Govenror Balochistan Seeks Out China’s Assistance For Resolution Of Water Scarcity In Balochistan And Gwadar

Balochistan Governor Justice (retd) Amanullah Khan Yasinzai seek out China’s collaboration, technical assistance and valuable expertise for resolution of water scarcity issues in the province and Gwadar in particular.
QUETTA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 29th Oct, 2018 ) :Balochistan Governor Justice (retd) Amanullah Khan Yasinzai seek out China’s collaboration, technical assistance and valuable expertise for resolution of water scarcity issues in the province and Gwadar in particular.
Governor Justice (retd) Amanullah Khan Yasinzai expressed these views at the conference of Asian Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Political Affairs, held in Gwadar today.
Governor appreciated efforts made by Chairman Senate Pakistan Sadiq Sanjrani and his team on stepping ahead all challenges and organizing this mega event.
The governor said that ensuring mutual cooperation for boosting economic activities is need of the hour, China Pakistan Economic corridor (CPEC) project is playing vital role to uplift economy of the region.
The governor said that timely completion of CPEC would transform Pakistan into centre of the trade and would led to the international recognition of Balochistan’s geostrategic location.
"CPEC would serve as a line of sustainable development bringing prosperity at the door step of the people through transit trade and transhipment facilities", he said.
The governor further said that both Pakistan and Balochistan would witness massive economic activities in future.
The governor emphasized to utilize the vast opportunities created by CPEC through collective measures at regional level.
There exist solid bilateral ties between Pakistan and China, He added.

Supreme Court affirms decision in favor of coal companies in water contamination suit

West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Gov.
Jim Justice’s companies in a lawsuit alleging water contamination of private wells.
The case comes out of Wyoming County, where 16 families sued Mechel Bluestone Coal Company and Dynamic Energy for well water contamination.
The court remanded the case back to circuit court to decide whether the companies complied with an order to provide replacement water to families.
On appeal, families alleged jury interference and witness intimidation, a disqualifying relationship between a seated alternate juror and a corporate representative of the coal company, and that a verdict was awarded in favor of the defense despite the weight of the evidence.
Families said the circuit judge erred by not finding the presence of UMWA members in the courtroom improper.
They claimed UMWA members immediately surrounded the witness when he entered the courthouse to testify and caused him to change his testimony.
Dynamic Energy appealed a different order where the judge refused to dissolve a preliminary injunction requiring the company to provide replacement water to families.
They reversed the circuit court’s ruling.
“As such, it is clear that, by refusing to provide replacement water service as the circuit court had ordered it to do, Dynamic Energy ignored the court’s direct command when it, unilaterally, stopped providing replacement water service," the opinion said.

WV Supreme Court rules Justice coal company didn’t contaminate wells

The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld the decision of a Wyoming County jury that a coal company operated by Gov.
The families who showed their water was contaminated by lead and arsenic, but couldn’t prove that mining operations by Dynamic Energy Inc. and Mechel Bluestone Inc. caused it, had appealed the ruling from a Wyoming circuit judge that denied their motion to set aside the jury’s verdict, according to the ruling the court handed down Thursday.
The court also issued a ruling on a second appeal from the same case and remanded the decision on a preliminary injunction back to Wyoming County, where a circuit judge will have to rule on how to proceed after the coal company violated the court’s order, according to the ruling written by Justice Robin Davis.
The individual suits were consolidated into one case, which led to a three-week trial in April and May 2016.
Following the verdict, the families attorneys filed a motion to set aside the verdicts and have a new trial, claiming there had been jury interference and witness intimidation and that an alternate juror, who ended up being seated on the jury, had a relationship with a corporate representative of the coal company that should have disqualified him from service.
Dynamic Energy’s attorneys said the company didn’t procure or request the presence of the UMWA members, and their presence didn’t interfere with the families’ right to a fair trial.
The court supported Dynamic’s argument, saying the families’ attorneys didn’t show any evidence that the company solicited the presence of the union members or that their presence damaged the families’ rights.
The families’ attorneys also said a former Dynamic employee was set to testify that he illegally buried coal slurry outside of the areas designated by the company’s mining permits that the attorneys said contributed to the water contamination.
“We conclude that the plaintiffs are responsible for the error of which they now complain,” Davis said.
Finally, the families’ attorneys said the evidence in the case clearly showed the company was liable for the water contamination.

Marijuana, Water Bills Approved by West Virginia Legislature

CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia lawmakers have voted to raise water-pollution limits, legalize medical marijuana, end school standardized testing aligned with the Common Core curriculum and hold a voter referendum this year on issuing $1.6 billion in bonds to rebuild state highways and bridges.
The House and Senate, which ended their two-month session Sunday, also passed a $4.1 billion general fund budget with no tax increases and steeper cuts to higher education and Medicaid than Gov.
A bill to authorize natural gas producers to drill when three-fourths of those with royalty rights agree also foundered.
Justice has already signed new laws to end regulation of about 2,300 above-ground storage tanks and to let industrial plants discharge cancer-causing and other chemicals based on the average flow in a waterway instead of its low flow, allowing larger discharges from individual sites.
“Water quality standards are the safe levels of pollutants that are allowed in our streams,” the West Virginia Manufacturers Association said, urging the change.
A bill backed by coal producers that passed both houses also would change measurements of related stream health, relying primarily on fish populations instead of insects.
Jim Justice said he’ll sign it.
Justice vetoed that bill.
Enforcement has been blocked by a court injunction in a lawsuit brought by unions.
The Senate passed the bill, but it died in the House.