We, the below signed, are concerned for the quality of our waters in West Virginia and for the well being of our state Department of Environmental Protection. We join fellow West Virginians and the DEP in their mission to protect our state\'s most precious natural resource, our water. Whereas the Federal EPA settled with Massey Energy for more than $20 million-- money that would be going to our state instead of a federal agency had the DEP properly cited this company; and whereas this February the WV State Senate will be holding a DEP oversight hearing to look into the reasons for DEP\'s failure to enforce the law, we urge the legislature to make the following mandates: - Fill the 100 job vacancies in the DEP (according to the DEP Office of Administration) - Investigate why the DEP has missed so many citations for violations of water pollution permits, and - Postpone all permits that allow waste or pollution to be dumped into our streams until the DEP has the capacity to adequately monitor the impact and enforce the law.

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