It has been a busy March for Jefferson County Foundation and we wanted to update you on some of the things we have been working on.
On March 11, the Foundation sent notice that its intends to file suit in Kanawha County Circuit Court to block the state from illegally exempting Rockwool from real and personal taxes on a proposed industrial facility in Jefferson County. On May 2, 2019, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority (WVEDA) authorized the issuance of up to $150 million in lease revenue bonds for a term of up to 10 years, during which the WVEDA would hold title to Rockwool’s Jefferson Orchards property which includes approximately 130 acres of land. The Foundation’s complaint asks for the invalidation of the WVEDA’s May 2 action including cancellation of plans for any government agency to take title of the Rockwool property. Read the full story here.
On March 2, Jefferson County Foundation filed an official complaint with the WVDEP because work had been started on the Route 9 sewer project without a valid Construction Stormwater Permit, and an appropriate public notice sign had not been posted. The permit writer required CTUB to fix the public notice sign and correct the permit application to reflect that public notice and comment were required based on the length of the project. Unfortunately, several days later, the WVDEP issued an order that will allow the Route 9 sewer installation to continue without a Construction Stormwater Permit. We are continuing to monitor the project closely and evaluating the options going forward. See the notice here.
On March 6, the Foundation filed an official complaint with the WVDEP detailing what was perceived to be an illegal discharge from the Millville Quarry into the Shenandoah River. A WVDEP inspection on March 11 of the site revealed the discharge was in fact coming from the Millville Quarry and a notice of violation was issued to the Quarry. We appreciate the WVDEP Division of Mining and Reclamation pursuing this in a timely and definitive manner. See the investigation and complaint here.
On March 13, the Foundation filed an official complaint with the WVDEP, the WV Department of Natural Recourses, and the US Army Corp of Engineers detailing what seems to be an illegal discharge into the Opequon Creek and other Clean Water Act violations from a construction site where Mountaineer Gas is installing natural gas pipeline to connect Rockwool to natural gas. The complaint asked that an inspection be done and work be stopped until these violations were addressed.
On January 27, the Foundation requested that an inspection be done at the Rockwool facility, because several new sinkholes had been reported to the Foundation. The WVDEP conducted an inspection in early February of Rockwool and the adjacent DOH project being conducted by Ranson and performed by Jefferson Asphalt – Northport Station road extension. While the inspectors found several violations related to sinkhole remediation, they did not issue a notice of violation to Rockwool. They said that it was because Rockwool was able to fix the violations during the visit. However, the Northport Station project had several volitions resulting in a notice of violation. See the notice of violation here.
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