February 26, 2005

Behemoths; Coal truck dilemma

Monster-size, pavement-crushing, dust-spewing, life-endangering coal trucks still plague West Virginians, despite various attempts to cure the problem.

All of Kanawha County’s legislators and some West Virginia members of Congress currently are trying to solve the nightmare at Chesapeake, the upper Kanawha Valley town that became a victim of law changes.

In the past, when West Virginia had a 65,000-pound limit on loaded trucks, the small community (1,800 population) bought its own scales to nab overweight behemoths traveling through Chesapeake to reach barge-loading docks on Kanawha River. The town’s crackdown caused coal haulers to detour via the West Virginia Turnpike. Chesapeake was spared.

But the 2003 Legislature allowed 120,000-pound loads on certain roads, including the main street of Chesapeake. Since the Turnpike is a federal interstate highway with an 80,000-pound limit, the giant trucks were banned from their detour. So 400 per day resumed rumbling through Chesapeake, shaking the town and covering everything with coal dirt. Residents are desperate.

Delegate Bonnie Brown visited Chesapeake and reported: “There are huge globs of gunk all along the highway. People’s cars are filthy. Their yards — it’s all over everything, and it’s deplorable.”

Chesapeake Mayor Damron Bradshaw has been clamoring for a federal rule change to let the trucks back on the Turnpike, so they’ll bypass the town again. Kanawha County legislators are pushing resolutions urging Congress to waive the weight limit. In Washington, Rep. Shelley Capito and Rep. Nick Rahall back the change.

We hope their plea succeeds. Also, the state Coal Association is arranging for empty trucks to return via the Turnpike, after they unload at the river docks. That will cut Chesapeake’s curse to 200 trucks per day.

However, shifting the “huge globs of gunk” and other ill effects out of Chesapeake into other parts of West Virginia isn’t an ideal solution. We wish that some reform could end the monster truck peril completely.

Massey Energy chief Don Blankenship once urged construction of coal gasification plants at mine sites, so the fuel would be transported through pipelines, not trucks. Former Gov. Arch Moore urged construction of small power plants near mines, so the energy would be sent out by wire, not trucks. Can those ideas be revived?

Anything would be better than the blight the trucks inflict on West Virginia.