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DEP protecting coal industry on selenium, lawsuit says |
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By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer
In November 2006, environmental group lawyers warned Hobet Mining
that its Boone County operations were dumping too much selenium into
tributaries of the Mud River.
Lawyers Derek Teaney and Joe Lovett told Hobet that the West
Virginia Highlands Conservancy and the Ohio Valley Environmental
Coalition planned to sue the company over its alleged permit
violations.
The formal notice of intent to sue gave the company 60 days to fix
its pollution problems. Federal law requires citizens to give
companies and regulators such notices before filing a Clean Water
Act lawsuit.
On Jan. 12, 2007 - the 60th day after the Hobet notice - the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection filed its own
selenium lawsuit against Hobet Mining.
Under the law, if DEP "has commenced and is diligently prosecuting"
its own case, the citizen groups are prohibited from suing Hobet.
Randy Huffman, director of the DEP Division of Mining and
Reclamation, said that his staff attorneys aren't following
environmental group lawyers around.
"It's my understanding that we're supposed to be enforcing the law
and enforcing the standards in those permits, and that's the reason
for taking the action we've taken," Huffman said.
But the January 2007 lawsuit isn't the only time that DEP officials
have stepped in and effectively blocked a citizen effort to force
coal companies to reduce selenium pollution.
Three months after that suit, in March 2007, Teaney and Lovett filed
more legal notices. This time, they targeted six more permits,
including four new permits that weren't part of their initial
lawsuit notices.
By mid-May, DEP lawyer Tom Clarke had sought to amend his agency's
pending suit in Boone Circuit Court, to add the new permits targeted
by the environmentalists.
Since that May 18, 2007, filing, DEP officials have taken no action
in the case. They haven't asked for an injunction. They haven't
taken depositions or sought records from Hobet Mining.
DEP has done nothing to move the suit forward toward a court order
that would force Hobet to comply with its permit limits for
selenium, court records show.
So last week, Teaney and Lovett filed their own lawsuit against
Hobet. They argue that DEP has dropped the ball, and that a judge
should let citizens seek their own injunction against the coal
company.
"WVDEP's filing of the Boone County action must be seen in light
of the agency's ongoing collusion with the coal industry to
undermine the requirements of the Clean Water Act in West Virginia,"
Teaney and Lovett wrote.
"In fact, WVDEP brought the Boone County action not to require Hobet
to comply with the Clean Water Act or the Surface Mining Control and
Reclamation Act, but to protect Hobet from [the citizen groups']
attempt to enforce the permit in federal court."
Last week, Huffman said he couldn't explain why his agency has not
moved forward its lawsuit against Hobet. Huffman said he had
instructed agency lawyers to "pick up the pace."
"We should have been moving faster on this than we have been,"
Huffman said.
The wrangling over DEP's Hobet lawsuit is part of a broader battle
between agency officials, the coal industry and citizen groups over
selenium pollution.
Selenium, a naturally occurring element found in many rocks and
soils, is an antioxidant that is needed in very small amounts for
good health. But in slightly larger amounts, selenium can be highly
toxic. In humans, it can cause hair loss, nail brittleness and
neurological problems such as numbness. In aquatic life, very small
amounts of selenium have been found to cause reproductive problems.
In 2003, a broad federal government study of mountaintop removal
coal mining found repeated violations of water quality limits for
selenium in the water downstream from mining operations. The
following year, a 2004 report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service found troubling levels of selenium in fish downstream from
large surface mines.
Coal industry lobbyists tried - so far unsuccessfully - to persuade
lawmakers and the DEP to relax West Virginia's water quality rules
for selenium.
The Manchin administration moved instead to give nearly 100 coal
operators three more years to fix violations of the state's selenium
limits. Environmental groups are challenging about two dozen of
those DEP compliance orders before the state Environmental Quality
Board.
In their new federal court suit, Teaney and Lovett noted the DEP
didn't review coal company water pollution discharge reports for
nearly five years, a move that allowed the industry to avoid
thousands of citations and fines.
"As a result, WVDEP has abdicated its duties to administer the Clean
Water Act and has essentially stopped assessing civil penalties
against coal operators for violating the act," Teaney and Lovett
wrote. "WVDEP's Boone County action goes even further than its
previous practice of turning a blind eye to violations of the Clean
Water Act; the Boone County action was an active attempt to protect
Hobet from being compelled to comply with the CWA by plaintiffs.
