The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Today's Front Page

November 9, 2011

Panel to take up Marcellus again

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON — A much-debated package imposing regulations on the promising Marcellus shale industry could be finalized Sunday morning at the Capitol, but a select committee’s yearlong work is apt to take a backseat, at least for the day, to incoming Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

At noon, the two chambers meet to formally certify his Oct. 4 election victory.

Then, at mid-afternoon, Tomblin and first lady Joanne will take center stage on the south plaza of the Capitol for his swearing-in ceremony and inauguration.

Tomblin has invited the entire state to join him at the ceremony, which will include performances by the 249th West Virginia Army National Guard Band, new West Virginia singing sensation Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., and the Parkersburg High School Chamber Choir.

“I am honored to take the oath of governor and hope West Virginians from all corners of the state join us Sunday,” Tomblin said.

Hours before the two chambers convene, a special select committee plans to consider four pending amendments on Marcellus shale.

Two of them aren’t expected to cause much of a stir — one that seeks to safeguard caves and caverns from gas drilling operations, the other one specifying the requirements for inspectors working for the Department of Environmental Protection.

“There’s really no issue to them on either side,” a co-chairman, Sen. Doug Facemire, D-Braxton, said Tuesday.

“But we do have some questions on the surface owners agreement and the permitting requirements. Our plan is to hopefully finish this thing Sunday morning and give the staff attorneys a couple of days to put everything together, then maybe vote on it Wednesday, while we’re in Charleston.”

If all goes as planned, the panel won’t be meeting Monday as originally intended, but will regroup Wednesday, the final day of November interims.

“This bill’s going to be about 130 pages,” Facemire said.

“So there’s going to be an enormous amount of technical work for the staff attorneys. We learned our lesson with the House in redistricting not to hurry up and throw something together, because if there’s a technical error, the whole thing has to come back to be re-voted on. We certainly don’t want to go through that again. We want to give the staff attorneys plenty of time to get everything in order.”

Delegate Tom Campbell, D-Greenbrier, one of the panelists, wants to see the committee conclude its work.

“Hopefully, we’re going to try to get something done as soon as possible,” he said.

“Everyone needs to know the rules of the playground, so to speak. It’s fine with me to go ahead (in a Sunday meeting) and get it done.”

Originally, the leadership was eyeing a possible special session this month to wrap up its work on Marcellus shale, but that now appears to be out of the question. Tomblin had been willing to call one, provided lawmakers produced an agreed-to bill by the time the interims arrived.

“There’s no way he could call a special session next week for Marcellus,” Facemire said.

“What I recommended to the governor is, ‘Why not get this thing out there, give us a week or two for everybody interested to look at the finished product, then come back and vote on it?’”

Which means Tomblin could call a session dovetailing with the next round of interims, set to run Dec. 12-14.

“Plus, right now, we’ve got the Senate presidency to deal with,” Facemire said, referring to the showdown this week over which senator holds the gavel in the 2012 session.

“There are just too many things on the plate.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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