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Know the Facts About HB2506.pdf
The West Virginia Manufacturers Association and its members have an interest in promoting fair standards and good science in regulating the discharge of wastewater. Both are under attack by the opponents of HB 2506, a bill that would regulate mixing zones for NPDES (wastewater permit). Let’s look at the facts.
All of us - citizens as well as manufacturers – contribute to pollution. Water quality standards are the safe levels of pollutants that are allowed in our streams. EPA determines those safe levels after making conservative assumptions about the effect of each chemical. For drinking water protection, they generally assume that someone will drink the water (about a half gallon per day) for 70 years. The standards are set so that such exposures are not harmful over long exposure periods.
The US EPA has determined that the proper way to set wastewater permit limits for most drinking water criteria is to assume an average flow in the river, rather than assume the river is in a state of drought for 70 years. The average that EPA recommends is harmonic mean flow, a long-term average for those chemicals where standards were set using long term exposures. That is what good science tells us we should do – match the safe levels with the correct flow.
And that is what HB 2506 does. It would implement the US EPA guidance for setting permit limits for drinking water, in a way that is recommended by the Obama EPA. It’s hard to get a better recommendation than that.
It is also instructive what HB 2506 will not do. It changes nothing with regard to protection of fish, or the people who swim, raft and fish in our state streams. It does not change the rule that the safe levels for protection of drinking water must be met not just at the intake, but a full half mile upstream.
Are there ways we as a state could improve water quality? Of course, and the greatest problem we could address is human and animal waste. There is a list of streams called the 303(d) list, which identifies the streams that are impaired, that are not achieving the state’s standards. Thousands of miles of streams are polluted by sewage. I’m proud to observe that the list does not contain, as far as we can see, any streams that are impaired because of the current discharges from WVMA members. I’m also proud of the fact that, despite a hundred years of industrial development along the Kanawha River, the year-long sampling that was done at the request of West Virginia American Water showed no impairment from our industry. Where there were problems, it tended to be sewage.
The West Virginia Manufacturers Association urges collaboration between the WVMA, the Rivers Coalition and others on the real issue that could interfere with our citizens and the state’s tourist industry – raw sewage in our streams and rivers. That is what makes fish less safe to eat, or could discourage rafting or swimming in our streams. We hope they’ll agree to work with us on a way to move the state forward, relying on science rather than rhetoric.
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Charleston, W.Va. – The West Virginia Manufacturers Association (WVMA) is launching a new community support program on February 14, 2017, to make a positive impact on communities in the state.
WVMA Cares is community support program created to highlight the impact of manufacturing in West Virginia and build on the foundation that manufacturers provide throughout the state.
“Manufacturers are community partners who believe in contributing to their state, cities and towns. From supporting local schools and sports teams to providing thousands of volunteer hours around the state, manufacturers give back,” said Rebecca McPhail, WVMA president.
WVMA member companies make an impact on West Virginia that goes beyond the thousands of jobs they provide. In 2016, companies surveyed provided more than 15,000 volunteer hours, gave nearly $2 million in charitable support and more than $1 million of in-kind/product donations.
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The West Virginia Manufacturers Association hosted its first Annual Winter Convention last week bringing together industry leaders, state officials, and Governor Elect Jim Justice for a meeting to discuss the improvement of industry competitiveness.
As part of the Convention, the group unveiled A New Blueprint – Making the American South’s Manufacturing Sector More Competitive by 2030. The report, researched and written by Ted Abernathy of Economic Leadership LLC, provides an at-a-glance look of the position of southern states in competing for new manufacturing investment. Abernathy provided a Blueprint presentation with West Virginia specific opportunities and challenges.
The full Blueprint Report provides a scorecard of sorts with which to measure the future growth and a refocused economic strategy to assist southern U.S. states in developing policies to raise the regional profile for manufacturing firm site selectors and investors.
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As reported in the Gazette-Mail on December 4, the Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT) led an effort about 20 years ago to prevent construction of a $1 billion dollar pulp mill to West Virginia.
The pulp plant had not committed to using union labor for construction, and the ACT developed and funded a campaign to have the state deny the facility a wastewater discharge permit.
While the permit was finally approved after lengthy appeals, the pulp mill was never built in Apple Grove. Ultimately, the pulp mill didn’t get built anywhere, as financial markets changed after repeated delays.
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During this election cycle, we heard from pundits, candidates, and our neighbors that Washington, D.C., is not getting enough done.
While it’s not yet clear what the election results mean to our state or Washington, a little-known federal transportation agency is already taking action on freight-rail issues that will mean a lot to the more than 48,000 men and women who work in West Virginia’s manufacturing sector.
These improvements to freight rail policy are important to our state because West Virginia manufacturers and energy producers send and receive more than 106 million tons of products a year by rail, according to the most recent data available from the Association of American Railroads.
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U.S. Rep. McKinley Accepts National Award for Legislative Excellence
Washington, D.C. – In celebration of National Manufacturing Day, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) joined Eagle Manufacturing Company and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association (WVMA) for a day of special recognition and education activities at Eagle’s Wellsburg, W.Va. headquarters.
Today, NAM presented U.S. Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) with the NAM Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence during a special ceremony.
Also, Eagle engineers and representatives from the WVMA Educational Fund’s “Explore the New Manufacturing” initiative talked with STEM students from Brooke High School about manufacturing and participated in 3D printing activities.
Nearly 100 people attended the event including local elected officials, business and community leaders, and other members of the public.