West Virginia

West Virginia Signs Investment Pact With China Energy

November 13, 2017 Staff, AP.org Educate! China, Energy, Investment, West Virginia

By Staff for Associated Press - West Virginia officials announced an agreement on Thursday with China Energy Investment Corp. Ltd. for the company to invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing in West Virginia over 20 years. State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher and China Energy President Ling Wen signed the memorandum in Beijing as part of the U.S.-China trade mission and an overall $250 billion of planned Chinese investments in the U.S. It during President Trump's visit to Beijing. West Virginia commerce officials said project planning is already underway and will focus on power generation, chemical manufacturing and underground storage of natural gas liquids and derivatives. The state was chosen for its position as an energy producer and its large underground shale gas reserves. "West Virginia has actively sought direct foreign investment to strengthen and diversify our economy," Thrasher said. Toyota, Hino Motors, Gestamp, Sogefi and other corporations with international parent companies have created jobs and generated income in the state, and they expect China Energy to bring mutual benefits, he said. West Virginia University since 2002 has been jointly researching coal liquefaction with mining company Shenhua Group, which merged with energy company Guodian Group to form China Energy.

Marylanders And West Virginians Unite Against Pipeline

October 17, 2017 John Zangas and Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Maryland, Pipelines, West Virginia

By John Zangas and Anne Meador for DC Media Group - Shepherdstown, W.Va. — Three hundred and fifty people spanned the James Rumsey bridge between Shepherdstown, W.Va., and Sharpsburg, Md. on Saturday to draw attention to TransCanada’s plan to drill under the Potomac River and lay a gas pipeline. Holding hands across the entire width of the Potomac River and symbolically connecting the shores of West Virginia and Maryland, the action was a display of unity and resolve to resist gas companies and their backers in elected office. After singing “this land is our land” and reading an indigenous people’s prayer, they threw flowers into the river below. “Hands Across the Potomac” was organized by Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Eastern Panhandle Protectors, Potomac Riverkeepers, Waterkeepers Chesapeake, Sierra Club Maryland Chapter, local farmers and concerned residents in the area. They are all urging Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to reject the project in keeping with the fracking ban legislation he signed last spring. Environmentalists have joined with local farmers in a growing regional resistance to the project which they say threatens drinking water for over six million downstream, including those in the Washington metropolitan area who depend on the Potomac.

WV & MD Unite To Oppose Potomac Pipeline

October 16, 2017 Staff, www.chesapeakeclimate.org Resist! Maryland, Pipelines, Protests, West Virginia

By Staff of CCAN - SHARPSBURG, MD- On Saturday, October 14, hundreds of concerned West Virginia and Maryland residents joined hands over a key Potomac River bridge to send a powerful message urging Governor Hogan stop TransCanada from building a fracked-gas pipeline underneath the treasured river. Click here for a photo album on Flickr and here for videos on Twitter. The group of elected leaders, environmental and social justice advocates, landowners and concerned citizens stood hand-in hand to span the James Rumsey Bridge over the Potomac River in Western Maryland. By connecting the Maryland side of the river to West Virginia, the group showed that they stand as a united front in protesting this pipeline. Patricia Kesecker, West Virginia landowner who is currently being sued by Mountaineer Gas, said: “when you have put your blood, sweat and tears into the land for almost 50 years and someone can come and take it against your wishes, that is heartbreaking. When the judge granted Mountaineer Gas the right to our property, she not only robbed us, but she also robbed our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of their heritage.” The pipeline is being proposed by TransCanada, the company infamous for pushing the Keystone XL Pipeline, and Mountaineer Gas. It would ship fracked gas from Pennsylvania to West Virginia, passing through the town of Hancock, Maryland and underneath the Potomac River. This pipeline would not benefit Marylanders in any way, yet it would pose a grave threat to their drinking water and deepen dependence on dirty fossil fuels for years to come.

After Generations In Coal, West Virginians Finding Jobs In Solar

September 14, 2017 www.blog.ucsusa.org Create! Coal, Jobs, New Economy, Solar Energy, West Virginia, Workers, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Jason Margolis for PRI - Nobody from his graduating class is working in coal, says Swiger. “[They’re] honestly working in fast food, or not working at all.” Not Swiger. He has a job installing rooftop solar panels. He says his family is delighted with it. "They’re excited that I’m actually doing something different,” says Swiger. “A lot of people ain’t doing this in West Virginia, a lot of people are against it actually. A lot of people want to go back to coal. “I ain’t against it, I love solar. It’s way better than coal, I think.” Solar panels can save people money on their electricity bills and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, which fuel climate change. With battery storage, found in some home set-ups, solar can also allow people to continue to power their homes off the grid during power outages. Swiger is working as an apprentice with Solar Holler, which was founded four years ago by 32-year-old Dan Conant. Conant doesn’t see solar energy and coal at odds with each other. “The way I think about it, as a West Virginian, is that West Virginia has always been an energy state, and this is just the next step. It’s the next iteration,” says Conant. West Virginia’s economy has long been reliant on coal. Metallurgical coal, which is found in the state, is used in the steel-making process.

