{"id":1498,"date":"2004-03-31T12:14:08","date_gmt":"2004-03-31T17:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/1498.html"},"modified":"2004-03-31T12:14:08","modified_gmt":"2004-03-31T17:14:08","slug":"heres-a-hint-as-to-why-west-virginia-is-in-play-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/heres-a-hint-as-to-why-west-virginia-is-in-play-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s a hint as to why West Virginia is in play this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Virginia, and its five electoral votes, went with Bush in 2000 by a surprisingly strong 6.3% margin. Yet, despite its cultural conservatism, Bush appears to be slipping badly in popularity in the state and one recent poll<\/a> showed him tied with Kerry at 46% in a general election match-up.<\/p>\n

If you’re wondering why, look no further than an emotional hearing held yesterday at the Interior Department.<\/p>\n

Currently, there are “buffer-zone” regulations to protect waterways from the devastating pollution associated with coal mining. The Bush administration, however, has received generous campaign contributions from the industry and — surprise, surprise — wants to make these regulations far less onerous<\/a> on the industry.<\/p>\n

In West Virginia, that means destroyed mountain ranges, polluted streams, and flooded communities. Needless to say, a lot of families are not happy about it.
\n<\/p>\n

Testifying at an Interior Department hearing on the proposal, Mary Miller of Sylvester, W.Va., said the value of her home had dropped from $144,000 to below $12,000. Residents in her coalfield town won economic damages last month suing a mining company over coal dust covering their homes, vehicles and other property.<\/p>\n

“I’m out here now trying to save my home,” said Miller. “I don’t have much left anyway. I don’t have many years left. But I’m thinking about the water shortage for my children.”<\/p>\n

The department in January proposed easing a 1983 rule that set limits on coal mining near streams. Current policy says land within 100 feet of a stream cannot be disturbed by mining unless a company can prove it will not affect the water’s quality and quantity.<\/p>\n

The new rule would require coal operators to minimize only “to the extent possible” any damage to streams, fish and wildlife by “using the best technology currently available.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One after another, local residents implored Interior Department officials not to ease the regulations. Opposition, however, was not unanimous.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the National Mining Association was the only one to praise it.<\/p>\n

“Our preference is that the rule be deleted entirely,” said Bradford Frisby, the trade group’s associate general counsel. “There are other regulations that protect streams.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I know I shouldn’t see everything in a political context, but there are a whole lot of families in West Virginia who are furious about this. Bush will probably run a ridiculous ad later this year telling voters that John Kerry wants to “take away their guns,” but that may not be enough to help him this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Virginia, and its five electoral votes, went with Bush in 2000 by a surprisingly strong 6.3% margin. Yet, despite its cultural conservatism, Bush appears to be slipping badly in popularity in the state and one recent poll showed him tied with Kerry at 46% in a general election match-up. If you’re wondering why, look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}