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  • April 18, 2021

Jefferson County Foundation continues the hard work of bringing truth to light and holding state and federal agencies accountable for following the law. We’re busy gearing up for new legal actions and really need your support at this time. In honor of Earth Week, donations will be matched, so for a limited time, your donation will go twice as far. Please send a donation to the Foundation Legal Fund. To update you on our work:

Educate and Empower the Public

This past week, we presented the Foundation’s scientific team’s work at the virtual 2021 National Watershed and Stormwater Conference. The presentation was a case study of Rockwool entitled, “Stormwater Management in Karst Environments: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? A Lot.” There were several representatives from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in attendance along with stormwater experts from across the country. It was a good opportunity to get our story out to watershed professionals.

The Foundation received more than 8,600 documents from the city of Ranson as a result of a FOIA. We also recently received documents from the EPA as a result of a FOIA. We are currently reviewing their contents.

The Foundation is eagerly awaiting the return of FOIA from another federal agency. We are working hard to get the agency to respond and will keep you posted on our progress.

We also have a new video to share that talks about Toxic Release Inventories, Human Health and Environment Risk Scores for Rockwool’s Mississippi plant and how it would compare to entities already in the Eastern Panhandle.

Advocate to Regulators and Leaders

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the EPA are both refusing to respond to the Foundation’s letter regarding Rockwool’s inaccurate and incomplete form submission for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which requires the company to notify the EPA about how it intends to handle regulated waste at its facility. We will continue to press on this issue. Read the full letter here.

The DEP approved the Sheetz, Inc. Construction Stormwater General Permit (CGP) on March 18, 2021, which was on or about the same day that they asked the company to post the sign at its new warehouse/transfer operation in the Burr Industrial Park. This left no time for the public to have proper notice or to be able to respond with concerns to the permit. This CGP registration should not have been approved at least until the public notice sign had been posted for a sufficient amount of time for the public to have an opportunity to notice the sign and review the registration application (at least 30 days). The DEP continues to bypass the rules to benefit the permittee while ignoring potential environmental risks and bypassing public notification. The Foundation will continue to insist the DEP follow the requirements of the law in this and other Stormwater Permit matters.

Appeal Filed in Case Re: Constitutionality of the $150M Tax Abatement Deal with WVEDA

The Foundation filed a Notice of Appeal on March 24 in the legal challenge of the constitutionality of the $150 Million tax abatement deal the WVEDA made with Rockwool. We are working on the necessary legal research to prepare briefs. For more information about this case and our view of lease buy back agreements in general, read here.

Rockwool Stormwater Construction Permit – Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

The Foundation is working on the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law briefs in our case versus the WVDEP and Rockwool that challenges Rockwool’s Construction Stormwater permit. Once all parties submit their briefs, we will wait for the EQB to render their decision. For more information on this case, please read here.

Preparing for Discovery for Rockwool’s Operational Stormwater Permit Appeal

The Foundation continues to work on discovery in the appeal of Rockwool’s operational stormwater permit. Yet again, Rockwool and the DEP are failing to cooperate with the procedures required by law. Jefferson County Foundation has submitted over 8,000 pages of discovery documents in response to Rockwool’s request. Rockwool and the DEP have continued to refuse to produce any discovery. On the threat of a motion to compel, Rockwool has produced what amounts to 32 documents, one of which made each page a separate document (which makes it look like they produced 139 documents). The Foundation is hip to the tricks of corporate lawyers that have nothing to produce because they have no defense of their case. Read the appeal.

New Lawyers on Board

The Foundation is working with two new groups of lawyers in two different areas of applicable law. Stay tuned for more action updates in this space.

Support our Foundation’s Work

The discovery process and specialized lawyers are expensive, but necessary for our legal strategy to be successful. We appreciate your support while we are conducting this process. Please, if you are able, consider a donation to the Foundation Legal Fund. You can donate safely and easily online at the Foundation’s website. You can also help by sending a check to Jefferson County Foundation, Inc., PO Box 460, Ranson, WV 25438.

For those that are contributing, we thank you for your dedication to bring truth to light and to protect our natural resources and urge you to continue to donate. We appreciate your continued support! In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on how our active cases are going.

  • March 14, 2021

Jefferson County Foundation continues to spring forward with momentum in the fight to protect our region’s natural resources. Recent developments prove that we must act with incredible urgency. Now is the time to support these critical actions. Please donate if you can. To update you:

Educate and Empower the Public

The Foundation has filed four more FOIA to state and federal government agencies due to new issues which continue to arise. The FOIA requests are time consuming but necessary as we continue to seek truth in matters that affect our region’s natural resources.

