On April 24th, 2019 West Virginia modified its Section 401 water quality certification and requested that the Army Corps of Engineers accept its modifications into the nationwide permit program. West Virginia’s modifications contain questionable changes to Special Conditions A, C, and L of Nationwide Permit 12, which authorizes utility line activities. These modifications, if they aren’t rejected, would put the waters and people of West Virginia at risk for increased discharge of pollution, resulting in harm to human and environmental health.
On June 19, 2019, Fair Shake moved to intervene in a pipeline application proposed between Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), on behalf of our clients FreshWater Accountability Project (FreshWater) and Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC).
On May 16th, 2019 I had the honor of testifying before congress on the impacts of water pollution, above and below ground, from oil and gas development (Link to full video).
In response to community concerns about traffic, noise, light and health impacts, many residents are asking: Is municipal zoning a tool that can be used to ban fracking?
If you are experiencing some environmental harm and you want to get to the bottom of it then you might want to start by filing a Right to Know (RTK) request with the proper local, state, or federal agency. Right to Know requests provide individuals with an opportunity to obtain any “open records,” as defined by each states laws. Depending on the state, the laws that guide your right to know information may be called “Freedom of Information Act”, “Open Records Laws”, or “Right to Know Laws”. For further reading on these laws check out the links for our services areas of Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services filed an appeal, on behalf of its clients The Sierra Club, Earthworks, Center for Biological Diversity, and FreshWater Accountability Project, challenging a key permit for a massive proposed plastics facility known as an “ethane cracker” in Belmont County. The plant is part of the industry’s push to steeply increase U.S. plastic production.
