This news story originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

3/1/04

Legislature

More bad than good

COMMENDABLY, the Legislature lowered West Virginia’s official intoxication level to 0.08 percent blood alcohol, a step that prevents loss of federal highway funds — and may save lives.

And finally, after seven years of failure, lawmakers passed a bill to protect riders of all-terrain vehicles — although the weak compromise foolishly allows the dangerous, unlicensed buggies onto 20,000 miles of paved roads.

Meanwhile, the rest of the 2004 session offers little benefit to West Virginia, so far. Here’s the bad news:

Bravely, led by Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, the House of Delegates unanimously passed a bold bill to save West Virginians an estimated $500 million a year on prescriptions, by letting the state buy drugs at low rates paid by the federal government. However, Senate Health Chairman Roman Prezioso, D-Marion, has blocked any Senate vote on it. He says he’s having “a good dialogue” with pharmaceutical corporations, who bitterly oppose the House bill, in hope they’ll offer more discounts instead.

Records in the secretary of state’s office show that Prezioso got $3,750 in drug company gifts in 2000. Altogether, West Virginia legislators got $48,050 from pharmaceutical sources in 2000 and $37,735 in 2002, according to the Citizen Action Group and the People’s Election Reform Coalition.

Prescription prices affect seniors most of all, and West Virginia has America’s highest ratio of them. Instead of getting a big break in costs, oldsters may get little except outrages like the $302,000 income being grabbed by the Wyoming County senior center director.

Meanwhile, House Education Chairman Jerry Mezzatesta, D-Hampshire, is causing two problems. He wants to create another state bureaucracy by setting up a separate governing board for community colleges, with a chancellor earning $200,000 a year. And he’s pushing a bill that seems crafted to prevent West Virginia State College from becoming a university.

The latter bill would withhold university status to any college with less than a 33 percent graduation rate. But State has multitudes of part-time commuting students, most of them working adults. Many take only a few classes, with little prospect of reaching a degree. Thus State’s graduation rate is just 17 percent — only half the standard demanded by Mezzatesta.

We hope that both his new bureaucracy and his sabotage of State are defeated.

Another terrible idea is being pushed by House Finance Chairman Harold Michael, D-Hardy. He wants to amend the state constitution to remove the phrase setting Charleston as the “seat of government” — a change that would let state agencies be scattered around West Virginia. Michael previously sneaked through a new community college for his county. Maybe he wants to move the Supreme Court or Legislature to Hardy County. Luckily, this proposal caused a walkout in a House committee Friday, and may be doomed.

Yet another terrible bill is the proposal to give fertilized eggs and fetuses the same legal status as people. The “Unborn Victims of Violence Act” would make it a special crime to injure or kill an egg or fetus — but irrationally would exclude damage from abortions and morning-after pills. This is merely another fundamentalist attempt to stigmatize women’s right to choose, and Gov. Wise should veto it.

Finally, what about the impossible budget? The state faces a $120 million revenue shortfall this year — plus projected deficits climbing above $300 million in coming years. To reduce the gap, Gov. Wise requested another $40 million tax on cigarettes, snuff and chewing tobacco — a wise plan that would save lives and medical costs by preventing teens from becoming addicted to nicotine.

But legislative leaders flatly refused to consider the tobacco tax. (We’re sure they will say this decision has nothing to do with the fact that tobacco interests gave West Virginia lawmakers $23,975 in 2000 and $32,950 in 2002, according to the Citizen Action Group.) So, how can the Legislature balance the state budget?

At this point — three-fourths of the way through the 2004 session — there are few rays of hope. Just two weeks remain, plus the extended budget period. If genuine benefits are going to emerge, we hope it is soon.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/22/04

Coal Hauling Held To The Line 

Staff
Charleston

One year after the controversial Coal Truck Weight Limit law was enacted, legislators are making it clear haulers in every county will be held accountable.

Last year, lawmakers agreed to up the weight limit trucks could carry on coal haul routes in 15 southern counties. It went from 80,000 pounds to 120,000. The law also required receivers to keep records on the weights of trucks coming into their facilities to make sure haulers were following the law.

But this past session, some lawmakers tried to pass an amendment that would have required only receivers in the 15 county coal haul route system to keep weight records.

Marion County delegate Mike Caputo, who fought against increasing the weight limit last year, faced another battle this year. This time around he won.

