It Pains Me To Report The Following

<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="id41_m.html" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="It Pains Me To Report The Following"><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="id40.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Historic Sharp Farm West Virginia Fishe"><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="id42.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Open Letter to Senator Robert C. Byrd"><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> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04d07073.jpg"> <div> <I>It Pains Me To Report The Following</I></div> <bR> <div> One of the most controversial aspects of the proposed sewer project is the placement of the discharge line and outfall point through a crucial cold-water spring next to the Big Spring Fork of Elk River. This amazing spring complex provides the only source of surface water for the Upper Elk River fishery during low and no flow periods. The river flows underground, otherwise. </div> <bR> <div> Since native, rainbow and brown trout reproduce in this spring system and the water channel it creates many environmental groups have intervened. One would think the PSD board members would be right ‘on top of” this situation. Wrong. </div> <bR> <div> At the February 2006 PSD meeting not one board member knew where the spring was. There is some question as to whether they even knew ‘they’ had approved the trenching of that spring for the discharge pipes. </div> <bR> <div> Fast-forward a couple of weeks to the March 2006 Pocahontas County Commission meeting. They were asked about the controversy surrounding the trenching of the spring. When asked, “Do you know where the spring is”?…..not one commissioner knew. </div> <bR> <div> So now we have the county commission and the public service district board with no knowledge whatsoever of this spring. </div> <bR> <div> Rewind to October 2005, to the Public Service Commission ‘hearing’ on this project. The engineer from Thrasher Engineering responsible for the placement of the pipe to the discharge point was asked, “Why did you trench through the spring behind Evva Shelton’s house”? His reply, “what spring”? </div> <bR> <div> If that was not egregious enough, some five months later the pipes remain ‘aimed’ at the spring and the water channel it creates. They have not even bothered to ‘fix’ it. Why? It may not be possible. The spit of land they have to work with is sandwiched between two mountains with the Big Spring Fork and two additional water channels take up almost all of the flat land in between. There may be no possible way to avoid beheading or altering the spring flow. Noted karst (fissured limestone with sinkholes, underground water channels and caves) experts and West Virginia Department of Environmental protection geologists have warned against this site as the location for the project’s treatment plant. </div> <bR> <div> For some reason, the facts of lack of knowledge about the project and lack of oversight by the very officials saddled with the responsibility of managing it has not been reported. It seems the only way for the public to become aware of this travesty is on my blog. It is disappointing. </div> <bR> <div> The West Virginia DEP has issued a FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact) for the Sharp Farm site. The very agency mandated to protect the environment, including our groundwater, is maintaining their stance that this farm is the perfect place to process 1.5 million gallons a day of human waste. Even though no environmental studies have ever been performed in this area, they claim one is not necessary. </div> <bR> <div> Shame. </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>