Advocate to Regulators and Leaders

Photo of B170 as of July 15, 2020. Gravel-covered. No enclosure.

The Foundation sent a letter to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding Rockwool’s inaccurate and incomplete form submission for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which requires the company to notify the EPA about how it intends to handle regulated waste at its facility. Rockwool cannot continue to be allowed to submit inconsistent, incomplete and inaccurate information for permits. It’s simply not protective of the environment and will lead to the degradation of our natural resources and the downturn of our economy, health, safety, and welfare. Read the full letter here.

The Foundation sent a letter of complaint to the DEP regarding the lack of proper public notice about the Sheetz Truck Facility Construction Stormwater General Permit (CGP) application. Sheetz, Inc. applied for a new permit on November 20, 2020, and as of the date of our letter, still had not posted the public notice sign as required by this type of permit. A public notice sign is the only method by which the public may become aware of this type of project and be drawn to review the permit and offer comment. Violations of these requirements in the CGP effectively eliminate the involvement of the public in the review process, and remove an avenue for the public to seek relief that was clearly intended by the CGP. We continue to hold the DEP to the requirements of the law and await the response on this matter.

Legal Updates

Constitutionality of the $150M Tax Abatement Deal with WVEDA

The Foundation is appealing the decision of the judge who dismissed the case in the legal challenge of the constitutionality of the $150 Million tax abatement deal the WVEDA made with Rockwool. The case was dismissed because the business court concluded that the legislature intended to allow these types of arrangements. The court did not answer the constitutional question or if the constitution allows these arrangements. We are appealing the decision as constitutionality was the basis of our suit. The constitution requires equity; every entity pays their fair share. For more information about this case and our view of PILOTs in general, read here.

Rockwool Stormwater Construction Permit Hearing Continues this Thursday

The Jefferson County Foundation v. WVDEP and Rockwool case that challenges Rockwool’s Construction Stormwater permit continues this Thursday. The hearing, which started last year, was originally continued into January at the request of the DEP so they could complete the certified record. The DEP was again unable to deliver the certified record in time for the hearing and now the hearing has been rescheduled for this Thursday. For more information on this case, please read here. We will share the link to watch the hearing on our Facebook page closer to the date.

Preparing for Discovery for Rockwool’s Operational Stormwater Permit Appeal

The Foundation continues to work on discovery in the appeal of Rockwool’s operational stormwater permit. The new expert’s assessment is underway. The evidentiary hearing has been set for April 8 and 9. Read the appeal.

Charles Town Votes on Resolution to Abandon the Bond to Pay for the Super Sewer to Rockwool

We are relieved to see that Mayor Trainor listened to the Foundation’s call last November to abandon the bond and require Rockwool to pay for its own sewer through the 5.5-7h process it has relied upon to build the sewer. The Charles Town City Council will vote on Monday, March 15 on a resolution to declare the ordinance moot. The Foundation would like to thank the over 1,500 people who signed the petition in opposition of the bond, and the volunteers from the Super Blue Petition Crew that helped gather these signatures. We collected signatures from well over 30% of the free holders, representing 34% of the adult population of Charles Town, all in eight weeks. As the Blue Petition Project Manager, I would personally like to thank those who gave countless hours of tireless dedication to getting the job done, in an amazingly short amount of time! 

Support the Foundation’s Work

Please check out our 2020 Annual Report. The discovery process is expensive, but necessary in order to submit more evidence into the record. We appreciate your support while we are conducting this process. Please, if you are able, consider a donation to the Foundation Legal Fund. You can donate safely and easily online at the Foundation’s website. You can also help by sending a check to Jefferson County Foundation, Inc., PO Box 460, Ranson, WV 25438.

For those that are contributing, we thank you for your dedication to bring truth to light and to protect our natural resources. We appreciate your continued support!  In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on how our active cases are going.

  • February 13, 2021

There’s lots of activity to report on, and we have some good news to share. Thanks to your generosity, we met our match last week! We are also excited to announce today that another generous donor has come forward and is matching donations the Foundation Legal Fund. So, if you missed the last opportunity, now’s your chance; donate today and your money will go twice as far.

To update you:

Educate and Empower the Public

The Foundation continues to enroll participants in the well testing program. We are nearly ready to start another round of testing. If you are interested, please review these materials and email us at jeffersoncountyfoundation@gmail.com

The Foundation has filed FOIA to four state and federal government agencies this month. We hope the new administration will lead to more accurate information production. This information will be key for continued protection of the the air and water in region.