Anti-Pipeline Paddlers Insist On Protection Of Potomac Waters

August 14, 2017 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Pennsylvania, Pipelines, Protests, West Virginia

By Anne Meador for DC Media Group - Greedy pipeline companies in league with complicit government officials are the driving force behind two gas pipelines intended to deliver Pennsylvania gas to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, opponents contend. On August 11, environmental advocacy group Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) hosted a press conference on the Potomac River’s banks in Sharpsburg, Md., to highlight the adverse consequences of constructing two interconnected gas projects affecting western Maryland the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. TransCanada’s Potomac Pipeline (formally the Eastern Panhandle Expansion) and Mountaineer Gas’s distribution line would transport fracked gas from Fulton Co., Pa., to Morgan Co., W.Va. For most of the summer, opponents of the pipelines and communities affected by them have been holding weekend camp-outs and events along the Potomac to raise awareness about them. They believe TransCanada’s plan to drill under the Potomac River poses grave risks in case of accidents. They displayed their message to protect the water on the river itself: a flotilla of about a dozen kayaks paddled downstream toward the gathering at Taylor’s Landing, holding aloft banners reading, “Keep Our Water Clean,” and “Hogan: Stop the Potomac Pipeline.”

Dollar General Store South Of Berkeley Springs Put On Hold

March 8, 2016 Staff, www.morgancountyusa.org Resist! Corporations, West Virginia

By Staff of Morgan County USA - The proposed Dollar General store has drawn strong opposition — with more than 400 residents signing a petition opposed to the proposed location — across the street from a church and from Cacapon State Park. Local resident Paul Stern said the group opposing the Dollar General “was encouraged to hear the news that Dollar General is putting off its decision until December 2016.” “We hope that Dollar General is reconsidering at least in part because of the strong opposition to this store by the community,” Stern said.

W. Virginia Votes To Block Science Standards Teaching Global Warming

March 3, 2016 Natasha Geiling, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Climate Change, Education, West Virginia

By Natasha Geiling for Think Progress - Beginning this summer, public school students in West Virginia were supposed to learn about human-induced climate change three times — in sixth-grade science, in ninth-grade science, and in a high school elective course on environmental science. Now, it’s unclear whether students will learn about climate change at all. That’s because the West Virginia House of Delegates voted last Friday to block new science standards from being implemented for at least another year, due to the fact that they mention climate change as a man-made problem.

No More Fracking Nuisance Lawsuits In West Virginia

February 13, 2016 Dory Hippauf, www.frackorporation.wordpress.com Resist! Fracking, Lawsuit, West Virginia

By Dory Hippauf for Frackorporation - Approximately 220 nuisance lawsuits have been filed in West Virginia (WVA) over the past 3 years against such drilling/fracking companies such as Antero Resources, EQT and Hall Drilling. WVA is considered a national energy hub, leading the nation in net interstate electricity exports and underground coal mine production, while experiencing a growing natural gas industry as a result of the Great Shale Gas Rush. Overall, it produces 15% of the nation’s fossil fuel energy. The state’s underground natural gas storage represents 6% of the nation’s total, and overall it has 5.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves through 2008 estimates.

Russell Mokhiber: Why Should W.Va. Help Coca-Cola Peddle Obesity?

September 7, 2015 Russell Mohkiber, www.wvgazettemail.com Organize! Coca Cola, Public Health, West Virginia

By Russell Mohkiber in West Virginia Gazette Mail - The West Virginia School of Public Health Should be taking the lead. Instead, according to a report in the New York Times last month, “Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets,” Coca-Cola has given money to Dr. Gregory Hand, now the dean of the West Virginia School of Public Health, to fund a non-profit group — the Global Energy Balance Network — to promote the view that “weight-conscious Americans are overly fixated on how much they eat and drink while not paying enough attention to exercise.” Health experts contend that Coke is “using the new group to convince the public that physical activity can offset a bad diet despite evidence that exercise has only minimal impact on weight compared with what people consume,” the Times reported.

