The 1987 Legislative Session a Wildlife Refuge in Canaan Valley
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NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 2831 THE CHAS. WV 25301 HIGH NOS P~rodi cal s, Main Library West Vi r ginia Univ~rsity P .O. Box 6069 wv 26506 VOICE Mor gant own Published monthly by the W.Va. Highlands Conservancy VOL. 20 NO. 1 JANUARY 1987 The 1987 Legislative Session Chambers Elected Speaker The 1987 regular session of theWest Virginia Legislature minor loss of glass industry jobs as increased recycling begins in January with important issues developing for decreases demand for new container stock. However, there conservationists. It is expected that the state's fiscal crisis and is also a somewhat larger increase in service jobs related to insurance tort reform legislation wiU dominate this session. increased transportation, handling and cleaning of recycled But a variety of environmental bills are expected to be containers. introduced with the pra;pect for action in selected areas. The provision to require self-saving pull tabs on soft drink The Conservancy will again provide comprehensive and beer cans bas been strongly opposed by Weirton Steel. representation in these conservation issues during the sixty Weirton is the nation's largest producer of the old style day Legislative session. disposable pull tab cans. It is expected that the Conservancy Bottle Bill Board of Directors will vote to support the bottle bill at its Beverage container deposit legislation, or the "bottle bill," January 25th meeting. is gaining popular support across the state and it is expected Department Of Energy that Delegates James McNeely (0-Mercer) and Marjorie The Moore Administration is expected to submit a biJJ (0-Gilmer) will reintroduce last year's bill. On the other with both substantive and clean-up amendments to tbe 1985 side, Senator Mario Palumbo (0-Kanawha) will continue West Virginia Energy Act which created the state Depart his four year effort by again sponsoring a similar beverage ment of Energy. The specific provisions are yet unan container bill. nounced, but it is expected that mine safety issues could The House bill will include provisions for: equal or exceed environmental issues in term of Legislative - a five cent return deposit on each plastic or metal attention. beverqe COfttatner with~ 59.25 deposit · ~ lar&e-Hi= lr-owever, the Conservancy Wilt be proposina several plastic containers. important substantive amendments to the 1985 Energy Act - a prohibition of pull tab beverage cans and a require which has been subject to so much Legislative and public ment that all such cans contain a self-saving tabs. derision. The Conservancy's proposals will be announced - a partial allocation of the deposit to retailers to offset after the introduction of the Administration's bill. Robert "Chuck" Chambers (D-Cabell) was their increased costs incurred in recycling containers. Reorganization Of The Department Of elected House Speaker. Chambers has been Last year, the WVHC supported a study of the economic House Judiciary Committee Chairman since impacts of the bottle bill since adequate information was not Natural Resources 1985 and Ia generally acknowledged as Legisla available. Additional information is becoming available, The Moore Administration is also expected to submit a ture's moat effective advocate In conservation including economic investigations by those states which bill to reorganize the Department of Natural Resources laaues. He has been a Conservancy member for have already enacted container deposits and a study by the (DNR). The features of this bill include: several years. U.S. General Accounting Office. These studies indicate a (continued on page 8) A Wildlife Refuge In Canaan Valley by Linda Elkinton What is 1 National WUdUfe Refuge? year become more difficult to find in other Why are they Important? places. Many refuges have fine scenic and historical values that are preserved, along National Wildlife Refuges play an impor with the wildlife. tant part in the conservation story of the Our national wildlife refuges often are United States. In combination, they make thought of as self-operating wildlife para up the National Wildlife Refuge System - a dises from the time they are established. farflung collection of lands and waters More often than not, they have been deve selected for their value to America's wildlife loped from areas misused in the past by populations, particularly migratory birds drainage, lumbering, burning and overgraz and rare mammals. Over 400 refuges total ing, and needing restoration to become first ing 34 million acres are now in the System. class wildlife habitat. This is accomplished These Refuges range in size from just over through management techniques that may 200 acres to several million acres and are the include regulated livestock grazing to pro primary way our government protects wild vide habitat for more successful wildlife use, life in American. A federal refuge is a high soil