Tag: Denmark

Deputy Ambassador Of Denmark Speaks In Harpers Ferry; Rockwool Left Out Of Discussion

The Deputy Ambassador of Denmark to the United States Henrik Hahn was invited to speak to a chapter of the West Virginia Kiwanis Club in Harpers Ferry last week. 

Denmark-based Rockwool has been a source of health and environmental contention for more than a year in the Eastern Panhandle, but discussion about the company was intentionally excluded from the event. 

Hahn described Denmark’s 200-year-old diplomatic relationship with the U.S. He spoke about jobs the country has brought to the United States, and about Denmark’s push to be a global leader in healthcare, and clean and renewable energy. 

But Rockwool was not a topic of Hahn’s presentation.

“I didn’t want to get into Rockwool, but because there was interest in Rockwool and Denmark, I decided to invite the ambassador,” said Daniel Lutz, lieutenant governor of the eastern division of the West Virginia Kiwanis Club. 

Lutz said the purpose of the event was to open communication between Jefferson County and Denmark – especially given the level of contention surrounding Rockwool.

“We wanted to show Jefferson County and our group at our best,” he said.

Lutz said he is not anti-Rockwool, but he is against the emissions that would come from the Rockwool plant. He said he would be supportive of Rockwool coming to Jefferson County if they can manufacture their stone wool product without emitting gasses into the air.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting spoke with Deputy Ambassador Hahn about Rockwool after the event. Hahn stood by the company and said he’s aware of the debate about the plant in Jefferson County, but he argues the company is trustworthy and will stand by their promises.

“Danish companies are coming to the U.S., and they are often applying the same rules and regulations that they have in Denmark,” Hahn said. “They are coming with the same values. So, I cannot see any reason why Rockwool should not come as a respectable company in the U.S. and establish themselves here.”

Hahn received seven Rockwool-related letters after the event, which he promised to submit to Danish officials.

He said he’s hopeful people on both sides of the issue can sit down together and speak with an open mind.

Jefferson County Woman Walks 70 Miles Across Denmark To Protest Rockwool

Residents in the Eastern Panhandle continue to protest Denmark-based, stone wool manufacturing facility, Rockwool. For more than a year now, hundreds of residents still rally at commission and town council meetings in Jefferson County and at the Rockwool construction site – in an effort to stop the plant from being built.

Recently, a Shepherdstown resident traveled to Denmark to walk 70 miles from Kalundborg to Copenhagen to protest the facility.

 

Tracy Danzey is a mother of an 8-year-old and a registered nurse. She’s also the president of the anti-Rockwool group, Resist Rockwool. A few years ago, one of her legs had to be amputated after contracting a rare form of bone cancer, which she said was caused by pollution from heavy industry in her former home of Parkersburg, West Virginia.

 

 

Credit Emily Vaughn
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Shepherdstown resident Tracy Danzey in Denmark.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting spoke with Danzey via Skype, just before she finished her 11-day walk over the weekend.

 

“I am walking in the American tradition of marching for justice,” Danzey said in the interview. “My experience of being poisoned by industry is a huge motivator. As a nurse, my focus is often on health and the health of the community around me.”

 

West Virginia Public Broadcasting reached out to Rockwool for comment. Rockwool spokesperson Michael Zarin emailed a statement stating Rockwool invited Danzey to their headquarters in Denmark. He said the Danish factory uses the same core technology that will be used in Jefferson County.

 

“It is unfortunate that Tracy Danzey did not accept our invitation to visit the ROCKWOOL factory in northern Denmark or meet with us at our headquarters,” Zarin said via email. “The Danish factory uses the same core technology as will be used in Jefferson County. This would have been a prime opportunity for Ms. Danzey to see first-hand a similar facility in operation.”

 

Danzey did not accept that invitation, but instead invited Rockwool to visit Jefferson County to address community concerns.

 

“I came here to speak with the Danish people,” Danzey said via text message to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “Rockwool has had over a year to reach out and be willing to chat, and they have consistently been unavailable and dishonest to our citizenry and representation. Additionally, though I can speak to the health concerns as a nurse, and the potential violation of the industry from a personal health standpoint, I would not feel comfortable touring a facility and representing my community in this way alone. I am not an industrial specialist and would have to depend on what I was being told. [Rockwool] has been so dishonest with our community that it would only be proper that some of our community’s own specialists attend these tours and meetings with me.”

 

Rockwool in Ranson, Jefferson County is expected to offer 150 new jobs and be completed by mid-2020, according to Rockwool’s North American President Trent Ogilvie.

 

The facility would feature two, 21-story smokestacks releasing a range of chemicals and will be located just a few miles from four public schools.

 

Residents are concerned about the potential health and environmental risks to the area. Rockwool states their technology is state of the art and that air quality is a top priority.

 

“Air quality is one of our top priorities & primary reason for constructing tall stacks in Ranson,” Rockwool said on their Twitter page on Aug. 3, 2018. “Tall stacks improve the dispersion of the steam plume and thus reduce particulate and other matter that might reach people on the ground.”

 

Since the facility broke ground in June 2018, there have been several pending lawsuits filed from opposition groups, rallies and an overall division within communities in the Eastern Panhandle.

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