Advocate to Regulators and Leaders

The Foundation, in partnership with the Eastern Panhandle chapter of the Sierra Club, met with Senator Manchin’s office recently to update them on the situation with the DEP and Rockwool. This is part of a broader strategy to engage leaders at the federal level.

Legal Updates

Constitutionality of the $150M Tax Abatement Deal with WVEDA

A scheduling order was made by the judge in the Foundation’s legal challenge of the constitutionality of the $150 Million tax abatement deal the WVEDA made with Rockwool. The motion to dismiss made by Rockwool and joined by the WVEDA has been fully briefed and we await the decision of the judge. For more information about this case, please read here.

Rockwool Stormwater Construction Permit Hearing to be Continued… now in March

The Jefferson County Foundation v. WVDEP and Rockwool case that challenges Rockwool’s Construction Stormwater permit, which was due to resume last Thursday, has been postponed again. Thursday’s hearing was supposed to complete the hearing that started on December 11 and 12 but which was continued into January at the request of the DEP so they could complete the certified record. The DEP once again was unable to deliver the certified record in time for the hearning and now the hearing has now been rescheduled for March. For more information on this case and the reason for another delay, please read here.

Update: the DEP finally produced the certified record yesterday. The legal team is poring over the document so please stay tuned for more information.

Preparing for Discovery for Rockwool’s Operational Stormwater Permit Appeal

The Foundation is currently mid-discovery in the appeal of Rockwool’s operational stormwater permit. Multiple depositions and expert witnesses will be required for this case. While this will be resource intensive, it is critical to the success of our case. This case is critical to protecting the groundwater in the region. The evidentiary hearing has been set for April 8 and 9. Read the notice of appeal here.

Fighting the Super Sewer to Rockwool

We are waiting for the Kanawha County circuit court Judge to direct the schedule in the Foundation’s circuit court appeal of the EQB decision to dismiss the appeal of DEP Unilateral Order 9080, which allowed Charles Town to construct the Route 9 sewer extension (the super sewer to Rockwool) without a valid stormwater permit. Rockwool, one of three interveners, submitted a motion to dismiss in late December. For more information about this case, please read here.

Support the Foundation’s Work

Please check out our 2020 Annual Report. The discovery process is expensive, but necessary in order to submit more evidence into the record. We appreciate your support while we are conducting this process. Please, if you are able, consider a donation to the Foundation Legal Fund. For a limited time, all donations are again being matched by a generous donor, so your donation will go twice as far. You can donate safely and easily online here. You can also help by sending a check to Jefferson County Foundation, Inc., PO Box 460, Ranson, WV 25438.

For those that have contributed, we thank you for your dedication to bring truth to light and to protect our natural resources. We appreciate your continued support!  In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on how our active cases are going.

  • December 9, 2020

Jefferson County Foundation’s legal team is on fire these last few weeks. We have two big things to share:

Arbitrary and capricious! That’s how WVDEP acted in rubber-stamping Rockwool’s stormwater permit which allows discharge of 86,000 gallons a day to sinkhole-prone land, says Jefferson County Foundation’s legal team in its latest regulatory legal action. With that kind of volume – more than 10 large tanker trucks a day – even small quantities of pollutants caught in rainwater and runoff can concentrate and run into the ground impacting our region’s water. We filed an appeal on Friday, December 4 to the Environmental Quality Board regarding Rockwool’s Multi-Sector Stormwater Permit Registration. Read the appeal here.

Our hearing on Rockwool’s Stormwater Construction General Permit Registration is tomorrow and Friday, December 10 and 11 starting at 8:30 a.m. and you can tune in to hear the case! This hearing is open to the public and is going to be worth listening to, so please tune in. This is the evidentiary hearing you and we have been fighting for since October 23, 2019. Jefferson County Foundation is following through and standing strong. Help us hold the line.

Want to help support this amazing work? Go here.

  • July 5, 2020

The Foundation’s legal and regulatory team is hard at work on multiple fronts with the common objective to protect Jefferson County from the threat of heavy industry.

This update summarizes some of our current legal actions aimed at two key areas: 

  • ensuring that Rockwool is not allowed to cut corners on – or worse yet, ignore — compliance when it comes to environmental permit requirements, and
  • challenging the illegal tax breaks provided to Rockwool by West Virginia.

This work involves analysis of highly-technical and complex topics and it requires consistent and persistent attention because unfortunately our opposition is clever and well-resourced.

