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| Conservation
Issues |
Conservation Update
The USEPA threatened again in late June to step in and draft a plan to "keep West Virginia's rivers
and streams from getting any dirtier" if the state Environmental Quality Board (EQB) does not act soon. Four
environmental groups had threatened to sue EPA in late May because the agency has not forced West Virginia to develop
the plan. The groups filed a 60 day formal notice of intent to sue, saying the EPA has not adequately enforced
the Clean Water Act, which requires states to implement a stream anti-degradation policy. The EQB approved an anti-degradation
policy in 1995, and last year state officials developed a plan, as required by the 1972 Clean Water Act, but the
plan has not been implemented. After a 7/98 hearing, EQB members decided not to submit the plan for legislative
consideration. Instead they formed a committee of regulators, environmentalists and industry representatives to
discuss it. The committee has not met, but hopes to have a recommendation for state lawmakers by 8/00.
Sources: Ken Ward Jr. Charleston Gazette, 5/29 and 6/24/99 and National
Journal's Greenwire, The Environmental News Daily, 6/25/99 |
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