West Virginia's attorney general wants the state to target coal companies, not just truck drivers, in its battle against overweight coal trucks.

According to the Associated Press, AG Darrell McGraw wants the state to start a pilot program to show how inadequate state enforcement efforts are.
McGraw wants to file a legal action to challenge the coal companies that are overloading the trucks and the people who are receiving the coal, "profiting from the contraband in overloaded trucks."
Coal trucks are often stopped carrying between 140,000 and 185,000 pounds in the state, which limits gross truck weights to 65,000 pounds on rural roads and 80,000 pounds on four-lane highways. Two people were killed in September when a coal truck weighting 165,000 pounds hit their vehicle, pushing it into the path of another truck.
It's possible legislation to address the issue will be drafted early in 2002.