Latest West Virginia Headlines
All the headlines from our West Virginia Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Freedom Industries, West Virginia Sign Spill Site Cleanup Agreement
Apr 2 2015 // Freedom Industries and West Virginia regulators have signed an agreement for cleaning up the site of a 2014 chemical spill in the Elk River that prompted a tap water ban for 300,000 people for days. The agreement announced...
West Virginia Governor Signs Scaled Back Version of 2014 Water Safety Law
Mar 30 2015 // Less than a year after signing legislation with new safeguards in response to a 2014 chemical spill that prompted a tap-water ban for 300,000 people, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed a bill Friday to trim...
West Virginia Chemical Spill Settlement for Community Projects Dropped
Mar 27 2015 // Lawyers for businesses and people affected by a massive chemical spill last year say a settlement to fund community projects is no longer being considered. In June 2014, lawyers for the groups affected by the Freedom...
Former Massey CEO Pleads Not Guilty to New Indictment in Mine Blast
Mar 25 2015 // The former chief executive of Massey Energy Co. pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a revised federal indictment arising from a 2010 West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners. The former chief executive, Donald...
West Virginia Governor Signs Comparative Fault Legal Reform Bill
Mar 23 2015 // Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill changing legal protections when multiple parties are deemed at fault in a lawsuit. The Democratic governor approved a comparative fault bill passed by the Republican-run...
West Virginia Lawmakers Clear Legal Reform Compromise
Mar 18 2015 // The West Virginia Republican-led Legislature has cleared a legal reform proposal compromise. House delegates voted 63-33 March 14 for deliberate intent legal protection changes. When a known unsafe working condition hurts...
Former Freedom Owners Plead Guilty in West Virginia Chemical Spill Case
Mar 18 2015 // Two former owners of Freedom Industries pleaded guilty on Monday to environmental violations stemming from last year’s Charleston chemical spill that prompted a temporary tap water ban for 300,000 residents. At...
West Virginia Governor Signs Controversial Coal Bill
Mar 17 2015 // West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill lauded by the struggling coal industry and called dangerous by the miners’ union. Tomblin signed the bill last week changing coal mine safety and...
Highway Fatalities in West Virginia Down 18 percent in 2014
Mar 16 2015 // Highway fatalities in West Virginia dropped from 332 in 2013 to 271 in 2014, according to a statement by the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Pat Reed. The decline shows the state is moving in the...
West Virginia Lawmakers Put Off Decision on Uber
Mar 16 2015 // It looks unlikely that Uber is coming to West Virginia this year. With debate closed, the Republican-led House of Delegates voted Friday against reviving an Uber bill that was idled. The bill would have allowed Uber and...
West Virginia Lawmakers Send Rollback of Chemical Spill Law to House Floor
Mar 12 2015 // A West Virginia House panel narrowly approved a bill to scale back protections to prevent chemical spills from sullying water supplies. The January 2014 chemical spill that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 residents...
West Virginia Governor Signs Comparative Fault Legal Reform Bill
Mar 9 2015 // Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has signed a bill changing legal protections when multiple parties are deemed at fault in a lawsuit. The Democratic governor approved a comparative fault bill passed by the Republican-run...
Transport Company Agrees to Restoration Plan After West Virginia Train Derailment
Mar 9 2015 // Federal regulators say CSX Transportation has agreed to a long-term plan for cleaning up and restoring the area around a fiery oil-train derailment in southern West Virginia. Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...
West Virginia’s Coal Country Split as New Law Pits Owners, Workers: Commodities
Mar 4 2015 // Mike Caputo, one of the top Democrats in the West Virginia legislature, began working in the state’s coal mines at age 19. It helped put his kids through school, he said, and helped him pay for his family home. Now...
Crop Insurance Deadline Nears for West Virginia Farmers
Mar 4 2015 // A deadline is approaching for West Virginia farmers to buy insurance for crops planted in the spring. March 15 is the closing date to either buy crop insurance or change an existing policy. The U.S. Department of...
West Virginia Judges Approve $11.3M Settlement with Ex-Mountain State Students
Mar 3 2015 // A three-judge panel says former students of West Virginia’s Mountain State University are entitled to an $11.3 million payout. Media reports state that the so-called mass litigation panel met in Charleston last...
Derailed Train in West Virginia Had Safer Tank Cars
Feb 26 2015 // The fiery derailment of a train carrying crude oil in West Virginia earlier this month is one of three in the past year involving tank cars that already meet a higher safety standard than what federal law requires –...
Feds Say Speed Not a Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Crash
Feb 23 2015 // Speed doesn’t appear to have been a factor in an oil-train derailment in southern West Virginia, a federal transportation official said Thursday. The CSX train was going 33 mph at the time of the crash on Feb. 16 in...
Gas Vapor Possible Factor in West Virginia Oil Train Fireball
Feb 20 2015 // Federal investigators will examine whether pressurized gas played a role in the massive blast that followed the derailment of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia this week, the U.S. Transportation Department...
Calls for Safety Upgrades Follow West Virginia Oil Train Crash
Feb 18 2015 // A fiery oil train derailment in West Virginia this week exposes lax safety standards and strengthens the case for tougher U.S. rules governing such shipments, safety advocates said on Tuesday. A 109-car delivery of crude...
