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Pipeline company files suit against W.Va. landowners By Tina Alvey REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER | Posted: Wednesday, April 1, 2015 6:30 pm A company seeking to run a massive natural gas pipeline through the state has followed through on a threat to take legal action against West Virginia landowners who have thus far refused to allow access to their properties. Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC, (MVP) filed a petition Friday in U.S. District Court in Beckley asking federal authorities to force three corporations and more than 100 other property owners residing in 10 West Virginia counties to permit the developer's agents to survey...

For an average price of $8,732 per acre with 20 percent production royalties, the West Virginia Department of Commerce with allow Norway-based Statoil to frack for oil and natural gas thousands of feet beneath the Ohio River. The finalized lease agreement for drilling in state-owned mineral tracts under the river is in addition to those filed by Noble Energy and Gastar Exploration, which would pay the state $4.9 million and $749,000, respectively, in addition to the 20 percent royalties. These deals are not yet official, however, as the companies remain in negotiations with state leaders. "We are still finalizing agreements...

Citing public safety concerns, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has vetoed a bill to eliminate requirements for people carrying concealed handguns to have permits. The National Rifle Association-backed Democrat said Friday's veto responds to an outcry by law enforcement against the bill.

Forty-seven Senate Republicans are signaling in an open letter to Iran and the White House that a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program will be at risk once President Obama leaves office. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously...

[JURIST] The West Virginia Legislature [official website] on Friday overrode the governor's veto, passing a bill [text, HB 2586] banning abortion after 20 weeks. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin [official website] said he vetoed the law because of concerns over its constitutionality and would have preferred a later gestational period for banning abortion. The bill excludes [AP report] certain cases of medical emergencies and is set to take effect in May. West Virginia is now the 11th state to ban abortion after 20 weeks. The legislation is based on the premise that fetuses can feel pain starting around 20 weeks, a...

The newly elected Republican legislature in West Virginia flexed its muscles today by overriding Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin veto of an abortion law that would ban the practice after 20 weeks. In other words, late-term abortion is banned in West Virginia (via AP): The ban provides some exemptions for women in medical emergencies, but not for rape and incest. The bill is based on the assertion that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks, which is disputed in medical research. Opponents say it's unconstitutional and intrusive into doctor-patient relationships. Ten other states ban abortions after 20 weeks. The West Virginia...

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has been on somewhat of a skid for quite some time, from Staples’ headquarters telling group members to get off its property to Starbucks refusing to ban guns in its stores–Moms Demand Action’s claims notwithstanding–to Kroger, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) ignoring its gun control requests, as well.

Senators approved a bill Friday that could make West Virginia the sixth state to allow residents to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.After reading aloud from the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, senators voted 32-2 for a bill (SB347) that allows people 18 and older to tote concealed guns.“The bill eliminates the crime of carrying a concealed weapon in West Virginia,” said Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan.The legislation next goes to the House of Delegates. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Vermont and Wyoming are the only states that allow residents to carry a hidden gun without a permit.West Virginia already allows...

The Obama administration’s Department of Justice shut down an attempt to force the Internal Revenue Service to search for Lois Lerner’s missing emails at off-site storage facilities. The IRS never looked for Lerner’s backup email tapes at the West Virginia storage facility where they were being housed. Treasury deputy inspector general Timothy Camus told Congress that the IRS never asked IT professionals at the New Martinsville, W.V. storage site for the backup tapes. Camus only found the backup tape for Lerner’s missing 2011 emails about two weeks ago. But the Obama administration knew that emails were stored at off-site facilities,...

Thug enters. Pulls Gun. Threatens Employees. Thug get his ass blown away by alert Pharmacist armed and concealing. Media ignores. Charges will not be filed against a pharmacist who shot and killed a man accused of trying to rob a pharmacy in Pinch. The pharmacist, Don Radcliff, tells WSAZ that he’s glad to hear the news, but says he is still struggling to cope with what happened. “I can’t say I’m at peace with it, but the hardest part right now is trying to cope with how his family feels,” said Radcliff. It happened Wednesday morning at Good Family Pharmacy...

