The West Virginia House of Delegates Energy and Manufacturing Committee approved a bill viewed as a legal shield for Diversified Energy Company, the nation s largest gas and oil well owner. The bill would loosen gas well-plugging regulation.
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.
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.
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.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection still has a oil and gas inspector shortage, nearly a year after the state Legislature passed a law to address it. The DEP s Office of Oil and Gas is halfway to the 20-inspector goal contemplated with House Bill 3110.