Tag: Kanawha County Commission

Kanawha County Asks PSC For New Public Hearing On Appalachian Power Request

Kanawha County commissioners have opposed Appalachian Power’s request to recover $297 million from ratepayers since it was first filed nearly a year ago.

The Kanawha County Commission is again gearing up to fight a potential rate increase for Appalachian Power customers.

Kanawha County commissioners have opposed Appalachian Power’s request to recover $297 million from ratepayers since it was first filed nearly a year ago.

Last month, the West Virginia Public Service Commission denied the request, pending a review of the company’s fuel procurement practices for its coal-fired power plants.

The Kanawha County Commission has asked the PSC to reopen the case once the review is complete and hold public hearings.

“We fear in the very near future the (disputed) rate request will be quietly approved without any opportunity for the public to be heard,” the commissioners wrote the PSC. “The public deserves to be heard.”

KCC-Letter-to-PSC-about-Appalachian-Power-Rate-Hike-1Download

In a statement, PSC chair Charlotte Lane said her commission will give notice and schedule a hearing when it is ready and advise the public on how to comment on the case.

The PSC received hundreds of comments from residents, local governments and industrial customers last year, almost unanimously opposing the Appalachian Power request.

Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Kanawha Commissioners Question HIV Label For The County From CDC

Kanawha County Commissioners have requested a Congressional inquiry into statements that the county has the “most concerning” HIV outbreak in the country.

A presentation by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employee to the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and the West Virginia Congressional Delegation raised the initial alarm.

Commissioners sent a letter to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and he in turn sent a letter to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky asking for clarification. They want to know if the CDC has completed an official investigation and who determined the situation in the county was the most concerning.

The original presentation said there were 51 cases of HIV in the county since January 2019 and 35 in 2020 alone.

In his letter, Manchin said: “I am submitting a formal congressional inquiry for your prompt response. Given the pressing public health nature of the issue, I request that your staff review the enclosed concerns and contact the Kanawha County Commission no later than Friday, April 9th.”

The original letter from the county commission asked several questions including: “Has the CDC completed an official investigation into the rise in HIV cases? If not, why not?” and “Is the rise the most concerning in the United States of America?”

They raised concerns of the determination being made without factual or empirical evidence, and asked if there was a peer-reviewed, evidence-based finding that would support the “alarming allegation.”

You can read the letter from the Kanawha County Commission to Manchin here. And Manchin’s letter here.

Kanawha County Considering Lawsuit Against Drug Wholesaler

The Kanawha County Commission is considering seeking damages from opioid wholesalers, who they say helped to fuel the area’s drug epidemic by shipping millions of painkillers to the county.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that commissioners on Thursday hired a law firm to represent them in a potential lawsuit against the wholesalers.

The lawsuits would address the economic effects the opioid epidemic has had on the county. Commission President Kent Carper says the county jail bill is about $4.5 million each year, and that millions of dollars are spent on other costs related to the opioid epidemic.

Attorney Paul Farrell says if counties are able to punish wholesalers monetarily, they may stop conducting business in West Virginia.

A Gazette-Mail investigation found wholesalers poured more than 780 million opioid pills into the state over six years.

Kanawha County Asks State for Repairs to Interstate Lighting

 The Kanawha County Commission is asking the West Virginia Department of Transportation to fix non-working lights along interstates.

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper announced Tuesday that at least 135 lights are out on several stretches of state-maintained roads. Carper says he sent a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Mattox citing safety concerns and asking about the status of plans to fix the lights.

DOT spokeswoman Carrie Jones says some of the lights, like the ones in between South Charleston and the West Virginia Turnpike, are more than 40 years old and aren’t repairable. She says $12 million in renovations projects are planned for lighting along the Charleston interstate system over the next few years.

11 Counties Pass Sunday Hunting Measure

Officials say voters in 11 West Virginia counties have passed ballot initiatives to allow hunting on Sunday on private property.

The Kanawha County Commission says in a news release that unofficial totals show the measure passed there by nearly 23,000 votes. The statement says Sunday hunting will go into effect after the County Commission certifies the election results, which will take at least week.

Ten other counties across the state also passed the measure: Barbour, Berkeley, Harrison, Marion, Mercer, Monongalia, Pleasants, Preston, Ritchie and Wood. It boosts the number of counties that allow hunting on Sundays to 33 out of 55.

Hunting is restricted to private property and requires the landowner’s consent.

Kanawha County Commission Joins W.Va. Paving Lawsuit

The Kanawha County Commission is joining the city of Charleston, the state of West Virginia and three other cities in the state in suing West Virginia Paving over an alleged monopoly.

Commissioners voted Wednesday to join the lawsuit, which was filed last week in Kanawha County Circuit Court, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

The complaint alleges that West Virginia Paving Inc. and its sister companies violated the state’s Antitrust Act. The companies took control of at least 15 asphalt plants and created a scheme that caused the municipalities to pay at least 40 percent more for asphalt, according to the lawsuit.

WV Paving, in a news release, said “there is no factual or legal basis for the lawsuit.”

Kanawha County has spent more than $822,000 on paving projects from WV Paving since 2007, said Deputy County Manager Andrew Gunnoe. More than $600,000 of that amount was part of a project to build a new bridge in Coonskin Park.

“I understand a lot of our paving is subsidized by state and federal funds; that’s not the point,” commission President Kent Carper said. “It’s public funds. My observation is this: If their allegations are true — they had two companies competing with one another after they signed an agreement or a representation that they were independent — there’s a word for that.”

Carper said he plans to ask other county agencies whether they plan to join the lawsuit.

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