Bill Text: WV SCR38 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

West Virginia Senate Concurrent Resolution 38 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting transfer of WV from EPA Region III to EPA Region IV

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-02-26 - To House Judiciary [SCR38 Detail]

Download: West_Virginia-2015-SCR38-Introduced.html

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 38

(By Senators Snyder, Trump, Beach, Carmichael, Ferns, Gaunch, D. Hall, Karnes, Kirkendoll, Leonhardt, Maynard, Miller, Nohe, Palumbo, Romano, Williams and Woelfel)

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary]

Requesting the United States Environmental Protection Agency transfer the State of West Virginia from Environmental Protection Agency Region III to Environmental Protection Agency Region IV.

Whereas, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a federal agency charged with enforcing numerous federal statutes, including, but not limited to, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act; and

Whereas, The EPA organized the agency into 10 geographic regional offices and corresponding regional administrators; and

Whereas, Regional administrators are granted authority to, among other things, conduct effective regional enforcement and compliance programs and exercise approval authority for proposed state standards and implementation plans; and

Whereas, West Virginia is included in the EPA Regional Office designated as “Region III”, the regional headquarters of which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and which region also includes the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia; and

Whereas, Pursuant to 40 C. F. R. 1.7, the EPA has designated a Regional Office, “Region IV”, the regional headquarters of which is located in Atlanta, Georgia, which region includes the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee; and

Whereas, The coal industry is an industry of great economic importance to the State of West Virginia; and

Whereas, The EPA’s interpretation and enforcement of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, as administered by the regional administrator for Region III, particularly during recent years, has had a substantial negative impact on West Virginia’s coal industry and, therefore, a negative impact on West Virginia’s economy; and

Whereas, Taking into consideration: (1) That the EPA presumably organizes its administration into regions such that, in administering the various federal laws under its purview, it can take into account, among other things, the similar demographic and economic characteristics of the states in each region when implementing regulatory and enforcement policies for each region; (2) that the demographic and economic characteristics of West Virginia, and particularly the southern coal producing regions of West Virginia, align much more with the demographic and economic characteristics of the states in EPA Region IV in contrast to the states in EPA Region III; (3) that Kentucky, the third largest coal-producing state in the United States, is in Region IV, while West Virginia, the second largest coal-producing state in the United States, is in Region III; and (4) that the primary industry that the EPA regulates in West Virginia is the coal industry, it would be appropriate that West Virginia be transferred from EPA Region III to EPA Region IV; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Legislature hereby requests the United States Environmental Protection Agency transfer the State of West Virginia from Environmental Protection Agency Region III to Environmental Protection Agency Region IV; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and to each member of West Virginia’s congressional delegation.