News

Article written by Mike Tony for the Charleston Gazette-Mail
January 27, 2022

The state House Energy and Manufacturing Committee has approved a pair of bills designed to encourage economic development from extraction of rare earth elements and critical minerals essential to technology products and national security.

In the second session of the West Virginia Water Research Institute (WVWRI) Virtual Seminar Series, representatives from the Northern West Virginia Brownfield Assistance Center (NBAC) highlighted a collaborative project with the Save the Tygart Watershed Association as well as the resources provided by WVU Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB).

3RQ will host a three-part virtual series consisting of monthly online meetings where attendees are invited to learn about the research, conservation, and education-based efforts being undertaken by 3RQ member organizations and 3RQ partner researchers in the Upper Ohio River Basin. The goal of this series is to build connections, share information, and stay updated on activities within the region. Speakers will include watershed groups, conservation groups, and university researchers.

The concept behind draft legislation the West Virginia Joint Standing Energy Committee considered at an interim legislative session meeting this week is simple.

The legal implications are vastly more complicated.

The long-term environmental problem of acid mine drainage in West Virginia could offer a long-term economic solution.

West Virginia Water Research Institute Director Paul Ziemkiewicz made that pitch recently to the state Joint Economic Development Commission. The institute is assessing the feasibility of scaling up acid mine drainage treatment technology to support a nationwide supply chain of valuable rare earth elements and critical minerals.

Area of Emphasis/Research Priorities for the State of West Virginia

Drinking Water Protection

Four West Virginia University researchers will take strategic approaches to studying the Mountain State’s vast water resources from aquatic life to the economic effects of environmental restoration and measuring the sources of erosion to dealing with acid mine drainage in short- and long-term situations.

A 10-year research project to restore a 40-acre abandoned mine refuse site nestled atop the mountains of Greenbrier County is in its final stages of development thanks to the work of  civil engineers  at  West Virginia University , local and state government organizations and industry partners.  

The ambitious project led by Associate Professors  John Quaranta and  Leslie Hopkinson in the  Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the  Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, and  Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the  West Virginia Water Research Institute, a program of WVU’s  Energy Institute, utilizes a reclamation technique called Geomorphic Landform Design to mitigate acid mine drainage originating from the waste pile.

PHILADELPHIA (April 22, 2021) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the selection of West Virginia University Research Corporation as one of six organizations to receive a total of $11 million in grants nationwide to provide training and technical assistance to communities.

The work is being funded by EPA’s Technical Assistance to Brownfields (TAB) Program.  West Virginia University Corporation will receive $1 million total over a five-year period to provide technical assistance primarily to underserved and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the Mid-Atlantic Region (EPA Region 3) where environmental cleanup and new jobs are needed most. This assistance is available to all stakeholders and comes at no cost to communities. It is an important part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advance economic opportunities and address environmental justice issues in disadvantaged communities.