The Foundation Legal Fund

Thankfully, generous donors and hard-working volunteers are making our work possible, and we are making progress. If you agree that heavy industry threatens our region’s health, environment, and economy, please show your support by making a fully tax-deductible contribution to THE FOUNDATION LEGAL FUND. Help us keep up the fight! 

Donate

Environmental Permit Cases

Rockwool claims one of the reasons it located in Jefferson County, WV was the “regulatory environment” and “permitting considerations.” Seems that it got what it came for, unfortunately. Our team has discovered, and is challenging, multiple examples of Rockwool’s being allowed to cut corners and ignore standards and rules that are meant to protect us from contamination of our ground and surface waters.

Background 

In order for any entity to disturb more than an acre of ground, a valid stormwater permit is required to protect the ground and surface waters of our region.

Rockwool Ranson site

When Rockwool’s application for coverage under the construction stormwater General Permit was originally submitted, it was reviewed for only 11 days before approval. In its evaluation of the permit registration application, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) failed to note that:

  • Rockwool did not follow the Site Selection Criteria (West Virginia Legislative Code §47-58, Groundwater Protection Regulations, Section 4.10) and should never have been sited in this location;
  • Rockwool did not provide a sinkhole remediation plan;
  • Rockwool did not follow the “preferred” or even the “adequate” practices for stormwater design in karst as prescribed in the guiding documents of the DEP;
  • Rockwool did not provide a topographical map with the required elements;
  • Rockwool claimed to have no buried utilities while having both liquid oxygen and gas lines;
  • Rockwool claimed it had no outdoor process activities while it plans to operate an outdoor portable crusher.

Most egregiously the DEP allowed Rockwool to avoid public comment and notice by failing to require Rockwool to correct its reported “limit of disturbance” and its absurdly short (21 week) construction timeline.

In addition, the DEP did not require Rockwool to reapply for a stormwater permit as mandated, any of the several times their permit was modified. Then the DEP allowed Rockwool to operate without a valid permit for almost a year. These maneuvers further blocked the public’s ability to have input on Rockwool’s stormwater discharge management plan.

Rockwool finally reapplied for coverage last fall and repeated all of the errors noted above. Despite ample public opposition and scrutiny most of the public comments were only addressed in a cursory way and the permit was approved by the DEP. Jefferson County Foundation is appealing this permit (see below).

Route 9 Sewer Project

There is another stormwater permit-related set of issues. In 2019 when the DEP attempted to issue a new NPDES construction stormwater General Permit, that would have imposed more stringent requirements on both Rockwool’s construction project as well as the construction of the Rt. 9 “Super Sewer” to Rockwool project by Charles Town, David Yaussey (a prominent industry-side lawyer who represents Rockwool and multiple companies and associations in the state) filed an appeal to loosen or eliminate these requirements. The EPA, which must approve the changes, said “no.” What did the DEP do then? It disregarded the EPA, and issued an Order that allowed Charles Town to ignore the 2019 permit requirements. The DEP did the same thing for 697 other entities. Now Charles Town is building the Rt. 9 Sewer without a karst mitigation plan as required by the 2019 NPDES permit.

The Foundation’s Legal Challenges to These Environmental Permits

Jefferson County Foundation, and several citizens, have now sued the DEP in both cases – and the WV Environmental Quality Board (which hears initial appeals of DEP actions) has allowed all the players into the lawsuits:  Charles Town and CTUB, represented by Steptoe & Johnson; Rockwool represented by Spillman, Thomas and Battle, the lawyers who routinely threaten to sue anybody who threatens Rockwool; and Lee Snyder, represented by Jackson Kelly. This is some heavy legal firepower lined up against our efforts to hold DEP and Rockwool accountable for compliance with the law and the protection of our waters.

But we are making progress and are fully engaged.  Last week we filed over 2,000 pages of documents and answered over 60 legal discovery questions filed by the other side seeking such ridiculous and harassing information as the Foundation Board members’ septic tank maintenance records! And, the Foundation just filed our own discovery requests, seeking information about how the DEP could allow these projects to proceed without valid permits. We have asked the EQB to allow us to take a dozen depositions of employees of Rockwool, Snyder, CTUB, and the DEP.  We have hired an expert in karst hydrogeology and our technical team members are analyzing the 1,000 pages of certified DEP record in both cases. We are represented by Chris Stroech of Arnold & Baily with help from the Foundation’s team of permitting experts, pro-bono lawyers, and other volunteers,

Both permitting cases are set for hearing in October and November, with deadlines and legal filings due every few weeks before then.  

Environmental permits are required for a reason – and the DEP’s willingness to be bullied by the big law firms into sacrificing our water quality in favor of corporate desires for leniency, needs to be exposed and stopped.

