W.Va. bill would stop mountaintop-removal mines, but sponsor says it won't pass; polls favor ban

A West Virginia legislator filed a bill last week that "would essentially outlaw mountaintop-removal mining," reports Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Sen. Jon Hunter (D-Monongalia County) called for a public hearing, and as acting chairman of the Energy and Mining Committee, could put the bill on the docket. But he acknowledged that it has little chance of passing because the state is addicted to the tax revenue the practice generates.

“I introduced Senate Bill 588 because I fervently believe that God did not intend for us to destroy the mountains, the streams, the forests and His people in order to mine coal,” Hunter said, also citing polls showing that about 60 percent of West Virginians favor a ban on mountaintop removal. The bill would eliminate the valley fills that result from, and are economically required by, mountaintop removal.

The bill, dubbed the Surface Owners Bill of Rights, also would create strict rules for how companies can drill for natural gas and oil. It "would require drillers to contact landowners at least 60 days before they enter their land [and make them] negotiate about where the roads and gas wells should go," Finn reports. "Finally, it would compensate landowners for the actual market value of their land, not its 'use value.'" (Read more; to listen to the radio report, go here.)

About two dozen landowners and other activists came to the Capitol to support Hunter's bill, reports The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington. (Read more) Acivists generally agree that action at the federal level is more likely than in the four states where mountaintops are being mined for coal. West Virginia and Kentucky rely on the industry, and in Virginia and Tennessee, the practice has relatively minor impact. For our report on that, from last summer, click here.