Media Advisory

September 3, 2002

Citizen groups concerned about overweight coal trucks will hold a press conference on Thursday, September 5, 2002 at 3:30 PM in the People's Room at the Secretary of State's office at the state Capitol. Following the press conference, there will be a memorial service in Hernshaw, WV to mark the one-year anniversary of the coal truck accident that took the lives of Mary Justice and Jimmy Nelson on Route 94. The service will be at 5:30 PM.

Coal River Mountain Watch, Citizens' Coal Council, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and the West Virginia Citizen Action Group are sponsoring the press conference. The issue of overweight coal trucks has been a legislative priority for these groups in their efforts to keep truck weight limits at 80,000 pounds. Governor Wise, the coal industry and some members of the legislature support raising the weight limits to over 120,000 pounds. A recent special session of the legislature took up the issue but no resolution was reached.

The groups cite safety concerns as their primary reason for opposition to the weight limit increase. Over the past 2 years, 10 West Virginians have died in accidents involving coal trucks. Another issue is damage to West Virginia highways, which already tops $2 billion and many roads and bridges on routes traveled by coal-hauling trucks are severely damaged.

For additional information, contact Julie Archer with WV Citizen Action Group at 304-346-5891, Judy Bonds with the Coal River Mountain Watch at 304-854-2182, Vivian Stockman with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition at 304-522-0256, or Bill McCabe with Citizens Coal Council at 304-339-2523.