For the Mountain State to thrive and grow its population, we must be serious about both economic development and environmental protection.
Economic development involves encouraging new businesses to invest within our borders or expanding existing employers who already know how to do business here at home. Environmental protection means meeting the safe standards set by the West Virginia Legislature, implemented by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In the case of wastewater permits, the safe levels are set by the West Virginia Legislature in the state’s Water Quality Standards. No permit can be issued unless it protects the people and fish downstream in accordance with those standards.
Changes to the Water Quality Standards have been proposed this session with our Legislature. One commonsense change being proposed would say that streams with little or no flow, that obviously could not be a reliable drinking water supply, should not be treated as a water supply. The protections for public water supplies would not apply in that limited area, but any discharge would have to ensure that downstream public water supplies would not be harmed.
One Democratic member of the West Virginia House of Delegates suggested about this proposed change in a recent committee meeting, “I don’t like chemicals in my water.” That statement may sound good and get you quoted in the newspaper, but it is not realistic. Nearly every new and existing business, regardless of size, location or what products they make, uses chemicals in their production process. The question is not whether they do, but whether these production processes are safe.
It is not just the DEP, along with the EPA, that makes certain this protection occurs. If a change to the Water Quality Standards is proposed, the public gets to comment or can appeal against a permit they think is wrongly issued. The Legislature gets two chances to review it, as well. The protections that have been put in place are extensive but never mentioned by those who think that they are never enough.
Even if we did away with all industry, we would still have chemicals in our air and water, because our 21st-century way of life benefits from the use of chemicals and the many products made in some part with chemistry. We use lawn treatments, motor oil and a host of other things that, to some degree, wind up in our state’s rivers.
There are West Virginians who discharge not only sewage in some places but do so directly from the house to the river without treatment. We expel drugs from our bodies that have not been absorbed, use household cleaning agents and other products that find their way into our water supply. We drive cars, trucks and side-by-sides that emit exhaust, and we send our nonrecyclable and food waste to landfills. All this activity results in chemicals in our environment.
The truth is that no one has proposed changing the water quality criteria that protects our drinking water. Those standards, which have been deemed safe for West Virginia residents for decades, will remain in place. The ongoing protections afforded to West Virginia water users will remain strong, even if the change to the Water Quality Standards is adopted.
Bissett is president of the West Virginia Manufacturer’s Association.