March 2012 Morgantown Newsletter

The first forum will be held  April 11, 7-9 p.m. at Suncrest United Methodist Church on Van Voorhis Road, for candidates running for Monongalia County Assessor and the House of Delegates.

The second candidate forum will be held April 25, 7-9 p.m. at Suncrest United Methodist Church on Van Voorhis Road for candidates running for Mon County Magistrate and County Commission.

Facebook

LWVWV has a Facebook page.  Please like it!  Do a Google or Facebook search for “League of Women Voters of West Virginia” or click http://facebook.com/lwvwv.

My Story

Please submit your story about why you are a LWVWV member to Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Declaration of Commitment

Sign your Declaration of Commitment to the Constitution of the United States!

Natural Resources Report

On December 14, 2011, the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, H.B. 401 was passed.  While the bill is generally considered a watered-down version of the bill crafted in the special session, it does have some strong points.  Consider the “§22-6A-21 – Establishment of public website information and electronic notification registry regarding horizontal well permit applications” in which the DEP was required to set up the website within 90 days of passage of the bill.  Like clockwork, the Office of Oil and Gas fullfilled this requirement literally within less than 36 hours of the deadline on March 13 at the stroke of midnight. This is an exciting development for the public because we can now monitor new horizontal well permit applications via their OOG email list, and send in comments via a handy website interface.  We recently discovered a well permit application for public comment in the region of a Tier 3 stream; we alerted the people in the area and they are now taking action.  Actions can include submitting comments and requesting a public information meeting or a public hearing.  While the new system does not include the ability to download the actual  permit application, you can purchase a copy for $15.00.  If your water supply well lies within 1,500 feet of the center of the proposed well pad, you will automatically receive a copy.  Please become a watchdog!

See  http://www.dep.wv.gov/oil-and-gas/Horizontal-Permits

On February 20th, we attended the Extractive Industry Workshop arranged by the Morgantown Planning Commission.  Since then we have been busy working on crafting recommendations to submit regarding the contemplated language for a possible new oil and gas extraction zoning ordinance.