The large, heavy trucks used in oil and gas exploration and production sometimes damage highways - and can present safety hazards on narrow, curvy rural roads. Neither of those things should be tolerated in the Northern Panhandle.
Two community groups in Wetzel County are taking action about the problem. They hope to work with oil and gas companies to minimize safety concerns and to ensure that damaged roads are repaired.
But Raymond Renaud, a member of both groups, told our reporter that some companies already have agreed to voluntary action. That has included repairing damaged roads and keeping large trucks off rural roads when school buses are present.
Unfortunately, some of the companies do not keep their agreements consistently, Renaud said. "We remind them of the agreements and they obey them for awhile, and they are slowly ignored again," he explained.
Members of the community groups still hope that they can work with the companies to address their concerns. We hope that can occur.
But if it does not, local and state governments - including, perhaps, law enforcement agencies - need to step into the situation. Boosts to the local economy from oil and gas development are desirable - but not at the cost of destroyed roads and members of the traveling public being endangered.