Want more information? See our filings here.

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Rockwool and Its Taxpayer-Subsidized “Free Money”

In 2019, without addressing the constitutionality of state tax incentives for Rockwool, Circuit Court Judge David Hammer ruled the original Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) agreement that Rockwool had entered into with the Jefferson County Development Authority and other regional and local entities was invalid. Not to be deterred, Rockwool sought and obtained a tax-advantaged arrangement, providing for the issuance of up to $150 million in state-backed bonds, through the Charleston-based state agency, the WV Economic Development Authority, again without notice to the public. 

On April 23, 2020, the Jefferson County Foundation filed suit in Kanawha County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of the agreement between Rockwool and the WVEDA.

Notably, this agreement relieves Rockwool of state and local tax obligations for its property and equipment for 10 years.

Rockwool and its allies have filed two motions in response to the Foundation’s challenge: a motion to dismiss and a motion to move the case to a specialized “business court” where presumably it believes it will receive a more favorable hearing. Jefferson County Foundation has filed responses to both motions and are awaiting the court’s rulings. 

Rockwool is represented by the law firm of Spilman Thomas & Battle. The Foundation is represented by Chris Stroech of Arnold & Bailey, Robert Bastrass III of DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastrass, and noted constitutional law professor Robert Bastrass, Jr. 

The outcome of this case will have statewide implications and we are committed to seeing it through. The West Virginia Constitution promises that everyone will be taxed fairly and equitably. The scheme under which Rockwool gets 10 years’ worth of no property taxes is neither fair nor equitable, and it is not constitutional!

For more information on the Foundation’s challenge to the constitutionality of Rockwool’s tax break, see the filing here. 

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Support Our Efforts

If you agree that heavy industry threatens our region’s health, environment, and economy, please show your support by making a fully tax-deductible contribution to THE FOUNDATION LEGAL FUND. Help us keep up the fight! 

  • July 4, 2020

Rebutting the recent article in the Spirit of Jefferson on July 1, 2020

The Spirit of Jefferson published another Rockwool propaganda piece on July 1, 2020, with no apparent regard for the facts and no effort made to cite real sources. Here is our fact-based rebuttal. 

120 vs. 150 Jobs

In May of 2019, Rockwool finalized a deal with the West Virginia Economic Development Authority (WVEDA). This deal was a bond lease agreement in which the WVEDA will take ownership of Rockwool’s land and property for 10 years, which means Rockwool will not need to pay property tax during that time. The WVEDA also promised Rockwool up to $150 million in loans fulfilled with state-backed bonds. When it came time to sign the agreement on the dotted line, Rockwool was willing to commit only to “120 full-time equivalent jobs.” And in another WVEDA deal, this time in November 2019 to obtain state help to pay for its water lines, Rockwool again committed only to “120 full-time equivalent jobs.” That is one-fifth less than the 150 jobs the July 1 article claims.

Downloads

Spirit Rebuttal
Fact SheetDownload
WVEDA Rockwool Bond deal May 2, 2019Download
Deloitte Economic Impact Study – Project ShuttleDownload
Ranson 2017-2018 BudgetDownload

Good paying jobs? Depends on your math.

Figure 1. Source, City of Ranson, West Virginia Proposed Fiscal Year 2017-2018 Budget

The article also repeated a claim of Espinosa, who apparently said that Rockwool would “generate” between $500,000 and $750,000 in taxes to Ranson a year. It would be very interesting to know what taxes these would be. According to Ranson’s 2017-2018 budget, the Revenue for the General Fund has three major sources: the Ad Valorem or property tax, B&O tax, and the 1% sales tax (Figure 1). With the execution of the WVEDA bond lease agreement as discussed above, Rockwool will have no property tax obligation and therefore, Ranson will collect no Ad Valorem Tax from Rockwool. The 1% sales tax is collected on retail sales and since Rockwool will have no appreciable retail sales in Ranson it therefore will not generate revenue for Ranson through the retail sales tax. B&O tax is also assessed on sales. The plant in Ranson is a manufacturing operation and Rockwool’s sales will likely be made from their headquarters in New Jersey. Therefore, Ranson is unlikely to collect any B&O tax from Rockwool either. The remainder of the taxes that round out the revenue for the Ranson General Fund are Hotel-Motel Tax, Fines and Fees, Charges to Other Funds, Garbage Service, Utility Tax, and Wine and Liquor. It is not plausible that Rockwool will be contributing significantly to any of these revenue streams. Where will this half- to three-quarters of a million dollars in tax revenue from Rockwool come from?

