Heaviest Trucks Carrying Coal
Most Stopped Trucks Above Limit
Sought By Industry, Group Says

The Charleston Gazette
Published: 02/25/2002
By: Paul J. Nyden

Since Sept. 1, state weight enforcement inspectors have cited 1,075 trucks for running overweight on West Virginia roads.

Half of those trucks hauled coal. On average, the coal trucks were far more overweight than the trucks carrying other substances, according to a computer database prepared by the West Virginia Citizen Action Group.

Of the 537 overweight coal trucks, the median weight was 148,800 pounds. Of the 538 other trucks, the median weight was 81,250 pounds.

The maximum legal weight for large trucks in West Virginia ranges from 65,000 pounds on rural roads to 80,000 on interstates and four-lane highways.

Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion, has introduced a bill that would allow state inspectors to get weight records from coal shippers and from coal receivers, such as river docks and power plants.

Coal industry and trucking leaders hope the Legislature will raise the legal weight to 132,000 pounds, with a 5 percent variance up to 138,600 pounds.

Caputo's bill would not raise the weight limits.

"They want to raise the weight limit to 132,000 pounds for coal trucks," said CAG research analyst Julie Archer. "When you look at these violations, more than 60 percent of the coal trucks stopped were over that weight limit.

"Truck owners say if they get that, they will start following the law. They have been violating the law for years. Now, all of a sudden, they are going to straighten up and fly right?"

On Friday, Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said he would back a bill that increased legal weight limits to 120,000 pounds.

"Whatever the law is, that is what we are going to enforce," Cameron Lewis, head of the Division of Highways weight enforcement division, said Friday.

Both proposals would give state inspectors access to shipping records.

"I have advocated that for years," Lewis said. "I hope the Legislature will give us the right to go in and check records at shippers and receivers."

Today, state inspectors routinely stop moving trucks and weigh them with portable scales. But when trucks pull off to the side of a road, as they do once inspectors stop two or three moving trucks, the inspectors can't order them onto their portable scales.

Three of heaviest 300 trucks stopped not hauling coal

Since September, state inspectors have stopped 52 trucks weighing more than 170,000 pounds. All were coal trucks in the southern coalfields.

The heaviest of all, owned by Sartin Contracting, weighed in at 191,300 pounds, along U.S. 52 in Mingo County.

Only three of the heaviest 300 trucks stopped were not hauling coal, according to the CAG database.

One was moving a "crane body" on Interstate 77 near Parkersburg. Another carried a bulldozer on U.S. 60 in Kanawha County. The third carried rocks on I-77 in Wood County.

The heaviest log truck, weighing 127,000 pounds, was stopped on U.S. 35 in Putnam County. Of 183 log trucks cited, 26 weighed more than 100,000 pounds.

"We compiled these figures because we believed the Legislature needed some hard facts on the magnitude of the problem," said Norm Steenstra, CAG's executive director.

Coal trucks traveling north of the Kanawha River tended to be a good deal lighter then those in Southern West Virginia, according to the CAG database.

The five heaviest coal trucks stopped outside the southern coalfields included two in Greenbrier County, weighing 119,300 pounds and 123,200 pounds, and three in Upshur County, weighing between 108,000 pounds and 110,000 pounds. The heaviest coal truck stopped in Monongalia County weighed 106,200 pounds.

Weight limits are smaller for smaller trucks. For example, a Bodacious BBQ truck was stopped on I-77 in Wood County and fined for weighing 14,460 pounds. That was nearly 5,000 pounds over the legal limit for the small truck.

Trucking company owners say they cannot stay in business if the 80,000-pound weight limits passed in the 1950s are enforced.

Many new coal trucks - outfitted with special brakes, axles, springs and other equipment - weigh up to 55,000 pounds empty. Today, those trucks could haul only 15 tons of coal legally in the Mountain State.

Gary Kale, who owns Long Run Transport, supports legislation increasing the legal limits. Kale, however, told legislators that even the best new trucks cannot haul 160,000 pounds safely.

He also pointed out that if current weight limits are enforced, the number of trucks on coalfield roads could double or triple.

Kanawha, Wayne, Mingo lead in coal trucks cited

Kanawha County, the state's largest county, had 168 overweight coal trucks stopped since Sept. 1, the most in the state, according to the CAG database. After Kanawha, Wayne County had the most trucks cited, with 48.

The other counties with the most citations for overweight coal trucks were Mingo (45); Boone (41); Wyoming (34); McDowell (33); Fayette (22); Logan (21); Marion (17); Raleigh (16); and Monongalia (14).

Roads in the southern coalfields tended to see the most activity.

The heaviest trucks were stopped on roads leading to coal docks along the Big Sandy and Kanawha rivers.

For example, U.S. 52, often called the Tolsia Highway, saw 78 citations issued at various points between Welch and Interstate 64, just south of Huntington.

Regular weigh stations along interstates caught a lot of overweight trucks, generally hauling loads other than coal.

For example, 141 trucks were cited on I-77 in Kanawha and Wood counties since September, while 55 trucks were cited and fined along Interstate 79, most of them in Marion County.

Other roads that led in the number of trucks cited were:

94 citations on W.Va. 94 in Kanawha and Boone counties. Most were hauling coal or logs. But others carried explosives, dirt, asphalt, bricks, pipes, concrete and lime.

70 citations on U.S. 60, primarily for coal trucks in Kanawha County.

64 citations on U.S. 119 (Corridor G). Most citations came for overweight coal trucks in Mingo, Logan, Lincoln and Boone counties, while a handful went to trucks moving concrete, gravel and logs.

31 citations on W.Va. 2, along the Ohio River in the Northern Panhandle. Most of these trucks hauled coal, sand or logs.

31 citations on W.Va. 3 in Boone and Raleigh counties.

29 citations on W.Va. 61 in Kanawha County. Of these, 28 went to coal trucks and one to a log hauler.

21 citations on W.Va. 10 in Wyoming and Logan counties. All went to coal trucks.

Are campaign contributions a factor?

Archer believes political contributions might play a role in the outcome of the overweight truck legislation.

"Over the years, coal has had the best investment strategy," Archer said. "Campaign contributions can even decriminalize illegal activities."

Delegates Eustace Frederick, D-Mercer, and Steven Kominar, D-Mingo, are leading sponsors of legislation to allow coal trucks to haul 138,600 pounds legally.

Since 1996, Frederick, a former Consolidation Coal Co. executive, has received $33,350 in coal donations. Kominar has received $32,529, according to computer databases prepared by the West Virginia People's Election Reform Coalition.

Only three legislators received more in coal donations since 1996: House Speaker Robert Kiss, D-Raleigh, $57,175; Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, $42,125; and Sheirl L. Fletcher, R-Monongalia, $45,593. Fletcher works for Consolidation Coal.

The bill sponsored by Frede-rick and Kominar was modified by a House Judiciary subcommittee to set weight limits on coal trucks at 120,000 pounds for two years, then drop it to 100,000 for two more years, then down to 80,000 pounds by 2006.

This bill would help coal trucking company owners, many of whom have spent $175,000 or more on new coal trucks purchased recently.

"Legal truck weights are only part of the problem," Steenstra said.

"Clearly, greatly increased enforcement actions of traffic and weight laws are also critical."

To contact staff writer Paul J. Nyden, use e-mail or call 348-5164.

The following chart lists the data from the WV-CAG report cited in the above article:

Truck Data 9/1/2001 Through 2/5/2002