Tag: Fayette County Commission

PSC Calls For Takeover Of Deteriorated Armstrong Water System

The Public Service Commission of West Virginia has issued an emergency order against Armstrong Public Service District in Fayette County.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia has issued an emergency order against Armstrong Public Service District in Fayette County, which one official called the worst in the state. 

This emergency order follows concerns from residents about poor and possibly contaminated water that serves 900 customers along the Kanawha River Valley.

“I was shocked at the testimony that was presented to us today,” PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane said.

During a hearing, the commission told Armstrong to enter into an interim emergency operations and management agreement within 10 days that will allow West Virginia American Water to take control of the system. The agreement must be filed with the commission by July 31.

PSC engineer Jonathan Fowler called it “the worst system currently operating in the state” during an evidentiary hearing at Montgomery City Hall. The system’s treatment plant and infrastructure have remained the same since Armstrong came into existence in 1955. 

Resident and veteran Graorge Wheeler said he had a better water system while serving in Iraq. 

“I told my wife I felt like we are living in a third-world country, the water is undrinkable, you’re scared to drink it,” said Johnny Pennington, another resident. 

Last Oct. 13, West Virginia American Water asked the Commission to determine if Armstrong is a distressed or failing utility. The Fayette County Commission supported the request. 

State To Receive $26 Million In EPA Grants For Drinking Water

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will get $18 million for low-interest financing to plan, design and construct eligible drinking water projects.

West Virginia is getting grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, mostly to improve drinking water.

The state will receive more than $26 million from the EPA, according to U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will get $18 million for low-interest financing to plan, design and construct eligible drinking water projects.

The agency will get another $7.5 million to address the contamination of drinking water with PFAS, or forever chemicals. A report from the U.S. Geological Survey found PFAS in 67 of West Virginia’s drinking water systems.

The Fayette County Commission will receive a grant to address brownfield properties. West Virginia University will receive a pollution prevention grant.

The grants are from last year’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Bridge Day Canceled For Second Straight Year

Bridge Day has been canceled for the second year in a row. The Bridge Day Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to cancel the event for 2021, according to media reports.

Earlier in the day, the Fayette County Commission announced in a statement that it would vote to cancel the event this year, citing a small group of individuals who acted to influence the coordinators of the BASE jumping to cancel the group’s participation.

Just last week, the BASE jumper coordinators, Mark Kissner and Marcus Ellison, notified the Bridge Day Commission in a letter that they would not be participating this year. They outlined concerns from local citizens and also their own safety when it comes to access to the hospitals in the event of an emergency due to overcrowding with COVID patients.

The county commission disputed those points in its statement, saying “it is not” because COVID numbers were getting worse, or safety concerns or that local hospitals urged the county commission or the Bridge Day commission to cancel, “because they did not.”

They said they were voting to cancel because, without the participation of the BASE jumpers, Bridge Day would not be the same. The statement went on to say that the Fayette County Commission would “act promptly to implement changes to the Bridge Day Commission Bylaws and take all necessary action to ensure in the future no individual or small group has the power to unilaterally influence a decision that affects not just Fayette County, but also Bridge Day attendees and participants, neighboring counties, the State of West Virginia and the National Park Service.”

On Sept. 15, the Bridge Day commission voted 4-2 to move forward with Bridge Day despite protests from the EMS and health care community.

Those groups questioned the logic of holding Bridge Day, even with masking requirements. Their concerns included that hospitals are nearing capacity in the county, and any outbreak or injury during the Bridge Day event could overwhelm the system.

Just 10 days prior to that vote, the town of Oak Hill, also in Fayette County, canceled the last day of the Oak Leaf Festival. Several workers and volunteers tested positive for COVID-19 at the earlier festival.

Bridge Day is a major tourist attraction for the region. It brings as many as 100,000 people to walk the bridge and watch the jumpers each fall.

Organizers said they will begin planning for 2022.

Federal Court Strikes Down Fayette Frack Waste Ban

A federal judge has ruled that the Fayette County Commission does not have the right to ban frack waste. Last Friday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled in favor of EQT, a petroleum and gas corporation.

After years of public concern and protests of an underground injection well in Fayette County, the County Commission unanimously voted to ban frack waste in January of this year. This ordinance is based on state code WV §7-1-3kk, which gives authority to commissions to develop regulations to protect public health. Pittsburgh-based EQT protested the ban in court.

The company operates about 200 oil and gas wells in Fayette County, along with one underground injection control well.

Judge John Copenhaver ruled in favor of the company stating that state and federal law trump county ordinances. In his ruling, Copenhaver cited a 1999 decision in City of Huntington v. the State Water Commission, stating that “Public health is a matter of statewide rather than local or municipal interest or concern and in the regulation of public health the power of the state is supreme.”

The Fayette County Commission’s Prosecuting Attorney’s Office hasn’t said whether or not the Commission will appeal the decision.

Fayette County Sues State Board of Education Over Schools

Fayette County Commission officials have filed a lawsuit against the state Board of Education and the state School Building Authority, accusing them of failing to fund a consolidation plan for the facilities of Fayette’s schools.

Local news outlets report that the lawsuit was filed by the Fayette County Commission, commission President Matt Wender and two parents of students at Fayette’s public school system.

The lawsuit accuses the agencies of not fulfilling their duties to fix the school’s failing facilities, which the commission says present a threat of physical harm to students.

Attorney Sam Petsonk says his clients are asking a judge to order the defendants to explain why agencies shouldn’t be forced to fund a school consolidation plan.

SBA Executive Director David Sneed said Wednesday the agency will continue working with the county to develop a plan to solve the issues.

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