Paul Espinosa, public affairs manager for Rockwool Ranson and current member of the West Virginia House of Delegates (representing District 66), is cited as claiming that Rockwool’s employees will make on average $42,700 a year. This is a notable reduction from what was promised. A 2017 Deloitte economic impact study we obtained via FOIA, which was used to convince local leaders in the JCDA and elsewhere to support Rockwool, claimed the average yearly salary would be $46,611. Espinosa’s claim thus represents a surprising $3,911 per year reduction, or a more than 9% lower average pay from what was promised. Worse yet, according to the Deloitte economic impact study, paid for by Rockwool, the majority of workers (117 of them) will make an average of $31,000 a year – nowhere close to the $46,611 a year that was used to woo our public representatives.

$750,000 vs. nearly nothing


Figure 2. Source, Deloitte Economic Impact Study: Project Shuttle

It is likely that by “generate” Espinosa was slyly referring to “Indirect and Induced taxes” not taxes Rockwool will actually pay. This calculated estimated, explained in the Deloitte study, considers taxes generated by “business-to-business and household expenditure activities arising from the direct impact of Rockwool’s operations”. The issue is as explained above these business-to-business transactions will not occur in Ranson to any significant extent, because Rockwool’s suppliers are outside of Ranson. Similarly, the employees of Rockwool’s suppliers likely live nearer to those businesses and pay taxes there. Further may of the taxes taken into consideration in this calculation are state and federal not municipal taxes as can be seen in table 8.

The article also published Rockwool’s claim that for the first 10 years Rockwool will pay $40,000 in property and “other taxes.” Is Espinosa referring here to a payment in lieu of taxes? If so, we note that no payment in lieu of taxes is called for in the May 2019 WVEDA deal (which simply absolves Rockwool of their property tax burden altogether for a decade) and no other agreement providing for payments of this type can be found. And the article fails to say that only a minor portion (17%, according to the 2019 levy rate sheet) of this property tax money would go to Ranson no matter how much is paid. 

Unexplained projections?

Espinosa further touts a $21.8 million yearly increase in economic activity in the county and claims that $5 million of that will be in Ranson. Frankly any rational consideration of this representation indicates it is impossible. What goods will Rockwool purchase in Ranson? There are no quarries in Ranson, no coal mines, no fracking pads, no formaldehyde concentrate dealers, no liquid oxygen suppliers – so what is Rockwool buying in Ranson to produce this $5 million impact? It is not plausible that this will all come from employee spending in Ranson. Even if every employee spent every last dollar they made after taxes and Rockwool indeed paid out $6.4 million in payroll it would not amount to $5 million in impact. This is just another in the long line of misleading and easily disproven claims to be made by Rockwool in its efforts to bring heavy industry to Jefferson County. 

  • June 25, 2020

Ranson has decided to continue the hearing on a different date. They did vote on June 23 as reported from several sources. However, they will not act on this vote. They will hear the remainder of the speakers at a different time and then vote again. They are going to allow members of the public to speak who were not able to tell it was their turn. This meeting will be on the Tuesday, June 30 at 7:00 p.m.

Jefferson County Foundation would like to thank Billie Garde, our in-house lawyer and board member, for all of her hard work on this into the late night last night and this morning. Your leadership and dedication are inspiring and we are all grateful!

HOLD THE LINE!

Help us keep up the fight. Donate (tax deductible) today.

  • May 9, 2020

April 19, 2020

The Jefferson County Foundation continues to work hard on multiple fronts to serve the people of our region. This report covers the Foundation’s activity in April thus far. Contact us to receive updates directly at https://bit.ly/3anQcIr. As always, we sincerely appreciate your support of our work. http://bit.ly/33yxyKc

Foundation Files Constitutional Challenge to Illegal Tax Breaks for Rockwool 

This past week, Jefferson County Foundation formally filed a lawsuit in the Kanawha County Circuit Court against the West Virginia Economic Development Authority (WVEDA) and Roxul USA, Inc. alleging the unconstitutionality of the WVEDA’s resolution to authorize tax breaks for Rockwool. The WVEDA disregarded clear local community opposition to the Rockwool project and authorized up to $150 million in state bonds secured by Rockwool’s Ranson property which would be held by the state for up to 10 years during which time Rockwool would not pay taxes. This scheme is blatantly unfair and illegal as it allows uneven application of tax laws which is prohibited by Article X of the West Virginia Constitution. On the Foundation’s legal team for this challenge is a leading West Virginia constitutional law scholar from WVU Law. To read about the complaint, go here: http://bit.ly/2wWTbte

