Marcellus Bill Returns To House And Senate

• {Charleston, West Virginia}...In a meeting Wednesday, the Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale passed, with nearly unanimous support, a Marcellus regulation bill, sending it from the committee back in front of the full House and Senate. Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, said in consultation with the House clerk that if Governor Earl Ray Tomblin calls for a special session to pass the bill that it will be referred to the joint committee on government and finance with the recommendation that the bill passes. Senator Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, said she would be a "no" vote on the regulations because there were still discrepancies to work out in regard to amendments that passed without consensus of both the House and Senate members of the joint committee. Facemyer said the bill is sending a very anti-business sentiment with some of its provisions, but Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, disagreed, calling the bill a "pretty good balance" of business and environmentally friendly regulations.