Schedule for Frack-Related Public Participation in WV

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES IN WEST VIRGINIA

Source: Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, February 3, 2014

February 3: 5:30 p.m.  The WV House of Delegates has scheduled a public hearing on SB 373 for Monday, February 3rd at 5:30 pm in the House Chamber at the State Capitol. This will be an important time for our voices to be heard. Please make sure that as many people as possible know about the public hearing, attend, and state their suggestions for improving SB 373. We will not have another chance like this. So, it’s important to be there.

February 3: This is an all-hands-on-deck moment in the fight to get President Obama to reject Keystone XL. Now that the State Department has released it’s final environmental analysis, the decision will soon be in the president’s hands. (We know that the pipeline fails the climate test he set. But whether or not he stands up to the oil industry and rejects it will depend on what we do in the next few months.)

On MONDAY, February 3, we are joining with CREDO, the Sierra Club, Rainforest Action Network and other groups to organize nationwide protest vigils to send a clear and urgent message: Keystone XL is a climate disaster, and President Obama must reject it.

What: Tell President Obama to reject Keystone XL
Where: Your community, call, write, email.
When: Monday, February 3, at 6 pm.  

February 3: 7-9 p.m. Town Hall meeting at First Baptist Church on Shrewsbury St in Charleston, WV. Attend after the public hearing.

February 6: PUBLIC HEARING. 6 p.m. in the Coopers Rock Conference Room at the WVDEP Headquarters located at 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) will hold a public hearing toreceive comments on an application for a variance from water quality standards for dissolved aluminum and pH for an unnamed tributary of Slab Fork and Slab Fork River, a tributary of the Guyandotte River near Maben in Wyoming County, West Virginia. The variance request was submitted by Carbon Resources Development, Inc. Any person wishing to comment on the proposed variance is invited to be present or represented at the hearing. In addition to oral comments provided at the hearing, the agency will accept written comments at any time up to the conclusion of the public hearing. No comments will be accepted after that time. Written comments may be submitted to the following address:

Kevin Coyne, Water Quality Standards Program
WV Department of Environmental Protection
601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV 25304

Comments may also be e-mailed to dep.comments@wv.gov Copies of all written information pertinent to the proposed variance, including the variance application and the WVDEP’s information sheet summarizing the proposed variance may be reviewed by contacting the WVDEP office at 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV 25304. Telephone: 304-926-0499 extension 1110; Fax: 304- 926-0496. E-mail: Kevin.R.Coyne@wv.gov Information is also available here.

February 10: 9:00 a.m. Kanawha County Courthouse, Rahall: House Transportation Committee to Examine Elk River Chemical Spill at Charleston Field Hearing. More info.  Sure hope it isn’t like this fiasco: Congress Comes to Charleston; Dogs and Ponies Cringe.

February 10: Fairness West Virginia Day of Action at the WV State Capitol.

February 13: “I Stand with West Virginia Women” Lobby Day at the WV State Capitol, starting at 9 a.m. Want to help protect reproductive health care, increase access to birth control, prevent teen pregnancy in West Virginia, and ensure fair treatment for pregnant employees?

February 17:  WV Environmental Council’s Annual E-Day at the Capitol.  WV State Capitol – Senate hallway, Upper Rotunda & alcoves.  From 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM.  Environmental Groups / Organizations / Projects, Sustainable Businesses, Citizen Lobbying. For group display registration:  deniseap@earthlink.net

February 17:  WV Environmental Council’s Annual E-Day Benefit Dinner & Awards Ceremony.  Woman’s Club of Charleston.  5:30 – 9:00 PM.  Full course dinner, cash donation bar.  Donation of $15 per person, or $25 per couple.

February 18: Deadline to apply for a scholarship to attend the 37th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference — New Appalachia: Known Realities and Imagined Possibilities at Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia from March 28-30.  Application forms for scholarships to attend the conference are available.

February 20:  COVE POINT RALLY. From  Ted Glick,  ted@chesapeakeclimate.org:  For those of you in the Marcellus Shale region, this is an urgent request that you mark your calendar for Thursday, February 20th and make plans to get to Baltimore and bring as many people with you as you can. Why? Because fracking fighters like you from across the Mid-Atlantic are converging on February 20th to take a stand against the biggest single gas drilling threat we face: Cove Point.  This proposed $3.8 billion export terminal would take fracked gas from throughout the Marcellus Shale, liquefy it on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and ship it to Asia. If Cove Point gets built by mega-polluter Dominion Resources, then the increased pressure to frack throughout your state will be ENORMOUS. As will the pulse of new planet-heating pollution that wrecks our climate. Bill McKibben calls Cove Point “one of the most important fossil fuel fights in America.”

WHAT: “Stop Cove Point” Rally in Baltimore
WHEN: Thursday, February 20th, noon-1:30pm
WHERE: War Memorial Plaza, corner of N Gay St & E Fayette St, Baltimore, MD 21202
WHY: As a key hearing unfolds in Baltimore — right under Governor O’Malley’s watch — it’s time to show just how big, strong and far-reaching our grassroots movement to stop Cove Point has become.
JOIN US: Sign up now to join the February 20th rally.

February 22: Rainwater Harvesting and Water Solutions Workshop, 10am-4pm Rock Lake Community Life Center, South Charleston, WV  A free & full day on the basic ins and outs of Rainwater Harvesting and other water solutions. In addition to in-person presentations and some in person hands-on, this will feature students of renowned water harvesting expert Brad Lancaster live and presenting via Skype and answering questions. More info here.

February 24:  WVU Law National Energy Conference 2014.  Erickson Alumni Center, WVU.  This is a free, one-day conference.  Features speakers from air and energy regulatory agencies, electric utilities, energy producers, academic institutions, environmental groups, and public policy organizations to explore legal, policy, economic, and other issues surrounding the new rules, including:
EPA’s rule-making process and the likely framework of the EPA rules.
Options available to states for complying with the EPA rules.
Options available to utilities and other energy producers for complying with the EPA rules.
Socio-economic implications for coal dependent states.
Flexibility and the Path Forward for Coal Dependent States