On this week's broadcast of Mountain Stage, we revisit an episode from 2019 featuring Gregory Alan Isakov, Elysian Fields, Mandolin Orange, The Brother Brothers and Hush Kids. Recorded in Morgantown, West Virginia at the WVU Canady Creative Arts Center with host Larry Groce.
Bill Advances Closing Loopholes in Coal Miner Drug Testing
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In the Energy, Industry and Mining Committee Tuesday, Senators took up a bill meant to close loopholes in the drug testing system for mine workers in safety positions.
There is already a notification system in place for any worker who fails, refuses to submit to or attempts to falsify a drug test.
Notification is sent to the state Office of Miner’s Health Safety and Training which keeps a record and may block that person’s next attempt to obtain a mining job.
“There’s a couple of loopholes in the way the existing statute,” committee counsel Dorian Burrell explained. “Basically, if they were to test positive and then resign or if they were never actually hired after testing positive, that could escape the notice.”
Burrell added that could mean people with drug or alcohol abuse problems could move from mine to mine without being detected.
The bill, supported by the Office of Miner’s Health Safety and Training, the industry and the unions, passed through the committee and now heads to Senate Judiciary.
Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who’s running for Senate, is just one of a handful of high flyers in West Virginia who decided it was time for a change of pace.
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West Virginia and Indiana are leading a lawsuit, along with 25 other states, against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop new rules on existing coal and new natural gas-fired power plants.
The League of Women Voters of West Virginia has released their 2024 Legislative Scorecard. It compiles the votes from all the members of the West Virginia House of Delegates and state Senators on 26 bills that became law during this past legislative session to give an idea where they stand on issues.
On this West Virginia Morning, we speak with Judy Ball, chair of the Legislative Action Workgroup for the League of Women Voters of West Virginia, to break down the state's 2024 Legislative Scorecard. Also, we hear an excerpt from our Us & Them episode, "Compassion Fatigue."