ACTION ALERTS
Action Alerts help us make our voices heard in a collective way.
The following come to us from WVRivers.org and are actions you can do today, right now, from the comfort of your living room, right on your phone, or laptap, or any mobile device.
1) Reject more chemical toxins in our water ~ Contact members of the House Judiciary
Legislators will soon be voting on a proposal submitted by WVDEP related to a critical portion of West Virginia’s water quality standards called human health criteria. Human health criteria determines how much of a toxin can be in our water before it harms our health. Let Legislators know that you oppose any weakening of water quality standards!
Sadly, the proposal before the legislature allows for more chemical toxins in our water. Public health experts agree that any additional exposure to the toxic chemicals regulated by human health criteria would pose increased risks to our health. View our fact sheet on the Rule.
The water quality standards rule’s first stop as it works its way through the legislature is the House Judiciary Committee. Contact Members of the House Judiciary Committee today and ask them to make public health their #1 priority and reject any change that would weaken our water quality standards.
Also, stay tuned for more information on the status of a pending public hearing request submitted by our friends at the WV Environmental Council. As of this hour, we are still awaiting a decision from the House Judiciary Chair on the pending request. We’ll keep you posted!
2) Defeat House Bill 2598 ~ A Bill to Exempt Oil and Gas Tanks from Aboveground Storage Tank Act on House Energy Agenda
It’s baaaaaack…. lobbyist are at it again trying to exempt oil and gas tanks from the Aboveground Storage Tank Act. This year’s bill, HB 2598, is similar to last year’s rollback attempt – which you defeated! It would exempt certain oil and gas tanks that are closest to our public drinking water intakes. If this bill passes, over 1,000 tanks in 27 counties would become unregulated. View our fact sheets to learn more.
We anticipate the House Energy Committee to take up the bill on Tuesday, 2/23.
Act NOW: Tell members of the House Energy Committee to protect our drinking water and reject HB 2598.
Many of you helped us succeed in convincing the legislature in 2017 and 2020 to keep these oil and gas tanks in zones of critical concern (“ZCCs”) regulated by the AST Act. But industry keeps pushing. We must hold the line and say that all tanks within ZCCs should have the standards and oversight mechanisms of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act. Say no to HB 2598.
We know from the Freedom Industries tank leak that caused the WV Water Crisis what can go terribly wrong when tanks in ZCCs are overlooked. ZCCs are areas directly upstream from public drinking water intakes in which a released contaminant will reach the intake within five hours. Exempting tanks in ZCCs from regulation puts us in more danger because there is the added concern of not having enough time to respond if tank fails.
Contact members of the House Energy Committee, say no breaks for tanks in ZCCs – reject HB 2598! Take Action
