West Virginia is currently logging more than at any time in the last century. Production is at a level it has not reached since the last timber boom near the turn of the last century.

Now, as then, we are doing it without effective control on sediment.

Timbering requires roads into and through the timber site. It requires one large road big enough to connect what are called log landings to each other and to the outside market. That road is large enough to accommodate log trucks.

During the course of the timber operation the timber company constructs a series of smaller roads that snake away from the log landings. It uses these smaller roads, called skid roads, to drag the logs to the landings where they wait for the log truck to come pick them up.

Because of West Virginia’s terrain, almost every one of these roads is constructed either up a steep grade or across a steep grade. The prevalence of small streams in West Virginia means that many of these roads are close to streams.

All of this earth disturbance in such steep terrain and frequently close to streams can (and very often does) result in erosion. Sediment contributes to flooding and increased water treatment costs. It can make dredging necessary to maintain navigable rivers. Sediment also has an adverse effect upon aquatic life; West Virginia’s trout streams are vulnerable to sedimentation, usually from logging operations.

On paper at least, current law requires that timbering companies follow what are known as Best Management Practices. These are steps which timber companies can take to reduce sediment from timber operations. They require such things as drainage ditches, water bars across roads, etc.

The primary difficulty with current law is that there is no effective enforcement. The West Virginia Division of Forestry is charged with enforcing the law. For most of the enforcement actions it could take, it must seek the cooperation of the Division of Environmental Protection before it can take enforcement action. If these two agencies cannot agree on the appropriate action, then they must go to a neutral third person to resolve the dispute. With such a cumbersome procedure it is no wonder that there is no effective enforcement.

Under current law, Division of Forestry inspectors may visit sites but, should they find a violation, are only allowed to issue an order that the violation be corrected. There is no provision for issuing an enforcement order that carries any sort of penalty with it. It is as if the state police could issue warnings but no tickets. There is no reason for a timber operator to comply with the law until after the inspector shows up. Given the number of sites and the number of inspectors, this is the same as saying that a timber operator has no reason to comply with the law.

Timber inspectors do have the power to shut down timber operations but only if the practice either would "endanger life" or "result in uncorrectible soil erosion or water pollution". Thus if the site is horribly bad, the inspector may shut it down. If it is just moderately bad, the inspector may issue a warning but that is it.

There are provisions for civil penalties but that requires action in Circuit Court. Should the Division of Forestry pursue this, the timber company faces a maximum total penalty that is one fourth of the daily penalty faced by other polluters of our waters. It would be hard for any agency to be very effective in its enforcement with all these barriers.

The other major flaw with current law is that it has nothing to encourage pre-planning of the operation. There is nothing to encourage any timber operator to plan the operation so that is less likely to cause sediment in the streams. Although the timber company is required by current law to register the operation, it is not required to do so until three days after it begins. By that time the opportunity to plan the operation has passed.

The most dramatic change that would result from passage of the Logging Sediment Control Act would be improved enforcement. While the Division of Forestry would still register logging operations, primary responsibility for enforcement would be turned over to the Water Resources section of the Division of Environmental Protection. There, the inspectors would have available the full array of enforcement remedies that they have available when dealing with other sources of water pollution. The changes would make possible the enforcement that would turn the promise of sediment control into a reality.

There are more subtle changes as well. The proposed bill would require registration 30 days before the operation begins. It would require that the timber operator show where the roads would be, what steps it would take to prevent sedimentation, etc. By planning the operation, the operator and the Division of Forestry would have a chance to prevent pollution before it began.

The proposed bill makes some small changes in the Best Management Practices as applied to timber operations so as to as to make them more effective in preventing pollution.

Finally, the proposed bill makes notification of adjoining landowners mandatory. Before a timber company may begin operations, it must notify adjoining landowners, including the location of major roads and the steps the company will take to control sediment from the operation.