The coal haul truck law now requires receivers in all 55 counties to keep records on the weight of every truck. Those books are examined by the state Public Service Commission. If the haulers and receivers don't follow the law, they face stiff fines.

Caputo says they needed a law that kept tabs on every hauler, not just those carrying 120,000 pounds. That's why he fought so hard against the amendment. He says he lost his battle last year, but this time around he won.

Caputo says the law makes sure everyone is following state law. Receivers must report overweight trucks to the PSC. Caputo says that means haulers and receivers will be held accountable. And the PSC can determine if there is a problem with trucks hauling overweight limits before it becomes a habitual problem.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/22/04

Activists Continue To Rail On Administration 

MetroNews Talkline
Charleston

The anti-war group Patriots for Peace continues sounding the drum that U.S. involvement in Iraq is wrong.

On the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Saddam Hussein's nation, the group staged a demonstration over the weekend in Charleston. Their efforts mirror anti-war demonstrations all around the world.

Jim Lewis is the leader of the Charleston-based group here in West Virginia. He says their criticism from the beginning is now starting to bare out.

"This president and his administration has taken us into dangerous ground. We shouldn't have gone," said Lewis during an appearance on MetroNews' "Talkline" Monday. "But there we are, so how do we get out?"

Lewis says he's hopeful the government will be given over to the Iraqis and U.S. troops will leave as soon as possible. The chances of that look very doubtful despite efforts to stabilize the Iraqi government. Senator Rockefeller and Congresswoman Capito have both recently returned from Iraq, and both fear the pullout will be slow.

Lewis and his followers in the Patriots for Peace Movement continue to be critical of the U.S. command for linking the War in Iraq and the war on terror.

"We've been saying all along that they should not be linked, and there's a lot of evidence now coming forward that this president was just fixated on going to Iraq."

Lewis, a Charleston-area minister, says he doesn't feel the world is a safer place with Saddam Hussein out of power. He says in fact with the news of violence in the Gaza Strip, Spain, and other locations, the world may even be a more dangerous place with the dictator out of power.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/23/04

Longtime Friend Remembers Haden 

The Morning News
Charleston

Many who knew the late U.S. District Judge Charles Haden are praising his body of work as a life-long public servant. Haden died over the weekend following an extended illness. Among those who knew him best was his longtime friend and former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Tom McHugh.

"He accomplished so much. That's the unfortunate part of his passing." Said McHugh during an appearance on the MetroNews Morning News. "If you look at his record it's really unparalled. Very few people can ever achieve what Chuck Haden has achieved for the state of West Virginia."

Haden served in some capacity in all three branches of state government. He was elected to serve in the state House of Delegates and later served in the cabinet of former Governor Arch Moore. He was appointed to an unfilled vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Eventually President Ford appointed Haden to the federal bench where McHugh says he showed his greatest asset of leadership.

"I first met him when we were freshmen at WVU in 1954 and I knew then that he just had exceptional traits." Reflects McHugh. "As you follow his career what he set out to achieve, he achieved."

Haden is probably best known for his two opinions that sided with environmentalists in the bitter controversy over Mountaintop removal coal mining. Both were overturned on appeal, but the reversals did not address the ruling itself, only the jurisdiction of the filing. The ruling from Haden who was a conservative Republican shocked many.

"He had two traits, which together, just make a tremendous person. Number one he had knowledge and number two he had integrity." Says McHugh. "He was right down the middle on everything. I was a very close friend of his, but I couldn't predict what he was going to do because he would do what he thought was the proper thing to do."

Haden will lie in state on the 7th floor of the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse in Charleston Tuesday from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm. A reception for the general public will be held during those same hours on the 5th floor of the courthouse.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/23/04

Friends And Colleagues Remember Haden

Staff
Charleston

Those who knew Federal Judge Charles Haden best say behind the tough exterior was a fair man who wanted to be treated like everyone else.

Hundreds filed passed Haden's casket in his courtroom in Charleston Tuesday afternoon. The 66-year-old Haden died last week. He was first appointed to the federal bench in 1975.

Federal Bankruptcy Judge Ronald Pearson says Haden was the first to demand that the rules of his courtroom be followed, but he was also first to make sure no one treated him better than anyone else.

