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| Conservation
Issues |
A Wacky Week on Water Wars
This week's water battles have been many and varied, with ebbs and flows (and political arm twisting) at every
turn. The House Judiciary Committee passed out the DEP "compromise" rule rather than industry's Dirty
Water Bill.
The message to legislators this week is: The DEP proposal is dangerously weak. Please don't make it any weaker!!
Urge your lawmakers to protect trout streams. And tell them not to weaken an already weak bill. Tell them to fend
off any industry amendments. See contact info below.
The water rules have been bundled into a much larger bill with a host of other environmental protection rules.
When referring to antideg at this point, be sure to refer to HB 2663, its new number.
Monday was the last day of antidegradation stakeholder negotiations with House Judiciary Chairman Jon Amores and
Legislative Rulemaking Review Chair Virginia Mahan. Not surprisingly, industry made no agreements to anything,
and Amores made it clear that the DEP proposal would be the vehicle for moving the rule in House Judiciary.
The antideg rule sprouted legs pretty quickly, and the Judiciary Committee took up the bill Tuesday afternoon.
It was a five-hour ordeal, with the committee first adopting and passing the DEP proposal by voice vote, then voting
13-12 to bring the bill back for reconsideration. The committee was trying to buck the chairman's recommendation
on the DEP rule; industry had obviously worked overtime on a bunch of committee members. After a great deal more
discussion (and subtle arm twisting by leadership in the meantime, including an appearance by Senate Judiciary
Chair Bill Wooton) the committee passed the DEP proposal again, 16-9. This was a very significant vote, with the
committee bucking intense lobbying by every major industry in the state.
Voting in favor of the DEP rule were Delegates Amores, Manuel, Craig, Webster, Wills, Hrutkay, Mahan, Randy White,
Mike Caputo, Fleischauer, Thompson, Pethel, Ferrell, Spencer, Joe Smith and Pino.
Industry pulled out all the stops at this point, with many delegates receiving calls from constituents who had
swallowed the Industry bait and were opposing DEP's bill. The bill came up for first reading in the House on Thursday,
and we were preparing for a floor battle next week, when industry amendments likely will be flying. (Bills must
go through three readings on three separate days, passing on third reading).
But Thursday afternoon, industry quietly slipped into a meeting with Speaker Bob Kiss, House leadership, governor's
staff, and DEP Director Mike Callaghan. Noticeably absent and uninvited were those of us from the public interest
sector! We learned that industry is especially furious over the inclusion in DEP's bill of Tier 2.5 protections
for "waters of special concern" like trout streams, but apparently DEP refused to budge on this provision.
At press time, HB 2663 has been removed from the House calendar, meaning it won't be taken up Monday. We don't
yet know what that means for the bill's future. Will it die? Will it be amended to appease industry? Will it be
left alone? Can the House leadership pull together enough votes to pass its own bill?
Our message has been and continues to be that HB 2663 is dangerously weak, and shouldn't be made weaker. Although
it recognizes that trout streams need to be protected and that high quality streams shouldn't be given lower protections
if they're impaired, it has lots of problems, and is far from a bill that we're happy with. It exempts valley fills,
and effectively exempts the timber and agriculture industries. It also exempts existing polluters from review.
One interesting development was that labor unions endorsed the DEP proposal on Thursday, laying to rest the industry
lies about how anything other than the Dirty Water Bill means that jobs are thrown out the window and West Virginia's
borders are closed to economic development.
Industry has a full court press on the House of Delegates, and we need to do the same. Keep up the calls, faxes
and e-mails to your delegates, and even visit them if you can.
CONTACT:
Legislators: cglagola@mail.wvnet.edu (put Senator or Delegate's
name in subject line)
Or write to:
The Honorable _____________
Member, WV Senate or House of Delegates
Bldg. 1, State Capitol Complex
Charleston, WV 25305
You can fax letters to (304) 347-4819
Call Your Legislators toll-free at: 1-877-565-3447 |
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