New mailing address: MonValley Clean Air Coalition P. O. Box 4679 Star City, WV 26504-4679
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Minutes MVCAC June 13, 2005 Duane provided a handout with a list of current issues. We began by reviewing these issues. 1. The PILOT agreement for the proposed Longview Power Plant – if we are going to appeal the decision to dismiss the case by Judge Clawges in the WV Supreme Court, we need to do so by August 1, 2005. Phil is recommending that we file an appeal, but he is unable to do it himself at this time. The Legal Committee was to meet with an attorney who might be willing to take this on for us. The group in attendance unanimously agreed that we should undertake this appeal. 2. There will be a public hearing in Charleston at the Public Service Commission (PSC) when Longview applies for a transmission certificate. The conditional siting certificate that was granted to Longview will also be considered at this time. Longview has filed a complaint to the US Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) charging that Allegheny Energy (owner of the Ft Martin power plant) has not cooperated with them in their attempts to obtain a connection to the high voltage grid system. The Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection Organization [P-J-M] has intervened on the side of Longview and asked for federal arbitration to settle the matter. 3. There were two appeals of the air quality permit granted to Longview before the Kanawha County Circuit Court, one by the Forks of Cheat Property Owners Association and one by Jarrett Jamison. The appeal of the Forks of Cheat group was rejected last week. The hearing for Jarrett’s appeal is to take place in early July. 4. The PSC has finalized the Rules for Siting Certificates; however, issues remain regarding the permitted noise levels. 5. The proposed Longview smoke stack would be 54 feet above the level permitted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Longview has applied to the FAA for approval of the stack. A variety of groups and individuals provided comments to the FAA during the public comment period. 6. Allegheny Energy (AE) was granted a permit to construct and operate a “ synfuels” plant at the Ft Martin plant. This would not truly be a synthetic fuels plant, as AE would simply be spraying oil on the coal; however, they would still receive the tax break granted to synthetic fuels plants. 7. AE has applied to the PSC for a rate hike (“environmental charge”) of about $3-$4 per month to each residential electric bill to pay for scrubbers for the Ft Martin plant. Since this would make our air cleaner, Karen suggested that we send a letter to the PSC in support of this increase. The group agreed that this should be done. 8. Alcon LLC of Buckhannon, WV had applied to the WV DEP Division of Air Quality for a permit to construct and operate a batch cement plant. The plant would be located off Bakers Ridge Road near The Madison nursing home and the proposed site of the new University High School on the site of an old surface mine that is unusually dusty. At a public hearing that was held last week attended by twenty local residents and five staff personnel of the Division of Air Quality, no one spoke in favor of the plant. Despite this fact, it looks like the permit will be granted. [The permit was granted (registered) on June 16th. The period of possible appeals is 30 days.] In new business: Duane brought up the issue of registering MVCAC as a not-for-profit with the WV Secretary of State. Linda moved that we should do this, Paula seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Jonathan suggested that we needed a real address. Duane will look into obtaining a PO Box. Martha indicated that she thought it was possible that mail addressed to a PO Box could be delivered to an individual. This way, the mail could be delivered to the current convener, and no one would have the responsibility of checking the PO Box. Sierra Club has earmarked $5,000 for CALP. According to Paul Wilson, president of the WV Chapter, these monies must be used for 501c3 activities. If they are to be used to support litigation, this must be approved by the national Sierra Club. Duane asked Paul if Sierra would support using the funds for the purchase of air monitoring equipment and Paul said “no,” because that is considered a capital expense. Monies for capital expenses come from a different source. Karen has spoken to Boggs Environmental about air monitoring equipment. They would be willing to purchase the equipment to support educational activities if MVCAC will pay maintenance and repair expenses. Duane moved that we empower the Executive Committee to write a letter indicating that we wish to work with them on this endeavor. Larry seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. Sandy reported on activities of the Media Committee. They established initiatives to: 1. encourage people to attend City Council meetings and speak on air quality issues; and 2. write letters to the editor. Sign-up sheets were passed around, so that members could choose one or both of these activities. Sandy also reported that she is designing a logo for the group. The air training workshop will be held Sunday, June 20 as planned. The location is to be announced. [Training was held at the Cheat Lake Fire Hall.] Paula reported that the CALP Committee met, and the FAA and FERC issues were discussed. Minutes prepared by Linda Shuster, Secretary; and, distributed by Duane Nichols, Convenor.
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The next regular general meeting of MVCAC will be on July 25th at 7 pm, at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Patteson Drive in the Suncrest area of Morgantown. Committees are encouraged to meet on Monday, July 11th, or at other convenient times.