Judge Pearson says Judge Haden had a rule for his staff; no one was allowed to give him gifts. He says the staff was never expected to pay homage to him or contribute to causes that he favored.

Pearson says few men accomplished in the judiciary as much as Charles Haden. He says he will be sorely missed.

U.S. District Attorney Kasey Warner says Haden was a very "decent individual." He says he demanded respect in his courtroom and his tough exterior is what was needed for a judge.

Environmentalist Norm Steenstra says he'll never forget Haden's landmark ruling on mountaintop removal mining. Steenstra says, "I'll always remember him getting down on his hands and knees on a snowy day on a mountaintop removal job and looking at the critters in the water." Steenstra says, "They don't make judges like that everyday."

Former state Tax and Revenue Secretary Mike Garrison fondly remembers a call he received from Haden shortly after he was appointed to that position by Governor Wise. Garrison says Haden offered his help, having served in a similar position years ago in the Moore Administration.

This news story originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

3/31/04

Stream rule proposals criticized

By Ken Ward Jr.
STAFF WRITER

Janet Fout thought strip mine regulators should hear the sounds of frogs and birds whose homes could be damaged by mountaintop removal mining.

So, at a public hearing on proposed changes to a key stream protection rule, Fout tried to play a tape of spring peepers and wood thrushes.

“I’m speaking for life,” said Fout, a Huntington environmental activist. “We will all miss the birds and the frogs and the fish.”

U.S. Office of Surface Mining officials weren’t interested.

“I’m not going to listen to that for five minutes,” said OSM’s Tom Morgan, referring to the allotted time for each speaker.

“What relevance does that have to the stream buffer zone rule?” Morgan said. “We are not here to hear animal calls or bird calls.”

Fout continued to play the tape. She said that scientific studies have found mountaintop removal is harming bird and other animal habitat.

A uniformed Charleston police officer — one of two posted inside the hearing — walked to the front of the room and exchanged whispers with Morgan.

Then, the officer walked over to the podium and whispered to Fout. When she still didn’t stop the tape, the officer shut off the microphone. He appeared at one point to be trying to confiscate the tape player or at least turn it off.

But Morgan and several other OSM officials heard plenty more from mountaintop removal activists who dominated the three-hour hearing.

Julia Bonds of Whitesville blasted mountaintop removal as an “evil scheme to allow greedy mining companies to destroy our mountains and our streams.”

“This administration and these agencies are nothing more than prostitutes for the extractive industries,” said Bonds, a leader of the group Coal River Mountain Watch.

OSM held Tuesday’s hearing to accept public comments on its proposal to rewrite a 20-year-old regulation called the stream buffer zone rule. More than 100 people packed a small meeting room at the Charleston Civic Center for the hearing.

Currently, the rule generally prohibits mining within 100 feet of perennial and intermittent streams.

As the rule is now, mining operators can obtain waivers to come closer to streams. But, to obtain such a variance, companies must show their proposed mining will not violate water quality standards or “adversely affect the water quantity and quality.”

In mountaintop removal, coal operators blast off entire hilltops to uncover valuable, low-sulfur coal reserves. Leftover rock and dirt — the stuff that used to be the mountain — is dumped into nearby valleys, burying streams.

Last year, a federal government report found that more than 700 streams in the Appalachian region have already been eliminated by valley fills.

In October 1999, U.S. District Judge Charles H. Haden II ruled that the stream buffer zone rule outlawed valley fills except in smaller, ephemeral streams.

That ruling was later overturned. But the appeals court said only that the case belonged in state court, not before a federal judge.

In October, the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed a new permit challenge, seeking a state court ruling on the issue. Hearings on the issue continue in May before the state Surface Mine Board.

Earlier this year, the Bush administration proposed to rewrite the federal buffer zone rule.

Under the proposal, a variance could be approved if a company showed it had “minimized, to the maximum extent possible” the size of its valley fills.

The Charleston meeting was one of five public hearings on the rule change that OSM held around the coalfields, and in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

On Monday, the industry group Friends of Coal sent out a mass e-mail to urge its members to attend the Charleston hearing.

“Show up and let OSM know what coal means to you, your family and your community and how important these changes are to secure your future in West Virginia,” the message said.

But only two of the nearly four dozen speakers at the hearing spoke up for the coal industry or mountaintop removal.

