RE: Mon Com Meeting of August 23, 2006
Duane Nichols, President of the Cheat Lake Environment and Recreation Association, presented the Commission with an overview of the Triennial Review process for the Cheat Lake Park and Trail. This process was initiated in February of this year. A public hearing was held on March 29th at the Cheat Lake Fire Hall and written comments were received by Allegheny Energy. On June 29th, Allegheny Energy submitted a Final Report on this review to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC.
FERC advertised a 30 day comment period on the Final Report, to end on August 28th. Duane Nichols requested that the Monongalia County Commission submit a letter to FERC to (1) acknowledge receipt of the Final Report, (2) indicate support for the efforts of CLEAR, the Greenspace Coalition, and others to expand the recreation and safety activities of the Park and Trail system, (3) support the interconnection of the Cheat Lake Trail with the Mon River Trail System and the Sheepskin Trail to extend past Uniontown into Western Pennsylvania, and (4) to support the activation of the Cheat Lake Advisory Committee as an entity to coordinate advice and support for future projects involving recreation, safety, and security, both on and around Cheat Lake.
The Commission approved a motion to provide this input to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at this time. CLEAR is working with other not-for-profit groups to achieve these and other goals, although limited funds have been available to support these activities. Greg Good of the Greenspace Coalition also spoke to the Monongalia County Commission in support of these efforts to expand recreation for the Cheat Lake area, with appropriate attention to safety and security.
Duane Nichols, CLEAR