"This attempt to protect the coal industry, which it is charged with
regulating, is the logical conclusion of the WVDEP's general failure
to enforce the Clean Water Act against this industry."
To contact staff writer Ken Ward Jr., use e-mail or call 348-1702.
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Decline in hunting, fishing leaves budget gap for DNR |
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By Justin D. Anderson
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON —
A decline in hunting and fishing license sales has left a $1.8 million budget hole for the state Division of Natural Resources.
Gov.
Joe Manchin is recommending lawmakers backfill the deficit. The gap
affects the wildlife resources, law enforcement and real estate
sections of the division, which run on an $18 million budget.
Thirty-four conservation officer positions will be cut if the supplemental funds aren’t approved, the division says.
Hoy Murphy, DNR spokesman, said this is the first time the division has had to make this kind of request.
He said the division over the next year would be figuring out if the trend can be reversed.
“That’s
a pretty good chunk of money,” Murphy said. “In order to keep our
programs operating at the point that people have come to expect, the
governor has proposed giving us that one-time supplemental.”
The law enforcement section needs the money to bring it up to the status quo $10.4 million budget, according to the division.
Other
parts of the wildlife resources section could see funding problems in
the future if the license sales continue to decline. Meanwhile, the
section has been cutting costs in training and travel, buying less new
equipment, reducing mileage driven and eliminating vacant posts.
A
look at available records shows a decline in the number of state
residents and non-residents buying hunting and fishing licenses between
1997 and 2006.
Over those years, the state has seen a 17 percent
decrease in the number of resident hunters and 10 percent fewer
resident anglers.
Residents made 303,325 license transactions in
1997 and 237,045 in 2006. Non-resident license sales had been on the
decline until 2006, when sales increased to a 10-year high of 95,229.
Overall,
revenue from the sales of hunting and fishing licenses have declined 26
percent since 1997, leaving the DNR with about $1.5 million less
spending power.
A combined hunting, fishing and trapping license
for a state resident costs $33. Non-residents pay $110 for a hunting
and trapping license and $35 for a fishing license.
Lifetime license sales started strong in 1999 with 6,670 sold for $1.5 million, according to the DNR’s 2000 annual report.
Those sales dipped to between 1,025 and 1,731 between 2000 and 2004, showing a marked decrease in revenues for those years.
There was a slight increase in 2005, when 2,093 people bought lifetime licenses, bringing in $627,096.
A lifetime license to hunt, fish and trap costs $760 for adults and $380 for children.
In
addition to the license revenue, the DNR also receives a portion of a
federal tax levied on the sales of hunting and fishing equipment,
Murphy said.
“Nationally, there is a trend in most states that the number of licenses being sold is down,” Murphy said.
The division will look at what’s causing the decline and possible ways to try to stabilize the license revenues, Murphy said.
Factors
that may be affecting the revenues could include a growth in the number
of hunters who are either 65 years or older and younger than 15 years,
Murphy said. These groups don’t have to buy hunting licenses.
West
Virginia has the third highest percentage of residents 65 and older in
the nation, according to the national Census figures. The state also
has the fourth highest participation rate of residents in hunting and
fishing.
People who hunt on their own property also don’t need licenses, Murphy said.
The
division is also speculating that gasoline prices might be keeping
non-residents from driving into West Virginia to hunt and fish, Murphy
said.
“It could be something cultural, for that matter,” he
said. “If you skip a generation of hunting, you probably lost that
family.
“We may have to do a little more promotion along that line, too.
http://www.timeswv.com/westvirginia/local_story_025033307.html
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Support bill -- protect WV trout habitat |
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The West Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited supports the proposed
47CSR2 Water Quality Standards Rule (HB 4193 & SB 390). The main
point on 47CSR2 is that the definition of B2 trout streams must remain
the same; “Trout waters are defined as waters which sustain year-round
trout populations. Excluded are those waters which receive annual
stockings of trout but which do not support year-round trout
populations.” This is a good and proper definition which will serve as
a strong foundation for conserving trout throughout the state.
The West Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited feels that the number of
proposed streams in the Tier 2.5 list in 60CSR5 Antidegreadation
Implementation Procedures (HB 4284 and SB 456) should be at least the
309 streams that are in the amended rule introduced to this session.
