Effort to clean up state not dead. It’s still not even past

West Virginians born after the 1970s may never have heard of REAP, but they take for granted the environmental battles it won.
The Rehabilitation Environmental Action Program, created in 1973, was headed by one of our state’s most flamboyant political leaders, A. James Manchin.
Manchin would go on to remove thousands of junk cars, appliances and old tires from rural areas, with a flourish rivaling the fanfare of certain presidents or a grand opening.
Last week, two bills were introduced in the state Senate that set our sights higher — our state’s concentration of abandoned and dilapidated structures.
They are not unique to our state, nor do we have a monopoly on them. However, you cannot drive a country mile (or a municipal one) almost anywhere in West Virginia without spotting one.
SB 263 comes with a designation that should win it some attention — the Zombie Property Remediation Act of 2020. But its purpose should also win it passage.
It authorizes a municipality to commence a proceeding in court, in the county in which an abandoned property is located, to compel a foreclosure to assist municipalities in addressing so-called “zombie properties.”
The three-page bill specifically details what a vacant and abandoned residential property is and those that don’t fit the definition. It expedites foreclosures and/or discharge of a trust deed lien or mortgage.
A single senator, Sen. Michael Woelfel, D-Cabell, is the sole sponsor, of this bill but has also lent his name to SB 265, which targets abandoned and dilapidated structures, too.
That bill is sponsored by three Democrats and three Republicans, which may assure it at least emerges from the Senate.
Probably not by coincidence, either, this legislation is amended onto the A. James Manchin Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan embodied in state code. That section of code attempts to coordinate efforts to address litter, open dumps, waste tire cleanup and recycling programs.
Where SB 263 assists municipalities in ridding us of dilapidated and abandoned structures, SB 265 provides a program to assist county commissions and municipalities to do that.
The intent of SB 265 is to reclaim structures or open new parcels of land for development. The program will fall under the Department of Environmental Protection’s purview as will a fund to facilitate remediating or eliminating these sites.
The DEP may work with counties and towns to implement plans and establish prioritized inventories of structures to participate and offer reuse options for some sites.
We doubt anyone can equal A. James Manchin’s grassroots style that he carried wherever he went, but both these bills carry on his effort to clean up our state.
And even if you were born yesterday you know that effort is far from past.