Company Sues For Land Of 100 W. Virginians For Pipeline

April 5, 2015 Katie Valentine, www.thinkprogress.org Resist! Pipelines, West Virginia

Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last week to force more than 100 property owners and three corporations in 10 West Virginia counties to open their land to surveying for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The pipeline company says that it contacted the residents being sued to try to get permission to survey their land, but all of them “failed or refused to permit” the company from entering their properties. Joe Lovett, executive director of Appalachian Mountain Advocates, told ThinkProgress that he didn’t think the lawsuit has legs. “I don’t think the pipeline company has the right to survey people’s property in West Virginia before it’s been granted right of eminent domain,” he said. “This is an attempt to gain a right through litigation that they do not have.” Appalachian Mountain Advocates is supporting three landowners who filed their own lawsuits against Mountain Valley Pipeline last month. Those lawsuits state that the pipeline company doesn’t have the right to eminent domain because the natural gas won’t be used by West Virginians. That means, they say, that the pipeline doesn’t meet the “public use” clause in West Virginia’s eminent domain law.

Pipeline Opponents Against Survey Of National Forests

February 22, 2015 Duncan Adams, www.roanoke.com Resist! Fracking, Pipelines, West Virginia

The Forest Service set a deadline of Feb. 13 for public comment. On deadline day, Sacco and seven others from Monroe County, West Virginia, hand-delivered 796 letters to the U.S. Forest Service’s office in Roanoke County. The letters expressed opposition to granting a permit to allow Mountain Valley Pipeline to survey a total of about 2 miles and about 77.5 acres of Jefferson National Forest in two sections. One piece would be in Monroe County and Giles County, Virginia, and the other in Montgomery County. Landgraf said Wednesday that the Forest Service received about 1,850 comments and two petitions with a total of about 250 signatures that focused on Mountain Valley Pipeline’s permit application. “We haven’t read all of the comments yet, but nearly all have opposed our issuance of the permit to survey,” Landgraf said. A Forest Service news release on Jan. 20 reported that if FERC determines the pipeline is needed, “the Forest Service would make a separate determination whether to issue a right-of-way permit to construct, operate and maintain a natural gas pipeline on the Jefferson National Forest.”

West Virginians Look Toward The Sun: No To Coal, Fracking

February 20, 2015 Mikala Reasbeck, www.mintpressnews.com Create! Environment, Fracking, Oil & Gas, Solar Energy, West Virginia

At just 9.70 cents per kilowatt hour, West Virginians pay the third-lowest electricity rates in the nation. Yet they don’t enjoy the nation’s lowest electricity bills, and they’re not likely to in the future, either. Indeed, from 2007 to 2011, electricity rates jumped an average of 50 percent across the state. And on Feb. 3, the state’s Public Service Commission approved another rate increase for Mon Power and Potomac Edison, subsidiaries operating under the Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. Together, these subsidiaries serve over 520,500 customers in 34 counties and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. This latest hike is “just 7.4 percent more reason to go solar,” according to Joey James’ reading of the document from the commission.

Attorney Travels West Virginia To Teach About Pipelines

February 12, 2015 Michael Barrick, www.appalachianchronicle.com Educate! Energy, Environment, Pipelines, West Virginia

Keeping up with Elise Keaton as she crisscrosses West Virginia – and beyond – is not an easy task. But then, Keaton has a big job – to stay ahead of energy companies rushing to receive approval for the development of several natural gas pipelines. In fact, the pace and tactics of the companies seeking to build the pipelines are such that even the most informed of citizens is finding it difficult to keep abreast of developments. So Keaton, the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the Greenbrier River Watershed Association (GRWA), keeps moving from her office here.

West Virginia Chemical Spill Even Worse Than Reported

January 29, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Educate! Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia, West Virginia Chemical Spill

The amount of chemicals spilled from a West Virginia coal processing plant into the Elk River is even greater than previously reported, according to a statement issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection late Monday. Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters. Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released. However, the state still doesn’t know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH—a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill—seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Over 200 West Virginians At State Capitol Demand Answers

January 19, 2014 Deborah Dupre, www.beforeitsnews.com Resist! Coal, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia, West Virginia Chemical Spill

Some 200 angry but peaceful West Virgnians gathered on the steps of the state capitol building in Charleston Saturday in the cold to send one main message to their elected leaders: “We want answers.” Carrying signs, such as “Prosecute the Poisoners” the group called the protest out of desperation in light of the chemical spill state of emergency. A leaked chemical, “Crude MCHM” from Freedom Industries tank has poisoned 100,000 homes and impacted 300,000 people. People are sick. People are injured. They want answers that officials say they do not have. ‘People are sick, animals are sick. The water is now a blue goo at one friends house,” explains Missi-Tracy Pauley on Facebook. “Where are the rights our men and women fight for? Where are the promises the elected officials gave? Where are their morals?"

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