Perennial environmental priorities like boosting funding for gas and oil well remediation and establishing community solar in West Virginia failed in the state s 2024 regular legislative session. West Virginia environmentalists did celebrate blocking legislation they opposed that would have barred use of community air monitoring data in third-party lawsuits.
The West Virginia Legislature is showing little sign through a quarter of the 2023 state regular legislative session of strengthening air quality and other environmental protections in a state of high concentrations of air pollution from chemical, gas and oil infrastructure. Instead, a bill introduced by House Energy and Manufacturing Committee Chair Bill Anderson, R-Wood, would keep the state Department of Environmental Protection from using community air monitoring data for regulatory purposes.
Shortly after midnight on Jan. 16, 2024, Norm Steenstra Jr., a founder of West Virginia’s environmental movement, passed away at his home in Charleston at the age of 72.
Environmental Justice activist and Vice Chair of the Mountain Party Frank Young passed away yesterday on December 2, 2021. "Frank was a friend and mentor. His commitment to the environment and progressive politics will not be forgotten. He will be sorely missed," said Denise Binion, Mountain Party Chair.
Frank Young was born at Tuppers Creek in Kanawha County and was a graduate of West Virginia State University in the 1960s. For 23 years, he owned the Red Barn Tire and Wrecker Service near Ripley, West Virginia where he resided for the remainder of his life.