The West Virginia House of Delegates Energy and Manufacturing Committee advanced legislation in House Bill 5045 designed to help the Department of Environmental Protection obtain primacy over underground carbon dioxide injection wells. The DEP s pursuit of primacy over the federal Class VI program has divided environmentalists who say the agency isn t prepared for the responsibility and carbon sequestration and blue hydrogen proponents who say it would ease permitting and foster economic growth
The West Virginia House of Delegates Energy and Manufacturing Committee has scheduled a public hearing on House Bill 5018, which would bar Department of Environmental Protection use of community air monitoring data for regulatory purposes in establishing air quality standards. Opponents say the bill would discourage citizen air monitoring and frustrate efforts to supplement the DEP s air quality monitoring network, which doesn t provide monitors in most West Virginia counties.
Two years ago, lawmakers created a commission to help struggling coalfield communities. On Thursday, a committee of lawmakers moved forward a bill to create another similar council.
The West Virginia House Energy and Manufacturing Committee advanced a bill, House Bill 5018, that would prohibit use of community air monitoring data for regulatory purposes in establishing air quality standards. The bill would apply to criteria and hazardous air pollutants and has drawn the opposition of environmental groups like the West Virginia Rivers Coalition and Appalachian Voices.
A bill passed by the West Virginia Senate, Senate Bill 171, has sparked fears of loss of local safeguards against environmental health concerns, especially in Hardy County. The bill would prohibit county commissions from passing ordinances or rules stricter than state law regarding agricultural operations.