The concept of Tier 2.5 was a compromise with industry several years
ago to avoid having the streams listed under Tier 3 with more
restrictive protection. The reduction from the initial presumptive list
of 444 streams to 309 prior to the 2007 Legislative Session was done by
the DNR and DEP and had some scientific basis. Proposed further
reduction from 309 to 156, or even further to 38, in the current
proposed legislation is purely political and has no basis, but that is
exactly what a number of organizations will be urging our legislators
to do.
Click Here To View Article and Take Action!
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PPKTU Recieves Grant :
PPKTU recieves a grant for $12,000 for activities within the Potomac River watershed.
Download the press release here.
Trout Unlimited Receives National Grant Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Association of Counties (NACo) recently
announced that Trout Unlimited is a recipient of a 2007 Five Star
Restoration Challenge Grant. NACo will award $134,291 in grants
through the Five Star Program partnership to support 10 projects,
located in 12 counties across the country to help implement
locally-driven wetland and watershed restoration projects. The other
partners that participate in the program are the National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation, the Wildlife Habitat Council, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds and
corporate sponsor Southern Company.
The 2007 NACo grantees are:
Charles County, Md.;
Trout Unlimited – Pendleton and Grant Counties, W.Va.;
City of Lawrenceburg – Anderson County, Ky.;
Mobile County, Ala.;
City of Gulf Breeze – Okaloosa and Escambia Counties, Fla.;
BP St. Clair LPG Terminal/Dome Petroleum Corporation – St. Clair County, Mich.;
Parish of Caddo, La.;
Mitchell County Conservation Board, Iowa;
Solano Resource Conservation Board – Solano County, Calif.;
Ted TrueBlood Chapter of Trout Unlimited – Ada County, Idaho.
The P. Pendleton Kennedy Chapter of Trout Unlimited will partner to
restore and protect 23 acres of riparian habitat, including 5,000
linear feet of streambank along Whitethorn Creek and Mill Creek, in the
South Branch of the Potomac Watershed. Fifty-five middle school science
students from Pendleton and Grant counties will be involved in the
project through tree plantings, stream surveys, habitat surveys, future
site monitoring and the testing of water quality parameters. Project
partners include Trout Unlimited, Pendleton County, Grant County,
Natural Resources Conservation Service, several local middle schools,
Farm Services Agency, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service,
Dominion Foundation, WV Conservation Agency, WV Department of
Environmental Protection, WV Division of Natural Resources and local
landowners.
Five Star Restoration projects involve a high degree of cooperation,
with local governmental agencies, elected officials, community groups,
businesses, schools and environmental organizations working together to
improve local water quality and restore important fish and wildlife
habitats.
The Five Star Restoration Grant Program Partnership will provide grants
ranging from $4,400 to $20,000 to 42 county and community-based
initiatives totaling more than $610,600. Major funding for the program
comes from the EPA’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds.
Additional funding comes from the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico office.
In addition to federal funding, last year Southern Company committed
$1.2 million over five-years to the Five Star partnership. This year,
Southern Company is providing more than $230,000 to support 14 projects
in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. Since 1999, Five Star
has supported nearly 400 projects with more than $4 million in federal
funds and $25 million in partner matching funds.
The Five Star partners are also extremely pleased to announce the
newest member of this growing partnership. Beginning in 2008, Pacific
Gas and Electric Company will commit $1.2 million over five years to
fund additional restoration projects in California through the Five
Star Restoration Program.
“On behalf of the nation’s counties, congratulations to the 2007 NACo
Five Star grantees,” said NACo President Eric Coleman, commissioner,
Oakland County, Mich. “NACo is very proud of its longstanding support
of the Five Star Restoration Challenge Grant Program. Counties and
their partners across the country are fostering environmental
stewardship and building diverse partnerships that promise to restore
and protect the environment well into the future. ”
The Five Star funds act as seed money that leverages additional funds
and services. On average, for each dollar of Five Star-sponsored
funds, four additional dollars in matching contributions will be
provided by local restoration partners in the form of funding, labor,
materials, equipment, or in-kind services. This year, communities have
committed more than $2.1 million in matching contribution to these
projects.
Since 1997, NACo has reached out and helped fund projects in 110
counties across the country, providing a total of over $950,000 for
community-based environmental restoration and education.
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The National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national
organization that represents county governments in the United States.
Founded in 1935, NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,066
counties. NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal
government, improves the public's understanding of county government,
assists counties in finding and sharing innovative solutions through
education and research, and provides value-added services to save
counties and taxpayers money. For more information about NACo, visit
www.naco.org
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