Industry lawyer Bob McLusky said that he favors the rule changes, with one exception.

The new variance requirements should require valley fill size to be minimized as much as “practicable,” not as much as “possible,” McLusky said.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said his group also supports the changes and that mine operators have risen to the challenge of many new restrictions.

At the end of the hearing, Charleston lawyer Mary Ann Maul asked Morgan to allow Fout to play her tape. Then, Maul said, it would be part of the hearing record and OSM could decide later whether to consider it in its final decision.

Morgan refused and also said he would not cite any OSM rules that prohibit the playing of such tapes at public hearings.

“I’m not here to justify what I do,” Morgan said. “I’m in charge of this hearing.”

To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.

This news story originally provided by WV Metro News

3/31/04

Mountaintop Removal Debated Again

Staff
Charleston

Coalfield residents are once again speaking out against mountaintop removal mining and its impact on West Virginia.

The Office of Surface Mining is holding five public hearings. They're taking place in Charleston, Greentree, Pa., Hazard Ky., Harriman, Tenn., and Washington, D.C.

Bill Price with the Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program says he's tired of the Bush Administration looking the other way while coal companies continue to dump dirt and debris into the state’s streams and creeks. Price says that's a violation of a long-standing federal regulation that states' mining activity cannot be conducted within 100 feet of a water source. Price says coal companies all across Appalachia disregard that rule every day.

Price says the Bush Administration is trying to rewrite the rule to allow coal companies to dump into streams. Price is outraged.

The OSM hearings give concerned residents and coal company executives a chance to voice their opinions.

A small delegation from the state traveled to D.C. for a hearing at the U.S. Capitol. Price says they want not only local lawmakers to know what's going on but national politicians as well.

Coalfield residents say they're not asking for much. They just want the Bush Administration to crack down on violators. They say the law has been on the books for years but never enforced. Price says it's time for that to change. He says the law isn't just about water resources; it's about a way of life and how the federal government responds to calls for help.

Price has made it clear. They intend to let the Bush administration know they won't stand for a revised law or inspectors who look the other way. And they intend to speak up until they're heard.

This news story originally provided by The Daily Mail

3/31/04

Official tells speaker not to make another peep

Woman ordered not to play wildlife recording at meeting

Brian Bowling
Daily Mail staff

Karin Fischer 
Daily Mail Washington bureau

Wednesday March 31, 2004

Given a chance to talk with the animals, a federal mining official told them to shut up.

At a U.S. Office of Surface Mining public hearing Tuesday at the Charleston Civic Center, the subject was the agency's proposal to rewrite its stream buffer zone regulation so it clearly allows coal companies to build valley fills in intermittent and perennial streams.

Slightly more than 100 people attended the hearing, and about three dozen spoke. All but two of the speakers opposed the agency's proposal. One of those opponents, Janet Fout of Huntington, wanted to use her five minutes at the podium to play a recording of spring peepers, cerulean warblers and other wildlife found along West Virginia streams.

Tom Morgan, the OSM official conducting the hearing, told her to stop playing the recording.

"We are not going to listen to that," he said.

Fout refused.

"Someone needs to speak for the life that's going to be lost," she said.

Other members of the audience booed and shouted at Morgan to allow Fout to continue her presentation. Morgan directed two Charleston police officers to silence Fout, and they did.

After a police officer had forced Fout to turn off the recording, she gave Morgan a parting shot.

"I know why you can't listen to this because this is a truth you cannot escape," she said.

During a break, Morgan said he ordered Fout to turn off the recording because the wildlife sounds weren't relevant.

"It didn't relate," he said. "We're here for comment, not tape recordings."

Several speakers following Fout said the OSM needs to spend more time listening to wildlife and less time listening to coal industry lobbyists. Some also suggested that if OSM objects to listening to frogs and birds it should try putting up with the blasting noise that's become part of their daily lives.

Overall, the tone of the three-hour hearing ranged from calm arguments to standup routines to a sort of New Age tent revival meeting.

Charleston lawyer Bob McLusky, one of the two speakers in favor of the agency's proposal, said six years of lawsuits have muddied the clear intent of the buffer zone regulation.

When Congress passed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, it clearly mandated the use of valley fills as opposed to the unregulated dumping of mining waste over hillsides that had been the industry practice, he said.

