Local News
Senator wants to speed up mine permits
CHARLESTON — Perhaps it won’t speed up things on Capitol Hill, but a West Virginia senator hopes to “send a message” to Washington about delayed mining permits with a new Senate bill.
Among several fresh bills Monday, Sen. Bob Williams, D-Taylor, would impose a six-month deadline on the state Department of Environmental Protection to act on proposed mining applications.
“Once a coal mine permit is finalized, and the DEP certifies that all the documents are in, it requires the DEP to make a decision on the permit within six months,” Williams explained.
“That’s all it does — it just puts a deadline on the DEP.”
Stalled coal mine permits have been a roiling issue within the industry in West Virginia in its battle with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Only last week, Gov. Joe Manchin met head-on with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
Although he gained no assurances that pending permits would be acted on soon, and favorably at that, Manchin learned the president is naming a special task force to study clean coal technology.
Existing law apparently doesn’t obligate the state DEP to act on permits within a time frame, Williams said.
“They can just extend them and extend them and extend them,” the senator said.
“I think this bill would send a message to Washington that we don’t want to sit around and wait for those permits to be approved. We want to move forward.”
Williams said he isn’t sure just how the problems with the EPA over permits would impact his proposal.
“This bill just sends a message to Washington that we want to see these things brought to a conclusion, yes or no, in a reasonable amount of time,” he said.
“They ought to be able to make a decision, yes or no, once all the documents are gathered, in six months.”
Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth, R-Mercer, is the lone co-sponsor of the bill.
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In other action:
- Senators passed, 32-0, a bill that permits an employee of the Division of Banking to borrow money from a state-chartered bank or credit union, provided the employee’s regulatory duties don’t involve that particular institution.
- A bill allowing the DEP to promulgate a legislative rule on oil and gas wells was amended by Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph.
Judiciary Chairman Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, explained that a pit or impoundment cannot be built without a synthetic liner, unless a registered engineer certifies, and the DEP agrees, the existing soil composition would prevent any seepage or leakage.
- Read for a first time was Kessler’s bill that would make it a felony to sponsor animal fighting events in West Virginia.
Earlier versions in past sessions have focused exclusively on cockfighting, but Kessler’s bill embraces all varieties of throwing animals against one another in a fight to death.
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
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