Act Now: Protect Our Drinking Water and Reject HB 2598 - WV Surface Owners' Rights Organization

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West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization

Feb 20, 2021	View this Alert Online	*Donate*

Below is an alert from the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition about legislation that will also affect you as surface owners. This would be particularly true if you have an above ground brine or other liquid storage tank on your property, or if you use well water and one of these tanks is on someone else’s property near you.

We urge you to read OVEC’s alert and act on it. If you have a tank on or near you, add in your details, and please copy us on the email at info@wvsoro.org.

Thanks!

Dave McMahon

Act Now: Protect Our Drinking Water and Reject HB 2598

The WV Legislature and industry lobbyists have brought back the bill for exemptions to the Aboveground Storage Tank Act as HB 2598, reintroduced this week and expected to make the House Energy and Manufacturing Committee agenda on Tuesday morning, February 23.

Long story short, the bill would deregulate certain aboveground tanks that store hazardous oil and gas waste near public drinking water intakes. For a deeper dive and more information check out West Virginia Rivers’ Fact Sheet.

We need you to take action before the House committee meets at 9 a.m. on Tuesday!

WV Rivers has set up a tool to send all committee members an email, and we suggest also pairing that with a phone call to both the Committee and its Delegates. If you aren’t already on your cell phone, make the switch now so you can just click to dial!

Here’s the script:

“Hello, my name is _________ and I’m calling to ask you to please say no to HB 2598. All citizens deserve access to safe, clean drinking water, and HB 2598 exempts certain oil and gas tanks closest to our public drinking water intakes from the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, which requires regular inspections and crisis response plans.

There is ample recent evidence of all that can go wrong with tanks upstream from public drinking water intakes here in West Virginia, which are precisely the tanks this bill would be deregulating. Exempting those tanks is reckless and dangerous to public health and safety.

Please say no to HB 2598.“

And here’s who you call on the House of Delegates Energy and Manufacturing Committee:

There are a lot of them. We suggest prioritizing delegates from your district or close-by, followed by the chairs and vice chairs. The first five of y’all to show us your call logs will win some OVEC swag in the mail. Send ’em via social media or reply to this email.

Happy dialing, and stay warm out there!

– Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition

Chair: Del. Bill Anderson: 304-340-3186

Vice Chair: Del. John R. Kelly: 304-340-3394

Minority Chair: Del. Ed Evans: 304-673-2969

Minority Vice Chair: Del. Dave Pethel: 304-775-5472

Del. Brent Boggs: 304-364-8411

Del. Jordan Bridges: 304-340-3297

Del. Adam Burkhammer: 304-340-3123

Del. Roy Cooper: 304-340-3119

Del. Phillip W. Diserio: 304-340-3367

Del. Dana Ferrell: 304-340-3194