CHARLESTON, W.Va. – In 2014, the West Virginia Legislature passed the Aboveground Storage Tank Act in response to the devastating Elk River chemical leak. That law created basic safeguards to prevent another preventable drinking water crisis.

Year after year, we have seen these protections chipped away, but last year, persistent advocacy from people like you helped stop it before it passed.

Now, just days before the Crossover Day deadline in the Legislature, we are seeing another attempt to remove drinking water protections at the West Virginia State Capitol. On Monday, March 2, Members of the Senate Energy, Industry, and Mining Committee fast-tracked the Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 641 to rollback protections of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act.

The Senate moved fast, with the committee sending it to the Senate Floor. By Monday evening, the bill passed the first reading in the full Senate and on Wednesday afternoon, March 4, the bill passed the third 3rd reading on the Senate floor.

This bill now heads to the House.

These are protections that were put in place after more than 7,500 gallons of crude 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) leaked from an Aboveground Storage Tank (AST) at Freedom Industries into the Elk River on January 9, 2014, contaminating the drinking water supply for more than 300,000 West Virginians.

People fell ill, businesses shut down, and families were left without safe water for days. This crisis led to the unanimous passage of the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (AST Act) during the 2014 Legislative Session, ensuring stricter oversight of above-ground storage tanks near drinking water sources. Nearly every year since the leak, West Virginians have seen tremendous rollbacks of these protections, and now the state only regulates about 11 percent of Aboveground storage tanks. Our state lawmakers are trying to decrease those protections even further, despite the painful lessons learned in 2014.

Why SB641 is Dangerous: 

Lay of the Land: This bill weakens protections for nearly 1,000 Aboveground storage tanks in critical drinking water protection areas, which could endanger drinking water for communities. Seventy-five percent of those are oil and gas waste tanks stretch across 39 of the state’s 55 counties. In West Virginia, there are currently more than 46,000 tanks. This bill would weaken the protections on many of the 11 percent that remain regulated. Additionally, of the reported leaks from 2024 and early 2025, 80 percent of those leaks are from the same tanks containing brine water or other fluids produced in connection with hydrocarbon transmission, storage, or production activities that would be exempt if this bill passes.

Threats to Public Health: Oil and gas waste tanks don’t just hold “brine.” They store a mixture of produced water, crude oil, and other petroleum products – often containing toxic substances like benzene, toluene, radium, barium, and lead. These chemicals can harm human health at very low levels, increasing risks of cancer, nervous system damage, kidney and liver problems, high blood pressure, and developmental delays in children. Further weakening of the oversight of these tanks puts our water and communities at risk.

Special Treatment for Industry: Other industries comply with the AST Act. The oil and gas industry should not get a free pass to endanger our water. These are not small “Mom and Pop” companies; The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) own data showed this wasn’t the case as lawmakers attempted to rollback protections during the 2025 legislative session.

Take Action

The West Virginia Rivers Coalition is issuing a call to action. We need you to tell lawmakers to vote no. REJECT Com Sub SB641 and protect our water. Join us in insisting that the legislature does not weaken the Aboveground Storage Tank Act and oppose the Committee Substitute SB641.Take Action for Clean Water Protections Now! Join us in insisting that leaders remember the past and protect our future. Start contacting members of the Senate NOW. Protect our water!

Find Your Rep: Contact your member of the House of Delegates and Speaker Roger Hanshaw today! act.wvrivers.org/a/find-my-reps. Start contacting members of the Senate NOW. Protect our water! Tell your Delegate and Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw to protect our water by rejecting Com Sub SB 641. Use our sample comment letter found in the green “Take Action” box on our website to vote NO on this bill! Please personalize your message to make a greater impact. 

For clean water & healthy communities,
West Virginia Rivers Coalition

© Michael M. Barrick, 2026. Photo courtesy of West Virginia Rivers Coalition; this article has been edited for brevity from the West Virginia Rivers Coalition website.