West Virginia has been plundered and re-plundered first by the logging industry during the early 20th century, producing denuded mountains, fires, mudslides and flooding. Then came the coal industry bringing even worse devastation with acid mine drainage, mine subsidence from conventional underground mining and the ultimate destruction of entire mountain ranges and streams with mechanized Mountain Top Removal. West Virginia is now ground zero for another environmental disaster, Marcellus Shale gas extraction. If it is allowed to continue without regulation, Marcellus Shale drilling and fracking could make Almost Heaven, Wild Wonderful WV virtually uninhabitable. But this diary isn't about the environmental concerns that everyone should be familiar with by now. This is about the politics of the issue.
Today in West Virginia newspapers, the Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) is running a full page ad using the same tired disinformation and blatantly false set of talking points and fearmongering that the extraction industries have been using on West Virginians for more than a century.
Economists have noted the Marcellus Shale represents the single greatest economic development opportunity in West Virgina history. The nation needs to reduce dependence on foreign oil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Clean burning natural gas does both and West Virginians can benefit immensely by drilling for and producing this valuable fuel.
Unfortunately, individuals in the WV Legislature are trying to pass laws that severely restrict, if not in some cases eliminate, drilling for natural gas altogether, resulting in the prospect of jobs lost and families distraught. Emphasis mine.
More than 35,000 West Virginians rely on the natural gas industry for employment. Likely someone you know - perhaps a family member, a neighbor or friend - is one of those 35,000.
The fact is that the legislation is not about hurting the industry, it is about protecting the rights of every WV family who would like to have clean, safe, water and air. It is about protecting our property rights. And it is about making sure that WV taxpayers are not picking up the tab for road and bridge repair and clean up of damages, contamination and health problems that will be left by the gas industry when they are done with WV and leave to go back to their own states.
There is nothing in the legislation that will drive the gas industry out of business or out of WV or prevent any jobs from being created. Read the legislation SB 424 and HB 2878 for yourself at: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/...
Last year a good bill was killed off by legislators who were bought and paid for by the gas industry.Tomorrow will begin the last week of WV's 2011 legislative session. We are still without any regulation of the MS extraction industry. Good legislation HB 2878 has been watered down to near worthlessness and allowed to die in the House of Delegates. A weaker Senate bill SB 424 must be amended with strong, meaningful controls and passed if we are to get any regulation at all. Time is running out.
We need calls to our legislators to encourage them to act in the best interest of WV's residents and pass strong protective regulations. The gas industry must not be given another year of free-rein. While many may say, well that doesn't affect me, that's in WV, consider the fact that our rivers and streams drain into the Potomac and Ohio Rivers in the eastern United States. If your state's rivers are fed by WV rivers and streams, this affects you, too, especially if you use them as municipal or agricultural water sources or for recreation. If your state is another one of the unlucky ones that is situated atop the Marcellus Shale formation, your area may be the next one affected, if it isn't already.
(If you call Senator Kessler, Delegates Fleischauer or Manypenny, be sure to thank them. They are working hard to strengthen this legislation and get it passed.)
Senate President: Jeff Kessler
Phone: (304) 357-7801
jeff.kessler@wvsenate.gov
House Speaker Rick Thompson
Capitol Phone: (304) 340-3210
E-mail: Speaker.Thompson@frontier.com
House Judiciary Committee:
Tim Miley, Chair: (304) 340-3252 tim.miley@wvhouse.gov
Mark Hunt, Vice Chair: (304) 340-3392 mhunt@markahunt.com
John Ellem: (304) 340-3394 ellem@wirefire.com
Patrick Lane: (304) 340-3275 patricklane@wvhouse.gov
Larry Barker: (304) 340-3149 larry.barker@wvhouse.gov
Bonnie Brown: (304) 340-3106 bonnie.brown@wvhouse.gov
Mike Caputo: (304) 340-3249 mike.caputo@wvhouse.gov
Michael Ferrro: (304) 340-3111 mike.ferro@wvhouse.gov
Barbara Fleischauer: (304) 340-3169 barbaraf@wvhouse.gov
John Frazier: (304) 340-3396 jfrazier@mail.wvnet.edu
Linda Longstreth: (304) 340-3124 linda.longstreth@wvhouse.gov
Mike Manypenny: (304) 340-3139 mike.manypenny@wvhouse.gov
Harold Michael: (304) 340-3340 harold@hardynet.com
Clif Moore: (304) 340-3189 clif.moore@wvhouse.gov
John Pino: (304) 340-3170 john.pino@wvhouse.gov
Meshea Poore: (304) 340-3248 meshea.poore@wvhouse.gov
Doug Skaff: (304) 340-3362 doug.skaff@wvhouse.gov
Danny Wells: (304) 340-3287 danny.wells@wvhouse.gov
Troy Andes: (304) 340-3121 troy.andes@wvhouse.gov
Bill Hamilton: (304) 340-3167 bill.Hamilton@wvhouse.gov
Woody Ireland: (304) 340-3195 woody.Ireland@wvhouse.gov
Carol Miller: (304) 340-3176 carol.miller@wvhouse.gov
Jonathan Miller: (304) 340-3147 jonathan@delegatejmiller.com
John Overington: (304) 340-3148 john@overington.com
Kelli Sobonya: (304) 340-3175 kelli.sobonya@wvhouse.gov