An open valve on a storage tank spilled potentially several thousand gallons of crude oil, the Kanawha County Commission said Monday.
An oil spill Sunday in Kanawha County does not appear to pose any threat to waterways or wildlife, but officials continue to monitor the situation.
An open valve on a storage tank spilled potentially several thousand gallons of crude oil, the Kanawha County Commission said Monday.
After an odor was reported in the upper Blue Creek area, officials from Kanawha County Emergency Management, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the Cedar Grove Volunteer Fire Department were able to close the valve.
Booms and heavy machinery have been moved in to clean up the spill. Officials have been checking Blue Creek down to the point where it meets the Elk River.
They report no evidence of a sheen or any harm to aquatic life.
The county’s spring trout release was supposed to take place at Clendenin and Blue Creek on Monday, but will now take place on Tuesday as a result of the spill.
Electric bills have gone up 200 percent in the past 15 years, the commissioners wrote members of the county’s delegation in the legislature.
Unreasonable, unaffordable and job-killing.
That’s what the Kanawha County Commission called utility rate increases in recent years, especially for electricity.
Electric bills have gone up 200 percent in the past 15 years, the commissioners wrote members of the county’s delegation in the West Virginia Legislature. They also mentioned the rising cost for water and natural gas.
The commission wants lawmakers to introduce a bill to cap the rate increases and surcharges.
They also think the state auditor should have the ability to review public utility tax returns.
The commission requested a formal hearing to examine the issue.
The commission is one of several local government entities to voice opposition to electric power rate increases before the state Public Service Commission.
Mountaineer Gas customers will see their bills go up 15 percent, and Hope Gas customers will see theirs go up 28 percent.
Kanawha County commissioners “vehemently” oppose the double-digit rate increases the West Virginia Public Service Commission recently approved for Mountaineer Gas and Hope Gas.
Mountaineer Gas customers will see their bills go up 15 percent, and Hope Gas customers will see theirs go up 28 percent.
“Utility rate increases are always tough on customers, and these double-digit increases are devastating, especially during a time of record inflation,” said Commissioner Ben Salango.
Both increases are smaller than what the companies asked the PSC to approve.
About 300,000 natural gas customers statewide are affected by the decision.
The Kanawha County Commission has also voiced its opposition to a $297 million request from Appalachian Power. If approved, the average residential customer’s bill would increase $18 a month.
On Wednesday, the PSC will consider Mon Power’s request to raise its customers’ bills an average of $11 a month.
A group called Charleston Can’t Wait collected 3,000 signatures in time to get a cannabis decriminalization measure on the ballot. But voters might have noticed it wasn’t there.
The City of Charleston and Kanawha County were prepared to accept the signatures. However, if not enough of them could be verified, they would all be thrown out. The effort would be back at square one.
“And we didn’t want to take our chances,” Lauer said. “We thought, well if we’ve got this many, we want to hold on to them and make sure this work pays off. And we can really represent the will of all the people who signed their signatures in the first place.”
So the group held back to gather more signatures and verify them using a software program it purchased. That can help eliminate the ones that don’t count: people who put down the address of the house they grew up in, or an old apartment. People who said they live in Charleston but actually live somewhere else.
“We’re in a tricky moment where we have plenty of signatures,” Lauer said, “and we want to make sure those signatures actually get counted.”
The group may be able to get enough signatures to call for a special election on the issue. It isn’t clear when that would happen, or who would pay for it.
The other option would be to wait until the next municipal election. But that’s not for another four years. And the signatures have to be valid four years from now.
“I don’t think there’s any question, is there will in the city to get it on the ballot,” Lauer said. “The question is, can we hit that tricky administrative window the city and county have set up?”
Lauer said her group had volunteers collecting signatures at about half the city’s wards Tuesday.
The ballot measure would eliminate fines, court fees and jail time for simple cannabis possession, which is now a misdemeanor. It would not apply to dealing cannabis or possessing large quantities of it.
“And so if you were found to have a small amount of cannabis in your vehicle or on your person,” she said, “there would be no repercussions for that.”
Lauer said she’d seen a lot of enthusiasm for the effort and that the issue seems to transcend partisan and generational divides.
“I don’t think this is the kind of issue you can really profile people on,” she said. “I’ll walk up to someone who I think at first glance might not be for this, and they might be the most enthusiastic supporter I’ve talked to all day.”
