West Virginians No Longer Need to Worry About Whose Side The State EPA is On

It Ain't Theirs

Government regulatory agencies are supposed to protect, well, the people. But in West Virginia a rich coal mine owning Democrat turned Republican is now making the state's environmental protection agency protect potential polluters.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection on Wednesday waived the state’s authority under the federal Clean Water Act to determine if another major natural gas pipeline proposal would harm rivers and streams.

The DEP announced in a news release that the agency had waived its legal authority to decide if the Atlantic Coast Pipeline would violate West Virginia’s water quality standards. Agency officials also released copies of letters to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineersinforming those agencies of the DEP’s waiver decision.

The announcement is the second time in a little more than a month that the Gov. Jim Justice administration has waived the state’s authority to certify — or refuse to certify or add conditions — that a natural gas pipeline proposal would comply with the state’s water quality standards. On Nov. 1, the DEP announced a similar waiver decision regarding the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

The natural beauty of West Virginia is unsurpassed. It's only enemy is industry which would poison the earth, water and air in pursuit of profits and low wages and unsafe working conditions. The only protection of the populace is government. And now, sadly, that is no longer the case.



These pipelines may be safe. But no one will ever know because the state won't even investigate. The reason, the state headed by its governor just does not care.