Industry To West Virginia: We Can’t Be Bothered
They’re at it again. Under the cover of the Covid pandemic, when citizens can’t rally in numbers, the West Virginia legislature is poised to gut one of the key protections of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act enacted after the 2014 water…
Purchase Power Agreement Bills Introduced in Legislature
Bipartisan support seems to be gathering around the idea of authorizing purchase power agreements (PPAs) in West Virginia. A PPA would allow a solar installation, or other alternative generation project, to be built on a customer’s property…
Harold Ward Appointed New DEP Secretary
Governor Justice recently appointed longtime Division of Environmental Protection official Harold Ward to be Secretary of the agency. Ward had been serving as the DEP’s deputy secretary of Operations and director of the Division of Mining…
America’s Newest National Park Is West Virginia’s First
Tucked into the omnibus spending bill that passed Congress at the end of 2020 was a measure creating the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. This is the sixty-third national park, but the first one in West Virginia. To achieve this was…
What’s In the New Spending Law for the Environment?
On December 27, 2020, seemingly at the last minute, President Trump signed the omnibus spending bill negotiated in Congress. Much of the news has been about the pandemic relief provided in the law. But the law also funds many new energy…
FERC Permits Mountain Valley Pipeline to Proceed
The Mountain Valley Pipeline, which seeks to transmit fracked natural gas from Northern West Virginia to markets in Virginia and North Carolina, has been on hold since 2018. At that time the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated authorizations…
Solar and Wind Industries Issue Policy Roadmaps for Biden Administration
The American Wind Energy Association, the leading wind energy trade association, has issued a proposed 100-day plan for the Biden Administration to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The plan advances four themes: establishing clean energy…
Mountaineer Gas Pipeline Explodes in Martinsburg
Workers digging to install a new pipeline next to an older one on private property near Martinsburg struct the older line causing an explosion on September 21. Pressurized gas shot 80 to 100 feet in the air causing the evacuation of the homeowners.…
Michigan Bald Eagle Attacks Drone, Rips Off Propeller
A bald eagle in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula attacked a shoreline mapping drone on July 21, ripping off its propeller and sending it down in 4 feet of water. In its last 3.5 seconds of operation, the drone sent out 27 frantic distress messages.…
North Carolina Denies Water Permit to Mountain Valley Pipeline
On August 11, 2020 the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality rejected a water permit for a 75-mile branch of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Overall, the MVP is a 300-mile project designed to transmit gas from nothwestern West Virginia…
