WVRC Conservation Issues
Information provided by Nathan Fetty, WVRC

West Virginia Rivers Coalition is closely monitoring developments regarding Dominion Resources plans to run a 30" pipeline across West Virginia for the purpose of transporting natural gas to a location north of Winston Salem, NC. Plans continue to change but WVRC is concerned about the company's plans to cross two of West Virginia's best whitewater resources. The proposed pipeline will cross the New River near Hawk's Nest State Park (near the New River Dries section) and cross the Gauley below the commercial take out for the lower section near the town of Swiss.

As currently planned, the Greenbrier Pipeline would be constructed from just north of Clendenin in Kanawha County, through Clay County and a small portion of Nicholas County. The line would enter Fayette County across the Gauley River from Swiss, near the takeout point for rafters. It would travel through Jodie and along Rich Creek Road on an abandoned railroad bed to west of the corporate limits of Ansted, crossing the New River west of Hawks Nest below the dam. The pipeline would then continue southwest of Fayetteville and west of Oak Hill and then cross U.S. 19 near the Glen Jean intersection before moving into Raleigh County. A river crossing, which would involve drilling in New River, would be necessary. 

To contact local grassroots groups opposed to this pipeline call Ground Keepers: Sheila Davis at (304) 466-3676 or Ms. Carolyn Mullins at (304)763-2110 or nopipeline@citynet.net. A web site that follows this issue closely www.newriverfriends.org/. 
To contact Governor Bob Wise of West Virginia regarding the pipeline you can email www.state.wv.us/governor/eForm.asp 
or call 1-888-438-2731

Environmental Groups Challenge EPA over West Virginia's Weak Clean Water Policy 

The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC), and 23 other environmental organizations and citizens filed a lawsuit on January 23, 2002 against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a water quality policy that is supposed to keep West Virginia's high quality rivers and streams from being unnecessarily polluted. The complaint, filed in federal district court in Huntington, WVA, alleges that EPA approved an illegal anti-degradation implementation plan for West Virginia. The plan, passed by the state Legislature in 2001, was approved by the Bush EPA this past November. The anti-degradation provision of the 1972 federal Clean Water Act is supposed to ensure that clean waters are protected and polluted waters are not polluted further. An

anti-degradation policy says that before a polluter gets permission from the state to pollute high quality waters, the state must conduct a thorough and open public review of the project to assure that the social and economic benefits of allowing water pollution outweigh the social and economic costs of that pollution. However, West Virginia's policy is full of exemptions and weak provisions. For example, the lower reaches of the Monongahela River and Kanawha River are arbitrarily and permanently afforded the lowest level of protection regardless of water quality.

Additionally, all existing dischargers in WVA are exempt from review, unless they significantly expand. Certain classes of activities are exempt, such as valley fills from large mountaintop removal operations. Some of West Virginia's high quality trout streams are exempt for certain types of pollutants 

Nationally, anti-degradation is becoming an issue as citizens and environmental groups are protecting the clean rivers and streams that remain. Environmentalists, who see the Bush administration as pushing an anti-clean water agenda, are seeking under-utilized protections that forward-thinking legislation, like the Clean Water Act, provides.

West Virginia's environmental community participated in 18 months of good-faith negotiations before the state's Environmental Quality Board (EQB), which promulgates water quality standards. The EQB wrote a weak anti-degradation implementation policy for the state Legislature. After late-night, backroom negotiations with industry, the state Department of Environmental Protection crafted an even weaker policy, which the Legislature passed. Several months later, the Bush EPA gave its unconditional approval of the policy, prompting today's lawsuit.

A copy of the complaint in Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. Whitman is available at www.tlpj.org.

WVDOH Admits to Breaking Law on Road Construction

Wardensville, W.Va. - The West Virginia Department of Transportation's Division of Highways (DOH) has agreed to settle a lawsuit with the Stewards of the Potomac Highlands, Inc. and WVRC regarding the construction of sediment control structures along Corridor H from Baker to Wardensville. As part of the settlement, construction was temporarily halted until DEP approved DOH's revised construction plans adhering to the 3600 cubic foot requirement for sediment ponds. The DOH must advise all bidders and all contractors that they must comply with the water pollution control permit; the plaintiffs and DEP will be provided with copies of erosion and sediment control plans for each Corridor H project between Baker and Ardensville. Within six months DOH has agreed to revise the DOH Erosion and Sediment Control Manual and the Standards and Specifications for Roads and Bridges to comply with the water permit; and DOH will pay for the plaintiffs legal fees.

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