When the agency wrote the buffer zone regulation in 1983, the idea was to prevent mining operations from polluting streams with sediment. The regulation, which prohibits mining-related ground disturbances within 100 feet of intermittent or perennial streams, was never intended to apply to valley fills, McLusky said.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, agreed: "The buffer zone is not even in the (mining) law. Valley fills are in the law, and stream protections are in the law."

Frank Young, president of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, said that interpretation of the buffer zone rule leads to an absurdity.

"We protect the streams by destroying them," he said.

Chelana McCoy of Sumerco said that if the current interpretation is wrong, the agency should just "go with the flow" because it's a good interpretation.

OSM held five hearings on the regulation Tuesday. In addition to the hearing in Charleston, the agency held hearings in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky and Washington, D.C.

Given a choice of venues, some West Virginia opponents of mountaintop removal mining showed up at the Washington hearing.

"The people who make the decisions are in Washington," said Cindy Rank, mining chairwoman of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.

Rank and several other West Virginians joined a noon rally in a park across the street from the Interior Department's headquarters before testifying inside.

"Hopefully, they'll see us as more than just a few people up in the hills," she said.

As was the case in the Charleston hearing, opponents far outnumbered supporters in the audience of about 60 that attended the D.C. hearing.

The OSM is taking written comments on the proposal until 5 p.m. on April 7. Written comments can be mailed to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Administrative Record, Room 101, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20240. They can be e-mailed to osmrules@osmre.gov.

Writer Brian Bowling can be reached at 348-4842.

This news story originally provided by Environment News Service

3/31/04

Critics Blast Bush Proposal to Ease Mining Waste Rule

WASHINGTON, DC, March 31, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration's proposed industry friendly revisions to the "buffer zone" rule, which governs permits for coal mining activities that disturb areas within 100 feet of streams, drew sharp criticism Tuesday from environmentalists and Appalachia citizens at public hearings on the proposal.

Currently the 1983 regulation prevents federal and state agencies from issuing such permits unless there is confirmation that the activities will not adversely impact water quality, but administration officials say the rule is onerous and confusing.

The proposed changes, announced in January by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM), would strike the existing rule and instead call on coal operators to prevent and minimize damage to streams in the buffer zone "to the extent possible."

Administration officials and industry groups say the revisions would provider greater clarity to industry and balance the economic and environmental needs of regions that use the technique.

But critics contend the proposal will allow coal companies to dump wastes directly on top of streams and is part of the Bush administration's effort to protect a controversial mining practice called mountaintop coal mining.

The practice - labeled mountaintop removal coal mining by environmentalists - is a form of strip mining widely used in Appalachia in which mining companies blast hundreds of feet off the tops of mountains to easily access coal deposits.

The debris and waste rubble is bulldozed into surrounding valleys and into streambeds - called valley fills - but the practice has fouled hundreds of miles of Appalachian waterways and thousands of acres of forests.

"The Bush administration states that a goal of its rulemaking proposal is to minimize the adverse environmental effects of mountaintop removal valley fills. Yet it is proposing to legalize the coal companies' practice of burying streams, an activity not even allowed under the existing rule," said Sarah Wilhoite, policy associate for the environmental law firm Earthjustice. "Replacing a rule that forbids destroying streams with one that sanctions the practice cannot seriously be considered 'minimizing' harm."

According to the Bush administration's draft Environmental Impact Statement on mountaintop removal coal mining released in May 2003, more than 1,200 miles of streams have already been buried by mountaintop removal mining waste in the last decade. These same studies found that, without additional restrictions on mountaintop removal mining, at least another 1,000 miles of streams will be added to this toll within the next decade.

The proposal, which is open for public comment through April 7, is part of the Bush administration's broad policy to ease regulations on the coal industry - in particular operators who use mountaintop coal mining techniques.

The industry remains a key economic engine for Appalachia and other regions of the country and some 50 percent of U.S. electricity is generated by coal. Tighter regulation of mining wastes from mountaintop coal mining would costs thousands of jobs, according to industry groups.

The practice is used throughout Appalachia, mostly in the states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.

In 2002, the Bush administration finalized changes to the Clean Water Act that allowed the Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits allowing the dumping of mine wastes into waterways.

Environmental groups filed suit in federal court in October 2003 against the Corps for issuing those permits, which they contend violate the Clean Water Act and other federal environmental laws.