Clark Challenges Brown for 65th District Seat

Wayne Clark, a newcomer to West Virginia politics, has entered the race for the 65th delegate district seat in the House of Delegates against Sammi Brown, the one-term incumbent. The 65th district covers the city of Charles Town and close-in county neighborhoods. Clark was born in 1972 and lives in Charles Town.  He holds an […]

Congress Passes Historic Great American Outdoors Act

On Wednesday July 22, 2020 the House of Representatives passed the Great American Outdoors Act on a bipartisan vote of 310 to 107.  The Act passed the Senate last month by a wide margin and is now ready for the President’s signature. When fully enacted the GAOA will provide $9.5 billion over 5 years to […]

Developers Abandon Atlantic Coast Pipeline Effort

Fresh off a victory in the Supreme Court, two power companies throw in the towel on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Read more on The Washington Post or download the PDF»

June 2020 Conservation Update

U.S. Supreme Court Allows the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to Be Built Underneath the Appalachian Trail The Atlantic Coast Pipeline will carry natural gas 604 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina. On June 15, 2020 the Supreme Court decided a challenge to the pipeline brought by a number of Virginia conservation groups and the Sierra […]

Solar Energy and the Legislature:  A Power Play in Charleston

For a state beholden to the coal and natural gas industries, solar energy generated a lot of heat the 2020 West Virginia legislative session. Two initiatives concerning alternative energy, including solar, were introduced. One survived and will become law. Unfortunately, the survivor is a timid effort to attract a specific hi-tech enterprise that will involve […]

West Virginia’s Green Amendment

In early 2019, thirty-two West Virginia legislators introduced Resolution 25 in the West Virginia House of Delegates. The Resolution called for an amendment to the West Virginia Constitution creating a right to clean air, pure water, and the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic, and aesthetic values of the environment. Modeled on a similar amendment in Pennsylvania, […]

Paper or Plastic?

Remember when grocery clerks would ask this question at the checkout counter? Now stores simply default to plastic bagging.  I have always assumed that plastic bags became the grocery industry’s packaging of choice because of the cost savings to the grocers. This is basically true. I have also assumed that paper bags were better for the […]