishing and swimming.

EPA updated their recommended human health criteria limits for 94 chemical pollutants. In WVDEP’s suggested revisions to Water Quality Standards, they choose to adopt the updated limits for just 56 pollutants. WV Rivers urges WVDEP to adopt all 94 updated pollutant limits for a number of reasons:

1. Protecting human health must depend on sound science. It is paramount for human health criteria to be based on the most up-to-date scientific methods and information. EPA’s recommended limits reflect the best research we have available. WVDEP should adopt ALL of EPA’s recommendations for protecting human health.

2. Every waterbody in West Virginia already has a fish consumption advisory. It’s time to turn that around and make it safe again to eat fish from our rivers. Through neglecting to update human health criteria for all of EPA’s recommended pollutants, the road to recovery for our rivers stands to be even longer and more difficult.

3. Neighboring states are adopting all 94 pollutant limits. Our neighbors in PA and KY have moved to proactively ensure water safety by adopting all 94 of EPA’s recommendations. West Virginians would be put at increased risk than residents of nearby states for dangerous concentrations of the 38 pollutants not updated.

Speak Up Now! Share with WVDEP that you deserve safe water. Request WVDEP adopt all 94 of EPA’s recommended human health criteria limits by commenting on WVDEP’s revisions to Water Quality Standards through July 10. View our fact sheet and submit your comments here. You can also submit comments in person during a public hearing on July 10 at 6:00pm at the WVDEP headquarters in Charleston.

SEND A LETTER VIA WV RIVERS COALITION

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Public Hearing on New EPA Fracking Rules on September 27th in Pittsburgh

Duane Nichols — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 18:38:27 +0000

: David Lawrence Convention Center

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold the first of three public hearings on proposed oil and gas emissions standards, from 9 am to 8 pm on Tuesday, September 27th at the David Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. Hearings will also be held September 28th in Denver and September 29th in Arlington, Texas.

These proposed new rules are meant to control and reduce toxic air pollution from oil and gas wells that are hydraulically fractured, including those in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The EPA must finalize the new emissions standards by February 28, 2012, under a mandate in a court-ordered consent decree.

The public can comment on the proposed rules — the first changes in oil and gas emissions regulations in decades — which would use existing technologies to reduce pollution from well drilling, leaking pipes, storage tanks and gas compressor stations that contributes to smog and can cause cancer. Those emissions control technologies, including capture of volatile organic compounds and other gases now routinely vented into the atmosphere, are already employed by some companies and required by some states, but not Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

Persons wishing to present hearing testimony, limited to 5 minutes each, should contact Joan C. Rogers, USEPA, Office of Air Quality, Planning and Standards Sector Policies and Programs Division (E143- 03), Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711; telephone: 1-919-541-4487; fax number: 1-919-541-3470; email: rogers.joanc@epa.gov (preferred method for registering), no later than 4 p.m., two business days prior to each hearing. The last day to register for the Pittsburgh hearing is Friday, September 23^rd, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

An eight (8) page Fact Sheet has been developed by US-EPA as well as a fifteen (15) page Slide Show Presentation to describe the essential components of the proposed new rules. The Charleston Gazette reported on the new rules at the end of July; and, the Sustained Outrage blog contains a brief description.

Industry Executives and WV Residents Speak at Wheeling Legislative Hearing

Duane Nichols — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:39:14 +0000

Deborah Kittle and Delegate Tim Manchin. Photo by Dee Fulton.

Some 150 people, including state legislators, natural gas industry representatives, property owners and concerned residents, assembled at the WV Northern Community College in Wheeling on Thursday for a hearing by the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale.

Deletate Tim Manchin of Marion County conducted the hearing. He said mineral owners have rights to see their minerals extracted – despite possible objections from surface owners. This is an established rule based on English Common Law that is very unlikely to change. Manchin limited everyone to 2 minutes of speaking time. There were 10 speakers for the gas industry and some 24 who expressed concerns about it.

It was reported that Chesapeake Energy currently employs about 800 WV residents. As the most active natural gas driller in the Upper Ohio Valley, Chesapeake provided Marietta, Ohio, native Zack Arnold an employment opportunity that allowed him to return to the Ohio Valley from California. “When I got to Jane Lew, we had 30 employees in the office. Now we have 150,” he said.

Spencer Wooddell of Taylor county said a gas drilling company is working on his neighbor’s property, adjacent to his 325-acre farm. He said three drilling-related spills have overflowed onto his land since December of 2010. He’s concerned about his livestock, as the animals drink from springs on his property.

Steve Conlon, Bill Hughes and Deborah Kittle of Wetzel County do not oppose the natural gas extraction – they just want to keep their water and air clean, while making sure landmen do not “bully” mineral owners. Hughes said the state DEP needs to monitor air pollution from drilling sites. “No one in the State monitors air emissions at any well site, ever,” he said. Deborah Kittle said her husband is a 4th generation cow-calf farmer in Marshall county and a “ conservation farmer”. They have leased their gas rights and currently have drilling going on their farm. She said “I’m not against drilling. I just want it done right.” A sign on her door says, “In God we trust. All others we monitor.”

The next hearing will be this coming Monday evening at 7:30 PM at the WVU College of Law in Morgantown.

West Virginia Legislature to Hold Marcellus Shale Public Hearing

Nicole Good — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 05:33:40 +0000

This Thursday, February 17 at 3:30 pm the House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing on the two bills (HB 2878 and HB 3042) that would regulate Marcellus gas drilling in West Virginia.

This is a tremendous opportunity to tell the committee what you think should be included in this important legislation. Anyone can sign up to speak, though your comments will probably be limited to 2-3 minutes. The sign up period will be just prior to the hearing.

If you are unable to attend, but have testimony you would like to have submitted (and perhaps read) on your behalf please e-mail Nicole at nnncole@yahoo.com before 5 PM Wednesday, February 16. Even if you don’t wish to speak, please try to attend and show your support for the bills and the speakers. You can come earlier in the day to meet with your legislators– making an appointment with them ahead of time is strongly recommended. You can also show your support with emails and phone calls to legislators, and letters to the editor. The “Take Action” link at the top of this page can help you with this.

Click here to download a list of essential elements for any Marcellus Shale regulatory bill as identified by the WV Environmental Council and WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization.

Here is a list of suggested items that are not included in either bill:

1. A public notice and comment period for each permit application to drill a well

2. An actual water withdrawal permit system

3. Elimination of the General Permit for land application of pit water

4. Prohibition of the disposal of oil and gas well wastewater in underground mines

5. A ban on, or additional protections for, drilling in Karst geology

6. No burying of drilling pits on site

7. Testing of all flow-back water and drill cuttings for the presence of radioactiviy

8. A comprehensive statute and rules governing seismic exploration

9.Regulation of air quality at drilling sites