Morrisey’s listening tour won’t fix West Virginia’s water issues, but that was never the point

Beautiful clean water. Four counties. Two days. Hardly any notice.

That describes the water listening tour that Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Tuesday morning with Marshall President Brad Smith in Huntington, West Virginia, an area we all of course associate with bad water, I guess? 

The governor said he would drive across Southern West Virginia for two days to listen to local government representatives, business owners and residents about their concerns regarding water access in their communities.

By the time you read this, Morrisey’s political road show — I mean, water listening tour — will already be over. 

I watched some clips from reporters and community members who attended, and some of it didn’t go well. But to be honest, there was more attendance than I expected given the short notice. The public response wasn’t much better. To sum it up, many of the posts I saw on social media from the southern coalfields and across West Virginia seem as confused as I was about the timing and sincerity of the whole ordeal. 

To be clear, I think the governor and other politicians doing stuff like this can be good. Elected offiials hosting town halls is a net positive, and I’m sure it’s not easy to sit there and have people voice their displeasure with you. That is what they signed up for when they ran for office.

But why host a water road show now, and do it this way? Why not give the working class people who are dealing with water problems in Southern West Virginia an adequate heads up so they can rearrange their day?

As reporters and others have mentioned, West Virginia’s water issues have been well documented. There are years of first person accounts and media reports, as well as official government estimates that indicate billions of dollars in need.

There are no simple or cheap solutions to the issue. Some people don’t want to be hooked up to utility water. Some people struggle to maintain their well water systems. Some communities don’t have the same ratepayer base to maintain their local public service district water systems. Then there’s the epidemic of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other pollution that industry dumps into our streams and groundwater that can be costly to treat. 

Don’t forget all of the efforts that President Donald Trump is doing (and that Morrisey is applauding) to threaten drinking water quality as he rolls back environmental protections. Or that the accomplishment that Morrisey ties himself closest to is his recruitment of data centers to West Virginia. It’s a little strange to focus on beautiful clean water while you ask mega-polluters to come to West Virginians’ backyards and rural areas. 

There was no way that a two-day tour was going to get to the heart of the water issue. But that was never the point. 

If there was genuine interest, the governor’s team would have worked long ago with the grassroots groups and residents who have been asking for help. I don’t recall the governor supporting From Below’s request for $250 million in drinking water appropriations this session, or even throwing a bone at some of the supermajority’s attempts to make headway on the issue. Earlier this summer, Reps. Riley Moore and Carol Miller requested $250 million in federal appropriations for the water crisis in West Virginia. Perhaps the governor supported it quietly. I’m betting he didn’t. Either way, it seems he’s late to the party and that this fits his agenda now. 

To me, it feels like the governor can’t be troubled to do something unless it fits nicely on a podium sign. I’m sure there will be a new sign next week and “beautiful clean water” will go to storage until it’s relevant again.