American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020 - 93

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ConventionCoverage: Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia
Harshbarger based his optimism on
an analysis of how Supreme Court justices
had voted historically. "It looks positive,"
he assessed, adding that Dominion was
hoping for a decision by the end of June
and planned to resume construction after
that with completion of the pipeline scheduled for late 2021.
Green New Deal
Another big project for his office,
Morrisey told IOGAWV, is developing
the legal predicate to challenge the Green
New Deal.
He recalled that Obama's original proposal to restrict coal-fired electric generation went beyond the power plant to the
point of usage. "It would have regulated
consumer demand in a way we never
have seen before: when your refrigerator
is on, where you are going to go, what
time you have to take the bus and the
amount of electricity you may use."
In the face of litigation, he said, the
consumer demand piece was dropped
from the final Clean Power Plan, only to
return in the Green New Deal. "They
want to go all the way down to your
power plug and further. They want to
tear down many of the buildings across
the country. And obviously, they don't
see much value in oil, gas or coal."
Morrisey said attacking a flawed idea
entailed pushing back against the policy,
the politics, the impact and the legal underpinnings.
"Our role is not really the politics,"
he allowed. "But we do have the ability
to draft legal white papers to educate
people about how far reaching the Green
New Deal is. That is what we are doing

right now . . . because even if the president
gets re-elected, we are worried about
Speaker Pelosi and other people advancing
these initiatives in 2021."
West Virginia Elections
Right policy doesn't happen without
the right people, suggested Brian Dayton,
vice president for policy and advocacy at
the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce,
in one other winter meeting presentation.
That includes the judiciary. "The most
important election we are going to see in
2020 is the West Virginia Supreme Court
of Appeals," Dayton opined in an overview
of this year's elections.
At the state Supreme Court, he detailed,
Chief Justice Tim Armstead, who was
elected in 2018 to an unexpired term, is
running for a full 12-year term against
two opponents in Division 1. In Division
2, three candidates are vying for an open
seat formerly held by Justice Margaret
Workman. And in Division 2, Dayton
said, Justice John Hutchison faces two
other candidates for a four-year unexpired
term.
"I want to drive home just how important these Supreme Court races are,"
Dayton emphasized.
Commenting that activist judges who
want to make policy rather than merely
adjudicate the law can negate all the good
legislation passed by a pro-business, projobs legislature and administration, he
assessed, "Right now, our Supreme Court
has a mindset of fairness, predictability
and stability. We are going to do everything
we can to maintain that."
At the legislative level, Dayton pre-

Maureen Miller, a science
teacher at Hurricane,
W.V., Middle School, accepts a special recognition award from Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia
President Kevin Ellis at
the association's winter
meeting, Jan. 22 in
Charleston. Miller participated in IOGAWV's
first STEM (science,
technology, engineering
and math) teacher workshop three years ago
and developed a lesson
plan based on workshop
materials. She then enabled IOGAWV to offer graduate professional development credits through Marshall
University for future workshop participants by evaluating and grading lesson plans
prepared by participating teachers.

The most important election facing West
Virginia this year is electing fair and impartial judges to the state Supreme Court
of Appeals, assesses Brian Dayton, vice
president for policy and advocacy for
the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

dicted the state's political environment
would be shaped largely at the national
level. To that end, he pointed to a poll
taken the week before IOGAWV's meeting
that found 69% of West Virginians were
opposed to impeaching President Trump,
while the president's overall approval rating was 67%.
"That is going to be a tremendous
help to the Republican ticket as we head
into the elections," he assessed.
In 2014, West Virginia elected Republican majorities in both the House
and Senate for the first time in 83 years.
"I don't see any signs that is going to
turn around," Dayton ventured.
Nevertheless, despite his assessment
that the path for the Democratic Party to
overcome Republicans' 20-14 majority
in the West Virginia Senate and 59-41
House majority as "extremely narrow,"
Dayton cited a Politico article indicating
West Virginia was one of the states being
targeted this year by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee in a $50
million effort to win state legislatures.
"In 2018, there was $3.2 million spent
on legislative races in West Virginia, and
80% of that went to helping Democratic
candidates or opposing Republican candidates," Dayton related. "In a presidential
year, that $3.2 million easily could double
or triple."
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020

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