Eminent Domain Proposal

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="04b085a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Historic Sharp Farm's Preservation Blog</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Historic Sharp Farms Preservation Bl"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37_m.html" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Eminent Domain Proposal"><U><B><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id19.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chronos"><U><B><IMG SRC="03e0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="down" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     </B><A HREF="id35.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reflections"><U><B><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id38.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Sad Tale to Tell"><U><B><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04cd2e83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id87.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Challenges of 2005 2008 Eminent Domain "><U>Return To Challenges Log</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b2acd80.jpg" border=0 width="172" height="472" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04d07073.jpg"> <div> <I>Eminent Domain Proposal</I></div> <div> As ski enthusiasts make their way through West Virginia to the Intrawest Snowshoe Ski Resort, perhaps passing by Sharp’s Country Store and Bed and Breakfast along Scenic Route 55/219, we hope they will take note of what is happening.  A sewer treatment plant is to be built on our farm (<I><B>via EMINENT DOMAIN</B></I>) miles from Snowshoe, but <I><B><U>primarily</U></B></I> <I><B><U>FOR</U></B></I> <I><B><U>Snowshoe</U></B></I>. </div> <bR> <div> We have been blessed with hundreds of signed petitions from out-of-state Snowshoe property owners (and taxpayers) who do not want this facility built on our farm for their benefit. They understand our field is on karst terrain, prone to flooding and the discharge pipes will plow through a crucial and amazing cold water spring which provides the only sustenance for the world class Upper Elk River fishery during low or no flow periods. They understand our livelihood will be taken from us. </div> <bR> <div> We are equally grateful that many have chosen to contact Governor Manchin’s office, speaking with deputy chief of staff, Joe Martin. </div> <bR> <div> Gov. Joe Manchin III </div> <div> 1900 Kanawha Boulevard E. </div> <div> Charleston, WV 25305 </div> <div> Toll-Free: 1-888-438-2731 </div> <div> eMail: <A HREF="mailto:Governor@WVGov.org" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="mailto:Governor@WVGov.org"><U>Governor@WVGov.org</U></A></div> <bR> <div> This is so important now because the judge for the hearing conducted by the West Virginia Public Service Commission recommends that the PSC issue the Certificate of Need for the construction of this project. </div> <bR> <div> Today, December 27, we have filed for an ‘exception’ to his recommended decision or ruling. In his reasoning the judge sites a previous ruling from several years ago when Snowshoe, a public utility (Snowshoe Water & Sewer, Inc) proposed to build a new treatment plant that excluded other developers surrounding the resort. Those developers are mostly out of state speculators, buying up farmland with the intention of subdividing, or creating suburbs. Instead of requiring Snowshoe to act in the interest of the public, as their permit from the state requires, and provide access to their waste load allocation to those developers, they withdrew their application with the Public Service Commission to build the plant. </div> <bR> <div> Instead, Pocahontas County and the citizens of West Virginia will now pay $17 Million for a ‘regional’ plant (the previous plant proposed would have been financed, totally, by Intrawest/Snowshoe) that adds less than 100 people who would not have otherwise been served had Snowshoe built their proposed plant in the first place. This allows them to spend millions of dollars to trench down 5 miles of route 219 from route 66 at the base of the mountain, and put the plant on our farm, next to our livelihood..our country store (in operation for over 120 years) and b & b. </div> <bR> <div> We read about the taking of our farm when an article appeared in the newspaper. The project was planned for two years and the ‘leaders’ new full well who owned the land and the consequences of placing the treatment plant there. Curiously, not one politician or public service district board member breathed a word of it to our family. The decision was announced in 2003. Interesting, because the selection of a site for the treatment plant requires a vote by the Pocahontas County Public Service District. There was no vote. </div> <bR> <div> A couple of weeks before the hearing by the PSC in October of 2005, the Public Service District board members were ‘invited’ to a meeting in Clarksburg to discuss and decide the fate of our farm. Since meetings attended by an appointed government agency such as the PSD are ‘open’ to the public, I opted to attend this meeting. After all, this is supposed to be a public project with public participation. </div> <bR> <div> When the lawyer for the PSD found out I was coming to the meeting, he called the PSD board and told them not to come. This was to prevent my participation. This is how the project was conceived and carried out…in this manner….from the beginning. The fate of 8 generations of blood, sweat and tears was decided in a closed meeting and without the very officials saddled with the responsibility of voting for it. </div> <bR> <div> One week before the hearing, the PSD met and their lawyer told them they must vote for the Sharp farm site. After all, this recommendation was decided in the closed door meeting, previously, in Clarksburg. One PSD member said they were told they must vote or the project would lose funding and that this was a complicated matter, just go ahead and vote, then let the Public Service Commission in Charleston figure it all out. </div> <bR> <div> The lawyer, Tom Michael, even got up in front of the PSD board members and told them no matter where they situate the plant, the effluent discharge would have to be brought back uphill to the Sharp farm site, because the DEP said the discharge must be at the Sharp farm. </div> <bR> <div> I called Stephanie Timmermeyer, director of the West Virginia DEP and she said her agency said no such thing. So Michael, falsely and mistakenly, told those three gentlemen there would be hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra costs for pipes and pumps to pump all the junk back up to our farm. He even passed out sheets of paper with the extra costs associated. He later admitted that was a ‘mistake’ but took no steps to apologize or clarify with those board members. It is disgraceful. Those gentlemen were also told that the 1.5 million gallon per day waste load allocation (this important since the higher the allocation, the more development can take place) was the highest at the Sharp farm. Not true, we discovered. Sworn testimony by DEP officials and Thrasher Engineering revealed that other sites commanded 2 to 2.5 million gallons per day….and those sites were out of the 100 year flood zone, not on karst (fissured limestone with underground water channels, sinkholes, caves….very bad place for a sewer treatment plant) and would provide a much safer situation for the plant. </div> <bR> <div> So we need you help. No one is against Snowshoe, but we cannot understand Intrawest’s insistence on putting the plant on our farm. They have hired a PR firm for the express purpose of getting that plant on our farm. They have spent thousands of dollars doing so. Perhaps it is because they are under scrutiny by the DEP. Intrawest’s general manager, Bill Rock, testified that Snowshoe is a great supporter of the environment. Why then, would they not properly attend to their responsibilities in regard to their own waste? They have been cited for dumping raw sewage into Cupp Run and the Big Spring of Elk River! They say they are stewards of the environment because that is what they sell. Why then, have they not met the responsibilities of their NPDES permit? Why would they not have put in place the proper infrastructure before new construction? Why do they continue to build knowing they are in violation of this permit? </div> <bR> <div> We are so grateful that the ski community and the fishing and hunting communities have come together to fight this ill thought out proposal. Please take a moment to write a letter or pick up the phone to Governor Manchin. If the Public Service Commission refuses to review this ‘exception’ filed today with them, our only hope is public outcry. There has been plenty, but we need more! </div> <bR> <div> Thank you, </div> <bR> <div> Tom Shipley</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>