West Virginia Members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition Gather to Reflect on 2025
West Virginia members of the Choose Clean Water Coalition gathered on November 18, 2025 in Shepherdstown, WV to discuss a recap of the collaboration and hard work they have accomplished over the past year. There were 25 members in attendance throughout the day, representing 18 different member organizations.
Maria Russo, who serves as the Policy Specialist at West Virginia Rivers Coalition and as the West Virginia State Lead of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, opened up the day with a welcome to all members.
Next, Sara Ramotnik, Policy Specialist for the Choose Clean Water Coalition, provided updates from the Coalition. She discussed the large array of federal actions taken by the Coalition and its member organizations in 2025 through comment letters and other tactics, the impact of federal funding shifts throughout the year, and the pending future action on the Chesapeake Bay Agreement.
The following session was a panel on an emerging topic: Data Center Development in West Virginia. This three person panel featured Dr. Alimatou Seck of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB), Dr. Nathaniel Hitt of West Virginia Rivers Coalition, and Dr. Amy Margolies of Tucker United. The group focused on water demands of data center buildout and how communities can respond to these increasing developments.
Nicole Chapman of Project Middleway sharing the project’s progress and ongoing work.
After lunch, we heard from Nichole Chapman with Protect Middleway, who spoke about the organizing and advocacy tactics that her newly-formed group used to approach a proposed water bottling facility in their communities. Their story of success included policy and report analysis, engaging neighbors through various tactics, and a legal approach.
Our next session was all about the members, as five different member organizations shared highlights about their work in the previous year. Frank Rodgers with Cacapon Institute shared about their educational program successes, and how they have leveraged programs such as Trees and Schools. Laurel Schwartz with Potomac Valley Audubon Society followed that up with her efforts with a watershed education program, which had reached every 4th grade classroom in Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan county this year.
Greg Welter of Town Run Watershed sharing his thoughts during WV Member Meeting.
Next, Kay Schultz and Greg Welter with the Town Run Watershed shared recent successes of their fairly new organization, ranging from extensive outreach to seasonal monitoring efforts. Leah Rampy presented next about the mission and efforts of Save our Soil, followed by Herb Peddicord who shared the background and recent work of The Opequon Watershed.
To close out the day, Maria Russo discussed the priorities and anticipated topics of concern regarding water quality and environmental topics we are currently discussing during West Virginia legislative session this month. Ranging from rollbacks to the aboveground storage tank regulations, to data centers and flood resiliency, it has certainly been a busy 60-day session.
The meeting closed out with reminders about upcoming events, such as Environmental Day at the WV Capitol in Charleston, WV on February 23, 2026 as well as the Coalition’s federal lobby day to be held in Washington D.C. on March 4, 2026.
As we are only a month into the new year, we are grateful to every one of our member organizations and community members for the thoughtful contributions to this work in 2025. We want to make time to applaud our successes and prepare for the challenges ahead, knowing that we have contributed positively to water quality and the great impacts across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We are grateful to be a Coalition and to know that our work is much stronger together.