Foundation Seeks Legal Stay of Route 9 Sewer Construction Until Proper Permitting Put in Place 

On April 6, Jefferson County Foundation filed a Motion to Stay to stop the construction of the Route 9 Sewer until the public comment period and the new permit registration under the 2019 construction stormwater general permit could be approved. Importantly, the 2019 permit requires a Karst Mitigation Plan be developed and followed. Unfortunately, the Order under which construction is currently taking place allows work to be done under the 2012 permit conditions, which lack Karst Mitigation Plan requirements. Because of the karst hydrogeology of the area in which the sewer is being installed, there are both immediate and long-term risks to the groundwater.

On Wednesday, April 15, there was a hearing on the Motion to Stay before the WV Environmental Quality Board (“EQB”). Through its counsel the Foundation argued that if the area aquifers were contaminated with construction runoff or sewage, this would be an irreparable harm and that suspension of the construction was appropriate to make the process safer. Charles Town and CTUB hired counsel to represent them in this proceeding, likely paying thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to argue against the Foundation’s request to temporarily stop the construction so that appropriate precautions could be taken. For their part, Rockwool and Snyder Environmental also intervened in the Foundation’s appeal of the WV Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) action. The way the Foundation sees it, they argued that their time and money is more important than protecting our environment. The lawyer from Snyder Environmental in fact said that if there was some sort of contamination, damages could just be paid. While we realize this is how corporate lawyers usually think, this is relatively shocking coming from a locally owned business that purports to care about the local people. In the end, unfortunately, the EQB sided with those who argued that they would lose money if the project was suspended until appropriate permit conditions could be applied and met.

We are sorely disappointed that Snyder Environmental, Inc. and the City of Charles Town will be allowed to complete the Rockwool sewer without proper compliance with the appropriate permit’s conditions that would have protected Jefferson County water. The WVEQB did not recognize the irreparable harm caused by not having appropriate karst protections in place. If something happens in the future due to the ways this sewer is being built, we should all remember the response of these parties to the Foundation’s straightforward request that there be compliance with the right construction stormwater permit. Jefferson County Foundation is evaluating next steps on this matter.

Foundation Files Comments on Charles Town Construction Stormwater Permit Application

On Friday, the Foundation submitted public comment on Charles Town’s Construction Stormwater General Permit Registration Application to the DEP. You can read our comments here (https://bit.ly/3anQcIr). The public submitted almost 100 comments via our website to the DEP. When asked to supply more detail in the GPP (Groundwater Protection Plan) to make it site specific, CTUB instead just whited out the word generic and construction site and wrote in the route 9, and added no further detail (see the photo. We did not edit these, it’s all CTUB). We will be keeping an eye on this proceeding and will keep you posted.

Foundation Follows Up on Millville Violations Complaint 

This week, the Foundation’s permitting and monitoring teams followed up to confirm appropriate actions are being taken to address Millville Quarry stormwater violations from the March 11 inspection conducted as a result of our DEP complaint. Limestone sludge had been previously found to be running into the Shenandoah River through an unpermitted outlet. The Millville Quarry has reported to the DEP inspector that they have improved their stormwater handling but they have still not removed the sludge from the outlet or the culvert. We are pleased to report that the DEP inspector assigned to this matter is working diligently to ensure they come into compliance. We would like to thank her for her dedication and hard work on this issue.

Jefferson County Foundation Supports WV Rivers Coalition Work on Important Regulation 

We encourage you to submit public comment to the DEP to oppose the use of a weakened standard for assessing aquatic life as part of water quality compliance testing. Our friends at WV Rivers have made it easy to submit comments on their website and they have great information on the subject here: https://wvrivers.salsalabs.org/wvdepbiologicalas…/index.html

  • April 5, 2020

Jefferson County Foundation continues to stand up for the protection of the ground and surface water resources in Jefferson County and the surrounding region. We’re pushing forward this week on several permitting issues related to Rockwool. If you want to help support our legal efforts, please consider making a fully tax deductible donation: http://bit.ly/33yxyKc

Appeal of the DEP Order Filed

On April 1, 2020, Jefferson County Foundation filed an Appeal with the Environmental Quality Board of the DEP Order that is allowing the City of Charles Town to construct the super sewer to Rockwool without a Construction Stormwater General Permit registration. The City started work on the super sewer to Rockwool 17 days after they submitted the application for this registration. This application required review by the DEP and a 30-day public comment period, which the City clearly did not intend to wait for. The Foundation filed several complaints of this work without a permit. Instead of requiring the City to stop work until the permitting process was complete, the DEP gave an Order allowing the City to continue to work without a permit. This Order allows them to work under void permit conditions, and self regulate. Despite multiple complaints to the DEP, Snyder Environmental, under the supervision of the City, continues to fail to meet even the minimum standards. Read the appeal: https://bit.ly/3awAr2F

