Send a Message to Our Legislature: Protect Our Property Rights. #IDecideWV

West Virginia has a long, tragic history of wealthy and powerful out of state interests stealing our land, our homeplaces and our resources. Unfortunately, it seems that our legislature hasn’t learned the lessons our history is teaching us, and is, instead, yet again siding with corporate interests and against our citizens.

A new rule written by a coal company will ensure that if a coal company mines under your property and damages your home, the coal company, not you, will decide whether you are provided cash compensation or repairs to your property.

During the December interim meeting of the WV legislature’s Joint Legislative Rule-Making Committee, Sen. Ryan Weld (R-Brooke), majority whip, proposed an amendment to add the exact language proposed by Metikki, giving coal operators say over which remedy is chosen. In a party-line, 8 to 4 vote, the Republican majority in a committee voted to add the exact language drafted by a coal company to our state rules.

Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia), one of the four committee members who voted against the rule change, argued, "I think most West Virginians would be really shocked to hear that this kind of change was being made, and I think it’s wrong."

Reacting to the rule change, Senator William Ihlenfeld (D-Ohio) explained, “the coal industry still has a powerful grip upon the West Virginia Legislature. We saw it last session with the $60 million annual cut in the tax on steam coal, and again last week with the stripping of homeowners' rights when mining causes property damage. I didn't fully comprehend how influential and well-funded the coal lobby was until I began serving in the Senate earlier this year. But now I know that coal executives feed language to lawmakers with the expectation that it will be adopted, word for word, in order to benefit their bottom line.”

Eight voted to take away property rights from West Virginians and hand them over to coal companies: Sen. Ryan Weld (R-Brooke), Delegate Geoff Foster (R-Putnam), Delegate Brandon Steele (R-Raleigh), Senator Mark Maynard (R- Wayne), Senator Patricia Rucker (R- Jefferson), Senator Dave Sypolt (R- Preston), Delegate Jim Butler (R- Mason), and Delegate Patrick Martin (R- Lewis.)

Four voted to protect the right of property owners to choose whether to take cash compensation or payment for repairs for damages done by underground coal operators: Senator Stephen Baldwin (D-Greenbrier), Del. Larry Rowe (D-Kanawah), Del. Barbara Fleischauer (D-Monongalia), and Sen. Glenn Jeffries (D-Putnam.)

The entire legislature will vote to confirm, reject or modify this rule change during the current 2020 session. The legislature can reverse this outrageous action if we convince them that voters expect them to work for US, not just their corporate donors.

Please send letters to your WV legislators to urge them to reverse this rule change and ensure that property owners, not coal companies, choose the type of compensation they receive when the coal company damages their property.