West Virginia Legislative Photography
The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee was the first group this year to hold a public hearing on pending legislation.
Legislation in the House of Delegates would update water quality standards by adopting a quarter of recommended rules for pollutants that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created in 2015.
Representatives for companies regulated by these rules, like the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, say House Bill 2389 is “scientifically defensible” and reasonable.
Meanwhile, environmental advocates argue that the bill is an incomplete effort, incorporating several new rules that would weaken existing water quality standards and ignoring dozens of other EPA recommendations to increase regulation.
Courtesey
Originally published on February 27, 2021 7:39 am
Today is the 49th anniversary of one of the worst mining catastrophes in West Virginia history, the Buffalo Creek Disaster. More than 100 people died in southern West Virginia when a dam failed.
Gov. Justice visited the Buffalo Creek Memorial to lay a wreath remembering victims of the disaster. He also met with the Buffalo Creek Watershed for a ceremonial stocking of over 1,400 trout in the creek. Restoration work started about 20 years ago.
In 1972, coal companies said an “act of God” caused a dam holding 132-million gallons of black water to break. State and federal investigations found Pittston Coal was directly to blame for the dam’s failure. The collapse killed 125 people injuring over 1,100, and left 4,000 people homeless.
Buffalo Creek Showing Signs Of New Life, 49 Years After Sludge Spill wvpublic.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wvpublic.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Senior U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia has scheduled a hearing on the motion for the Temporary Restraining Order for tomorrow at 10 a.m.
The natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending February 12th indicated that the amount of natural gas held in underground storage in the US fell by 237 billion cubic feet to 2,281 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 105 billion cubic feet, or 4.4% below the 2,386 billion cubic feet that were in storage on February 12th of last year, but 57 billion cubic feet, or 2.6% above the five-year average of 2,224 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 12th of February in recent years..the 237 billion cubic feet that were drawn out of US natural gas storage this week was less than the average forecast of a 251 billion cubic foot withdrawal from an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, but much more than the 141 billion cubic foot withdrawal from natural gas storage seen during the corresponding week of a year earlier, as well as the average withdrawal of 142 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have typically b