Make a difference – Submit a public comment on Charles Town’s Construction Stormwater General Permit Registration application

This permit is woefully insufficient to protect the ground and surface water of Jefferson County and beyond from contamination now and into the future. Please go to the Make a Difference page and send a public comment on the registration application to the DEP. Go here: http://bit.ly/30n6UV3

Submission of the Ranson Petition

Jefferson County Foundation supported the citizens group that submitted the petition to decrease the corporate limits of Ranson by removing the pipe stem annexation of Tackley Mills and Jefferson Orchards. This petition will trigger a vote in Ranson in which all registered voters can vote. If a majority of voters want this land to move back to the County, then it will go back to the County. This will give the people who live in the county right around this land a say in the development and oversight of this sensitive land right next to their house. This will also prevent Ranson citizens from paying for services to an industrial area out in the county. We hope the county will better represent the wishes of the people and lead the development of this land in a responsible direction.

EQB Hearing Date is Set

The Environmental Quality Board has set a hearing date for Jefferson County Foundation’s appeal of Rockwool Construction Stormwater General Permit. The hearing has been set for July 9 and 10.

Millville Quarry Update

Following complaints from Jefferson County Foundation to the DEP about Millville’s discharge to the Shenandoah River, a DEP inspector performed an inspection on March 11. Millville had 20 days to resolve the violations as set out in the inspection report. On repeat evaluation by the same inspector this week, Millville had improved some of the issues but had not resolved them all, including removing the limestone sludge form the stream bed tributary of the Shenandoah. They have been given until Monday to resolve the violations. We will be monitoring.

  • March 29, 2020

Jefferson County Foundation continues to stand up for the protection of the ground and surface water resources in Jefferson County and the surrounding region. We’ve been busy, and we won’t be slowing down. If you want to help support our legal efforts, please consider making a fully tax deductible donation: http://bit.ly/33yxyKc

On March 26, Jefferson County Foundation filed an Appeal of Rockwool’s Construction Stormwater Permit Registration with the West Virginia Environmental Quality Board (EQB). The appeal alleges that the current permit and the original permit do not adequately protect the vulnerable water recourses of our county or region. We also allege that the combination of Rockwool providing inaccurate information in its original permit, DEP not adequately reviewing the original permit, and the DEP not requiring Rockwool to reapply any of the multiple times it should have eliminated every appropriate time for public to participate in this process and stopped us from eliminating these deficiencies in the permit. See the full story and the Appeal here: https://bit.ly/2QUF92t

On the March 24, Jefferson County Foundation sent Charles Town Mayor Bob Trainor a letter asking him to suspend work on the Route 9 sewer project until the public comment period is over. We realize that although they have an order allowing them to continue, this circumvents the appropriate permitting process. We asked that the city of Charles Town respect the permitting process and the public’s right to participate by stopping work until public comment and the permitting process is over. This is only made more important by the fact that this project is not occurring in the city of Charles Town and therefore those affected cannot vote for the mayor or city council in Charles Town. The public comment through the DEP is the only way those affected can have an effect on this process.

Over 50 people sent a letter through our website asking them to stop work on the Route 9 sewer project until public comment period is over. To send your own letter, go here: http://bit.ly/30n6UV3

On March 25, Jefferson County Foundation, working with Rural Agriculture Defenders, sent a fourth official complaint to the DEP asking them to require the City of Charles Town and Snyder Environmental Inc. to put stormwater controls in place on the Route 9 sewer project. Our previous complaints stimulated an onsite inspection on March 25. We are awaiting the inspection report.

On March 27, Jefferson County Foundation, working with Eastern Panhandle Protectors, filed a complaint to DEP asking them to get more information on the intentions of Mountaineer Gas. It seems they are installing the last few miles of pipeline required to service Rockwool. Mountaineer Gas does not have a construction stormwater permit registration for this work. Our previous complaints triggered an onsite inspection where several violations were noted, but they were not cited. Mountaineer Gas convinced the DEP they were not disturbing more than one acre, however, just a few days later, they were constructing further down on the same pipeline. Mountaineer Gas may try to piecemeal the project to avoid requiring a permit. We are keeping an eye on them!

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