February 14, 2010
The Charleston Gazette
 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The waves of winter storms have combined with the ongoing legislative session and the election season to produce a flurry of political activity.

Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Chair John Unger wants his committee to focus its Tuesday meeting on how agencies and officials have responded to the severe weather.

A pre-Christmas storm shut down stretches of the West Virginia Turnpike and other roads. It also left tens of thousands of residents without power, a number of them through the holidays.

Rounds of snow and ice have buffeted much of the state since New Year's Day. A pair of storms within the past week dumped 52 inches of snow on the Eastern Panhandle, with more forecast for this week.

"I want to examine the preparation, the pretreatment of roads, and whether we can do better about responding and preventing people from getting stranded and things like that," said Unger, a Berkeley County Democrat.

Unger said non-primary roads remain snowbound and residents stuck in their homes. He also said he's hearing from Division of Highways workers that they felt understaffed, underequipped and overwhelmed before last week's one-two punch.

"This storm is unusual, granted. But we knew it was coming," Unger said. "What I want to get to is, how do we do better. I just want to ask the question. We're not out to crucify anybody."

Unger is bringing his committee to bear on the issue in advance of a tough re-election. He faces a May party primary challenger, and a multi-term GOP House of Delegates member is seeking his seat as well.

Senate Majority Leader Truman Chafin also has a Democratic primary opponent, a commissioner in his native Mingo County. Chafin has been outspoken in his questions over the power outages that kept large patches of his district in the dark through late December.

Chafin earlier called for the state Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, to conduct public hearings on the issue. He took to the Senate floor on Friday to press for action by Gov. Joe Manchin.

House Speaker Rick Thompson, meanwhile, wants the governor to tap the state's emergency reserves to help cover storm-related costs. Municipal and county officials in the Eastern Panhandle and elsewhere warn that the recurring rounds of snow and ice removal have strained their budgets.

"Many small communities find themselves in dire straits due to excessive amounts of snow," wrote Thompson, D-Wayne and a potential 2012 candidate for governor. "Counties and local agencies do not have equipment and resources capable of combating the severity of the winter conditions that have fallen upon areas of West Virginia."

West Virginia's highways agency is in similar straits. It had set aside $54 million for such costs during the state fiscal year, which ends June 30. It had nearly spent that amount by last week.

Manchin held an impromptu briefing of reporters at the Capitol shortly after Thompson issued his request Thursday. While not ruling out drawing from the "rainy day" funds, the governor said the state should first seek help from Washington.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency can reimburse states for snow removal costs, but those requests take time to calculate. The state sent in its federal aid request for the mid-December storm just last week.

Manchin also seemed to challenge the rainy day suggestion, arguing that spending state funds now would hurt prospects for landing federal dollars.

Following the briefing, however, administration officials stressed that the governor and Thompson agree that county and local governments need not fear "bursting out of their budgetary seams," as Manchin had put it.

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Lawrence Messina covers the statehouse for The Associated Press.