Tomblin Touts Coal Mining, Gas Drilling
Charleston Gazette
12 January 2010
By Ken Ward Jr.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin promised Wednesday
night to continue to fight to protect the coal industry and urged state
residents to embrace increased natural gas drilling as part of a
broader energy production agenda.
But Tomblin did not take advantage of his State of the State address to
promote his own Department of Environmental Protection's proposal for
wholesale changes in the way drilling is regulated. And the acting
governor vowed he would "aggressively pursue" a lawsuit to block Obama
administration plans to limit mountaintop removal mining.
Tomblin's speech drew strong support from lobbyists for the coal and
gas industries, but left environmentalists concerned about the
direction he'll take West Virginia.
"I think it's terribly short-sighted not to also mention the serious
problems that are developing with some of this mining and some of this
drilling," said Cindy Rank of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
On coal issues, Tomblin briefly mentioned the Upper Big Branch Mine
Disaster and the previous tragedies at the Sago and Aracoma mines. But
Tomblin indicated no plans to take up legislative proposals --
including one to make corporate officials more accountable for safety
performance -- that former Gov. Joe Manchin also deferred action on
until after the Upper Big Branch probe concludes.
"When we determine the cause that contributed to that accident, we will
do all that is necessary to make sure it never happens again," the
acting governor said.
Tomblin said that the Obama administration "seems focused on bringing a
crushing halt to one of the cheapest, most reliable forms of energy we
have ever known."
"He talked about the coal industry and did it absolutely in spades,"
said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association.
Tomblin also promoted efforts by American Electric Power to develop
greenhouse gas emissions control equipment in the state, but -- in an
apparent criticism of federal cap-and-trade legislation -- said if the
goal is reducing carbon dioxide emissions "then we should take a more
sensible approach to achieving that end."
DEP Secretary Randy Huffman said that it was "very progressive" for the
acting governor to "talk as openly and bluntly about the greenhouse
gases and the carbon issues that the country faces."
But Don Garvin, lead lobbyist for the West Virginia Environmental
Council, said that most experts believe the federal climate change bill
that state political leaders generally condemned would have helped the
coal industry and utilities develop and deploy carbon capture equipment.
"[Tomblin] ought to be on board with federal legislation to curb
greenhouse gas emissions and to provide funding for research to further
develop the process," Garvin said.
On gas drilling, Tomblin said that new drilling technology and the
Marcellus shale formation combine to create an opportunity not only for
direct jobs, but for spin-off development of processing plants like the
one that Dominion Energy announced Wednesday it will build near the PPG
Industries chemical plant in Marshall County.
"We are just now beginning to know what this potential is, and I think
the governor's people now understand what this potential is," said
Corky DeMarco, lobbyist for the state Oil and Natural Gas Association.
Huffman said he was not disappointed that the governor did not promote
DEP's proposal for new regulations and a doubling of his agency's oil
and gas office staff. Tomblin supports the measure, Huffman said, but
simply wanted it to be introduced as a DEP bill rather than part of the
governor's legislative agenda.
But Rank said she was amazed that the acting governor didn't urge
lawmakers to pass some sort of package for new drilling regulations.
"He never even mentioned it," Rank said. "That's a slight of what I
would consider good efforts by DEP to address the problems that we all
know exist."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.