Energy: Three million gallons of Bakken crude burning in rural West Virginia after an oil train derails in a snowstorm ought to underscore the environmental safety of replacing rail cars with the Keystone XL pipeline. One of the reasons President Obama says he'll veto the Keystone pipeline bill that, as a result of last November's GOP electoral gusher, has found its way to his desk is that it will only carry Canadian crude to foreign markets and is not worth jeopardizing the environment. Two things are wrong with that argument. The first is that Keystone XL will also bring Bakken...

On Monday, the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the siting certificate for Moundsville Power LLC to construct a 549-MW combined cycle natural gas power plant in Marshall County. It will be the first to also burn ethane. The company is also touting the project’s role in helping to offset the effect of area coal plant closings. With the PSC approval in hand, Moundsville Power’s next step is financing. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2015, and the plant is expected to be operational in early 2018. The Moundsville Power facility will be a wholesale generator for the...

3:00 p.m., UPDATE: Water intakes in Montgomery and Cedar Grove have been closed because of the train accident along the Kanawha River. That is according to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Public Health. It is confirmed that the train was carrying crude oil, some of which spilled into the Kanawha River. While the intakes are closed, customers are urged to conserve water. The Montgomery Water System is part of West Virginia American Water Co. The West Virginia State Police expanded the evacuation order for the area at around 3:15 p.m. to include anyone with...

A pair of GOP senators implored House Republicans Thursday to soften their stance in the intra-party dispute over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who both formerly served in the lower chamber, stressed to the House GOP conference behind closed doors that the Senate can’t get the 60 votes it needs to advance the House-passed DHS funding bill that includes language to reverse President Obama's executive actions on immigration. "They lamented the frustration they're having getting up to 60 votes. But apparently that is the strategy now with the Democrat minority...

After days of debates lasting hours on the House of Delegates floor, West Virginia lawmakers passed a bill that would limit abortions in the state. On Wednesday House Bill 2368 passed by an overwhelming majority, 87-12, with both republicans and democrats voting in favor of it. The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks, granting exemptions if a mother's life was in danger or the fetus was not medically viable. Doctors who would perform an abortion after this time would be at risk of losing their medical licenses. “Truly what we are talking about is just ensuring that a child,...

A West Virginia Republican delegate previously scrutinized for his comments on a child that could come from rape has been called on to resign. The West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women created a petition on change.org calling on the lawmakers resignation. The petition explains that Delegate Brian Kurcaba, R-Monongalia, does “not represent West Virginia women and does not understand the mental anguish a woman goes through when sexually assaulted.” Kurcaba made the comments during a hearing in the House of Delegates Feb. 5 on a bill that would attempt to ban a woman from having an abortion performed after 20...

Abortion activists and the liberal media have ganged up on yet another pro-life legislator for saying babies conceived in rape are human beings worthy of respect and who should not be aborted. The dustup comes in the state of West Virginia, where state Delegate Brian Kurcaba took the side of unborn children, even int he tragic and heartbreaking circumstances of rape: A US lawmaker reportedly stunned crowds by saying a child born as a result of a rape being committed was ‘beautiful’. Delegate Brian Kurcaba made the alleged controversial remarks while discussing a law to prevent abortions in the state...

(Reuters) - West Virginia police said on Monday they have charged teenager with murder in connection with the beating death of an elderly pastor at his home on the weekend. Ronald Browning, 68, of Beckley, about 55 miles (89 km) south of the capital Charleston, died from blunt force trauma to his head and neck, police said. He was a pastor at Cool Ridge Community Church. Camille Brown, a 19-year-old student at West Virginia University, is being held and charged with murder and breaking and entering after she confessed to killing Browning, police said.

State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government. The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say. “You have a choice,” said Kentucky state Rep. Diane St. Onge (R). “To sit back and not do anything or say anything and let overregulation continue — or you have the alternative choice to speak up about it and say, ‘We know what...

he West Virginia House of Delegates began moving a bill Thursday to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill is very similar to one that was passed last year, only to be vetoed by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. The bill is one of 11 introduced so far this legislative session that seek to restrict women’s access to abortion. A similar bill passed both houses of the Legislature last year with overwhelming bipartisan support but was vetoed by Tomblin, who said he had been advised that it was unconstitutional. The House Health Committee held a public hearing on the...