posted by admin - 01/08/10
April 21, 2010
QUARRY UPDATE: The federal government did not vote any TIGER grant funds to the state of WV at this time. That means that for the time being the immediate threat of the quarry expansion at the bottom of the mountain is on hold. There is the possibility that more TIGER grant money will be available in the future for interested parties to bid on. We would anticipate the issue with the Slatyfork Quarry could come up again if that happens. We will keep you informed.
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What quarry?Though many homeowners are unaware of it, the Slatyfork Quarry owned by Waco Oil & Gas Co. (Ike Morris) lies on Route 219 one mile south of the resort entrance. Nearly ten years ago Morris’ application for a permit to expand the quarry was opposed by a united effort in which Snowshoe Mountain Resort, 24 local businesses and countless individuals took part.
Why oppose it?
1) Constant blasting would cause noise and air pollution and could disrupt water in wells, caves and local trout streams. 2) Trucks hauling limestone gravel from the quarry would create additional air and noise pollution, traffic and damage to roads.
The quarry issue was presumed dead until mid-December 2009, when a local businessman learned that expansion efforts have resurfaced, couched in an application for federal stimulus funding. Though the application states that the project has the approval of state and local agencies, this does not seem to be the case. Officials contacted so far have no knowledge of it.
What grant?
The application for a U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER Discretionary Grant for $31,587,900 is titled “West Virginia State Rail Authority Upgrade of WV Central Railroad/Upgrade of South Branch Valley Railroad/Various Counties West Virginia.” TIGER = Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.
The purpose stated in the application: to transport a possible MILLION TONS of gravel yearly from the Slatyfork Quarry. Ten years ago we were up in arms about an increase from 30,000 to 300,000 tons. Here's what we looking at now: To transport a million tons a year, 104 trucks would make a daily round trip from the quarry to a proposed loading dock behind Beckwith Lumber on the Upper Elk River. This dock, which is presented as an "upgrade," does not exist, and is in an area under consideration for a protective national Wild & Scenic designation. At present, fishermen park here to access the river. We must also consider the 10,000 railcars that would rumble along the tracks every year within hearing distance of many local homes.
What does this means to you as a property owner?The application does not mention the presence of Snowshoe, the state’s premier ski resort. It does not address the impact this project would have on the quality of life for second-home owners, retirees and owners of rental property at the resort.
Can you imagine skiing the Western Territory when it overlooks a vast crater of bare earth and the mountain view is obscured by a haze of limestone dust? Can you imagine the effect on tourism and your real estate values?
The grant application also fails to address the project’s impact on Pocahontas County’s reputation as an eco-tourism destination with pristine air and water quality and natural attractions such as the Upper Elk River, one of the last places in the East where you can fish for naturally reproducing Brook, Brown and Rainbow trout.
Nearly one-quarter of the people living in the county work in tourism, and many more are in jobs bolstered by tourism. Many of these jobs would be sacrificed for the sake of a few additional jobs in mining and trucking.
The WV Central Railroad that would be “upgraded” to transport limestone has been unused since the early 1990s (when CSX filed a petition to abandon and sold it to the state) and has been heavily damaged by flooding and neglect. A better use of federal funds would be to turn it into a rail trail for hikers and bikers, in keeping with the county’s recreational focus.
The upgrade of the South Branch Valley Railroad, an entirely different project in other WV counties, was included in the application so that it would meet the $20 million minimum requirements for TIGER Grant funding.
What action can you take?Go to SPOCNews.com for a link to the TIGER application. The time for action is NOW. Grants will be approved in late January or early February. Snowshoe Mountain Resort is still fact-finding and has not taken a position yet; however, the resort has as much to lose as the homeowners.
To protect yourself as a taxpayer and property owner, please don’t delay. E-mail the following people, asking them to help stop the funding of this project. Here’s a suggested message:
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Please do everything in your power to stop the funding of the TIGER Grant application to upgrade the Slatyfork section of The West Virginia Central Railroad in Pocahontas County. The request for millions of dollars of federal money for the sole use of one customer, WACO, is based on a deficient application. It is a thinly veiled attempt to impose a million-ton per year quarry on our resort community—even though (as stated in the application) no customers exist for this limestone gravel.
The quarry, which lies a mile from the entrance to Snowshoe Mountain Resort, would create an eyesore visible from the resort and devalue the second-home properties that provide more than half of the tax base for Pocahontas County. It has the potential to do irreparable damage to the county’s air and water quality, and destroy the native trout population in the Upper Elk River. The proposed loading station would be built in an area of the river now under consideration for Wild & Scenic status.
The application seeks funding to “upgrade” a section of railroad that CSX petitioned to abandon 20 years ago and has been repeatedly damaged by flooding. In 2004 the West Virginia Rail Authority determined that it was not cost effective to restore the tracks for freight or tourist trains.
West Virginia surely has projects more worthy of stimulus money, projects that bolster local economies rather than destroy them, as this one has the potential to do.
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Contacts:
Tigerteam@dot.gov
Attn: Joel Szabat/Lana Hurdle
Subject: Request to deny TIGER grant
(Cindy Butler, Acting Executive Director)
Cindy.k.butler@wv.gov
State Rail Authority Secretary Paul Maddox
Dot.secretary@wv.gov
Senator Robert Byrd’s office
Caryn_Compton@byrd.senate.gov
Representative Nick Rahall’s office
Jim.zoia@mail.house.gov
Pocahontas County Commissioners
Martin Saffer -- martinsaffer@martinsaffer.com
David Fleming -- fleming42@gmail.com
Reta Griffith – retagriffith@frontiernet.net
WVDNR: stevebrown@wvdnr.gov
mikeshingleton@wvdnr.gov
WVDEP: Scott.G.Mandirola@wv.gov
USFS: mdowen@fs.fed.us