conservation practices, or forestry pro quality natural area with unusual and special grams. natural features. Refuges insure the availa The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bility of important habitat for wildlife and (USFWS) of the Department of the Interior for research on species whose populations Canaan Valley Is fourteen miles long, four miles wide and 3,200 feet above administers the System. Some Refuges are may be little understood or decreasing in sea level, the highest valley of Its size east of the Mississippi River. managed by States through cooperative number. Through specific management Photo by Joe Long agreements with the USFWS. Funds for the plans, a Refuge's important resources are stiU growing. There is a keen awareness that National wildlife refuges are popular as purchase and operation of these important protected, public awareness of its value to secure habitat for many kinds of wildlife is places to fmd large numbers of many kinds areas come from Congressional appropria mankind is promoted, and a variety of out far from adequate. Many more acres of of wildlife. Few other sites afford opportuni tions, the Land and Water Conservation door recreational activities is provided to the wetlands - marches, swamps, lakes, and ties to see such great, stirring concentrations fund (primarily collections from the lease public. Where wildlife populations are espe streams throughout the Nation - must be of waterfowl and other birds. of off-shore mineral reserves and fees col cially plentiful, public bunting, fashing and added to the present chain of refuges if Refuges not only harbor birds and mam lected for certain uses of Refuges) and from trapping are permitted on a Refuge. water-loving species are to survive as a basic mals, but also provide for species of plants, funds made available to the DOl for use The National Wildlife Refuge System is resource. insects, amphibians, and reptiles that each (continued on page 6) PAGE2 THE HIGHLANDS VOICE -Mountain View Roster of Officers, The Bottle Bill by John PurbMaah Board Members & True, there are some people who won't stop littering if we pass a bottle bill. Once, when showing some visiting families the New River Gorge from the Old Fayette Station Bridge, we saw Committee Chairs some 'necks down from Ohio gleefully seeing who could come closest to the rafters with their BOARD OF DIRECTORS empty bottles. I spoke harshly before bothering to count them and got sucker-punched for my PRESIDENT: John Purbaugh trouble. I don't really believe enhanced enforcement of existing litter laws will affect such Box 2502 Dudden Fork, Kenna, WV 25248 (988·9024) people. I have a lawyer friend who while working for DNR got so frustrated that be drafted, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT: David Elkington Route 5, Box 228-A, Morgantown, WV 26505 (296.()565) only partly in jest, a bill which provided for summary execution for stream littering. VICE PRESIDENT FOR STATE AFFAIRS: Larry George The only mechanism, short of the firing squad, which has a track record of changing littering 1033 Quarrier Street, Suite 715, Charleston, WV 25301 (34&3706) behavior is a "beverage oontainer deposit law," or "bottle bill" In the nine states with a bottle VICE PRESIDENT FOR FEDERAL AFFAIRS: Scott Martin bill not only bas beverage container Jitter been dramatically reduced, but the total volume of aJI 320 Fourth Street, NE. Washington, DC 20002 other litter and all solid waste has also been reduced as the recycling ethic takes hold. (202-547·7200 w, 202-543-7131) SECRETARY: Lois Rosier General information on the bottle bill was presented by Charlie Garlow of the West Virginia 1632 Otlahurst Drive, Fairmont, WV 26554 (363-1895) Citizens Action Group in the December Voice. To me, the hardest problem to deal with is the TREASURER: Tom Mlchaet remote possibility that a bottle bill would hasten the long existing downward slide of West Route 2, Box 217, Lost Creek, WV 26385 (623-3447) Virginia's glass and metal can manufacturing industry. I am not comfortable with the sight of a DIRECTORS.AT ·LAROE newly laid-off factory worker, and my guilt is not soothed by studies which show that his (Tenna expl,. October 1187) union-scale job will be replaced by several low-wage jobs in the new container-handling source Geoff Green: Rt. 1 Box 79-A, Burlington, WV 26710 (289·3565) sector. Sayre Rodman: 32 Crystal Drive, Oakmont PA 151:39 (412-828-8983) However, speakers for the container industry, as is typical with such folks, give very little in Skip Deegans: Box ss.-, Lewisburg, WV 24901 ~5-6028) Perry Bryant: 236 South High Street, Morgantown; WV 26505 (~5891 W) the way of specific facts on the likely impact on West Virginia industry beyond predicting plant Jim VanGundy: 240 Boundary Ave., Elkins, WV 26241 closings. How much bas industry employment declined over the past five or ten years without DIRECTORS.AT·LAROE such a bill, and why? What percentage of local plants' container production is distributed in (Terrna expl,.