In a special session that began Sunday, West Virginia legislators this week will consider a proposal to raise legal weights for coal trucks to 120,000 pounds.

The state’s coal and trucking industries last week said they would support the proposal, which also calls for stricter enforcement. Both industries lobbied for even higher weights, as high as 139,000 pounds, and predict that the 120,000-pound weight limit will force 10 percent to 15 percent of the state’s mines to close. Many trucks have been running at 160,000 pounds or more. But a series of traffic fatalities involving coal trucks let to a public outcry that something be done.
A task force set up earlier this year by Gov. Bob Wise developed the recommendations, saying the state has only itself to blame for the problem of overweight coal trucks. The state has allowed coal operators to blatantly ignore weight limits to the point where the state’s coal industry would be devastated if it had to stick to the current limits of 80,000 pounds – even less on some roads.
“Essentially everyone who offered testimony before the truck safety work group agreed that the state of West Virginia is responsible for the coal truck dilemma it faces,” said the report. “Trucks have been running heavy for decades, but state officials have been lenient regarding weight enforcement … Companies begin building larger trucks to haul larger loads.”
In fact, the existing system actually penalized coal companies and truckers that abide by the law, the work group said.
However, the proposal will no doubt result in a long, emotional debate. Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse said his office computer crashed twice when it became overloaded with e-mails from opponents of increased weight limits. The United Mine Workers union, which wants the existing weight limits enforced, has organized the e-mail campaign.