Curtis Tate, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Attorneys Rest Case In Federal Trial Over Union Carbide Landfill

The U.S. District Court in Charleston heard closing arguments Monday in the trial, which began nearly a month ago.

After weeks of testimony, attorneys on both sides of a federal trial involving a Union Carbide landfill in South Charleston have rested their case.

The U.S. District Court in Charleston heard closing arguments Monday in the trial, which began nearly a month ago.

Courtland Co. argued that Union Carbide violated federal law by not applying for, nor receiving the required permit for the Filmont landfill. It says Carbide contaminated its property and Davis Creek with hazardous industrial wastes.

An expert witness, Marshall University Professor Scott Simonton, testified that 17,000 gallons a day of “a soup of nasty contaminants” was leaking from the landfill.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice of violation to Union Carbide in October 2020 for seepages from the site Simonton documented.

Union Carbide alleged contamination from construction debris on Courtland’s property and claimed some of the contaminants in Davis Creek came from abandoned coal mines upstream.

The company’s attorneys tried to cast doubt on Simonton’s testimony.

Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical, said it complied with state and federal laws that applied to the landfill. It says it is voluntarily remediating the site.

Cortland has filed four lawsuits since 2018 and seeks civil penalties. U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver will issue a ruling.

Manchin Gets Green Light For Natural Gas Pipeline Permits

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have agreed to expedite permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has received a commitment from congressional leaders and the White House to greenlight a natural gas pipeline he supports.

Manchin said President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have agreed to expedite permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The roughly 300-mile pipeline would transport natural gas from northern West Virginia to mid-Atlantic markets.

The project has been tied up in federal court, where judges have struck down key permits needed to finish it. Environmental groups say the pipeline has adverse impacts on waterways.

Manchin’s agreement shifts legal matters to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which is considered more favorable to business interests.

Manchin secured the agreement as part of his support for a package of climate, energy and health care provisions, now called the Inflation Reduction Act.

Lawmakers will vote on the permitting provisions to fast-track the pipeline by Sept. 30.

PSC Postpones Hearing On Appalachian Power Rate Increase

The Public Service Commission (PSC) was scheduled to hear evidence Tuesday for Appalachian Power’s request to recover $297 million in fuel costs from ratepayers. Now the commission will hear that case on Oct. 4.

Appalachian Power and Mon Power customers may have to pay more each month under proposals before the Public Service Commission (PSC). But the PSC is postponing one of the hearings.

The PSC was scheduled to hear evidence Tuesday for Appalachian Power’s request to recover $297 million in fuel costs from ratepayers.

Now the commission will hear that case on Oct. 4.

If approved, the request would add about $18 a month to the average residential customer’s bill.

Numerous local governments and individual ratepayers have filed comments in opposition.

Meanwhile, the PSC is scheduled next week to hear a request by Mon Power to charge customers for wastewater treatment upgrades to its Fort Martin and Harrison power plants.

The company is seeking PSC approval of the $142 million project so that both plants can remain in operation past 2025. That hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10 and 11.

The wastewater treatment project would keep the plants in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency rules.

Last year, the PSC approved similar retrofits for Appalachian Power’s John Amos and Mountaineer power plants, and Wheeling Power’s Mitchell power plant.

Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

State Treasurer Restricts 5 Banks Over Fossil Fuel Stance

West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore’s office has determined that the companies are engaged in a boycott of fossil fuels.

West Virginia’s Treasurer has placed five financial institutions on a list that bars them from state banking contracts.

BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are now on the state’s restricted financial institutions list.

Treasurer Riley Moore’s office has determined that the companies are engaged in a boycott of fossil fuels.

The list is the result of Senate Bill 262, which became law this year. Kentucky lawmakers enacted a similar law this year.

The goal is to punish banks that are, or appear to be, refusing to finance fossil fuel energy. But most companies have goals to reduce their carbon footprint or eliminate it entirely.

Indeed, the Treasurer’s office notes that inclusion on the list is not an indication of “unsafe or unsound operating conditions at any financial institution nor any risk to consumer deposits.”

Senate Passes Capito Bill That Advances Flood Control Projects

The Water Resources Development Act passed by a vote of 93-1.

The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday that advances flood control and water infrastructure projects in West Virginia.

The Water Resources Development Act passed by a vote of 93-1.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, helped secure the bill’s passage.

It advances the Lower Mud River flood control project in Milton and increases the federal funding formula to 90 percent from 65 percent.

It supports flood control studies in the Kanawha River basin and for the city of Huntington. It also will expedite the completion of the Bluestone Dam rehabilitation project.

“We know that natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes can strike at any time and have devastating consequences for our communities,” Capito said.

Severe flooding devastated parts of eastern Kentucky this week and threatened southern West Virginia. Southern West Virginia experienced severe flood damage in 2016.

The bill authorizes U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects that protect coastlines and inland communities vulnerable to flooding.

Manchin-Schumer Deal Revives Black Lung Tax That Expired

On Jan. 1, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund excise tax dropped by 50 percent. That’s because Congress allowed a higher tax rate on each ton of coal mined to expire.

A deal reached between U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revives a tax that supports coal miners with black lung disease.

On Jan. 1, the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund excise tax dropped by 50 percent. That’s because Congress allowed a higher tax rate on each ton of coal mined to expire.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, introduced late Wednesday by Manchin and Schumer, would make the higher tax rate permanent.

The trust fund supports more than 4,000 miners and their families in West Virginia and paid out $149 million in benefits in 2021.

“It’s something we have an obligation and a responsibility as a country to make sure the people who provide the energy that kept this country where it is today, made us the superpower of the world, at least fulfill our promise to take care of them,” Manchin said Thursday in a Zoom call with reporters.

The bill will require the support of all Senate Democrats and a majority in the House of Representatives to become law.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund is in debt. Meanwhile, miners are developing severe disease and dying younger.