CHARLESTON — “The Law Works,” a weekly television show on West Virginia PBS that discusses legal issues affecting the lives of West Virginians, will conduct a special one-hour live call-in show Thursday, Feb. 13, focused on the Jan. 9 chemical spill into the Elk River that affected residents in nine West Virginia counties.

Scheduled guests for the show include: Alan Ducketman, M.D., professor in occupational and environmental health sciences at West Virginia University; Paul F. Ziemkiewicz, Ph.D., director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute; and Patrick C. McGinley, professor at the West Virginia University College of Law.

“I’m looking forward to a lively discussion,” program host Dan Ringer said in a press release. “Water safety is something we all take for granted, and this incident has shown just how fragile our water resources are. I’m hoping this episode of ‘The Law Works’ will help people better understand their rights and expectations when it comes to managing natural resources we all depend on.”

Calls will be taken from 8 p.m. the day of the show until a few minutes before 9 p.m.

“The Law Works” regularly airs at 8:30 p.m. each Thursday on WV PBS and Fridays at 11 a.m. on WV PBS 2, where available.

More information about this week’s and recent topics from the program is available at The Law Works website, http://wvpublic.org/programs/law-works, including YouTube postings of recent programs.

UPDATE - Below is “The Law Works” special call-in program that aired on February 13, 2014.

The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers will be hosting their annual West Virginia Brownfields Conference on Sept. 11 and 12. The 9th annual conference combines exceptional educational programs with outstanding networking opportunities between communities, development professionals and service providers involved in brownfield redevelopment.

In the past, the conference has featured numerous topics related to brownfield redevelopment including: building demolition and environmental threats; sustainability and economic development; site control issues; land banks; community planning and engagement; financing projects; and legal issues.

Brownfields include all property that is hindered from redevelopment or reuse due to the presence or perceived presence of a hazardous substance or contaminant. The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers were created in 2005 by the West Virginia Legislature to empower communities to plan and implement redevelopment projects.

New for this year, conference organizers are seeking fresh perspectives on these and other issues for the event, which will be held at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in Huntington, West Virginia.

“Each year, we try to cover the latest topics,” said Patrick Kirby, director of the Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at West Virginia University. “But this year, we’re reaching out to our constituents in West Virginia and surrounding states in search of new topics that will reflect the issues facing project investors, government officials, economic developers, and technical professionals from across the state.”

Presentation proposal forms can be downloaded at www.wvbrownfields.org and submitted to the director of the Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University, George Carico, at [email protected]. The deadline for presentation proposals is March 3. Interested entities can submit up to two presentation proposals.

For more information on the West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers and the 2014 West Virginia Brownfields Conference, visit www.wvbrownfields.org.

The Northern West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center is a program of the West Virginia Water Research Institute at the National Research Center for Coal and Energy at WVU and serves the northern 33 counties in West Virginia. The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University, located in Huntington, is housed within the Center for Environmental, Geotechnical, and Applied Sciences and serves the southern 22 counties in West Virginia.

-WVU-

gw/2/10/14

CONTACT: Glenn Waldron, West Virginia Water Research Institute

(304) 293-7085, [email protected]

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.

- See more at: http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2014/02/10/west-virginia-brownfields-assistance-centers-to-host-annual-statewide-conference#sthash.U0JLkbYV.dpuf