Voters in Charleston are likely to get a say on cannabis – it just wasn’t in this election.
Earlier this week, West Virginia surpassed 7,500 COVID-19 deaths. But the virus has not had an equal impact everywhere. Across the country, some states and communities continue to be harder hit by the pandemic than others, and West Virginia is no exception — even varying by county.
Earlier this week, West Virginia surpassed 7,500 COVID-19 deaths. But the virus has not had an equal impact everywhere.
Across the country, some states and communities continue to be harder hit by the pandemic than others, and West Virginia is no exception — even varying by county.
Kanawha County is the largest in the state, with more than 180,000 residents. That’s roughly 10 percent of West Virginia’s population, and, as would be expected, the county makes up about 10 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
For the most part, bigger counties around the state have more deaths, proportional to their size. The same goes for smaller counties and fewer deaths. But there are a few outliers.
One of the biggest outliers is Monongalia County, which accounts for just under 6 percent of the state’s population, but less than 3 percent of all deaths in West Virginia.
“In COVID, we found that probably the single greatest risk factor, especially early in the disease with the Wuhan strain, of a predictor of mortality was age,” Dr. Steven Eshenaur, health officer for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said. “The older you are, the worse this disease is on you.”
Eshenaur points to the significant difference in the age of Kanawha and Monongalia counties’ populations as a likely explanation for the discrepancies in death rates.
“Kanawha County has 21.6 percent of our population that is over 65,” he said. “Mon County has 13.5 percent of its population over age 65. It’s almost half.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans age 55 and older account for 90 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the country.
CDC data also shows that the risk for death from COVID-19 grows dramatically as age goes up. Compared to 18-29 year-olds, 40 to 49 year-olds are 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19. For those aged 50 to 65, they are 25 times more likely.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that older populations are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 deaths.
Dr. Lee Smith is the health officer and director of the Monongalia County Health Department, and has led the county’s pandemic response for the past two-and-a-half years.
“Right now, we have [the] total number of deaths, [the] total number of cases,” Smith said. “The areas that we don’t have right now is how many of the people who contracted COVID were smokers, were elderly. We know that those are the at-risk populations.”
Smith cautions drawing conclusions from what he calls an incomplete picture. He said it may be years before we understand how and why COVID-19 impacted communities differently, if ever.
“Public health is going to be studying COVID probably for the next decade, if not more,” he said. “We saw that this impacted the elderly more at the beginning. So I think that it’s a worthy line of inquiry because this is going to be a cumulative knowledge built up over time.”
One thing that both health officers can agree on is the impact of vaccines on the pandemic and deaths. Eshenaur calls vaccines the single most effective tool we have to protect individuals, but the statewide rate of distribution for booster shots is at just 32 percent.
Smith said he can relate to the public’s COVID-19 fatigue.
“I think that because of COVID fatigue, many people are wanting just to not consider it anymore, and I certainly understand that because our staff is as fatigued as anyone with COVID,” Smith said. “But it hasn’t gone away completely. It was said early on, ‘My mask protects you, your mask protects me, my vaccine protects you, my, your vaccine protects me.’ I think that if we can move beyond the politics, and get to a point where we’re doing this as a community, that’s going to be the better position.”
COVID-19 fatigue and vaccine complacency could spell trouble in the coming weeks and months, as COVID-19 begins to interact with other respiratory viruses that surge with colder weather.
“We are moving into, the buzzword now is a ‘tridemic’ of flu, RSV, and COVID all potentially hitting their peak this fall,” Eshenaur said. “It could be very bad, especially when you see people that get concomitant illnesses, that is they get two illnesses at the same time, like flu and COVID, or RSV and COVID together.”
COVID-19 deaths are slowing in West Virginia, and that may be causing some people to let their guard down, but vaccine hesitancy combined with flu and RSV outbreaks could spell a long winter for the state.
The city of Charleston and the Kanawha County Commission announced plans Wednesday to turn buildings connected to the aging Town Center Mall in Charleston into the Capital Sports Center.
The city of Charleston and the Kanawha County Commission announced plans Wednesday to turn buildings connected to the aging Town Center Mall in Charleston into the Capital Sports Center.
The facility will have 247,000 square feet of space for activities, including an aquatic center with a 50 meter Olympic-size swimming pool, basketball courts, volleyball courts, an indoor turf field and pickleball.
Watch the video below from ZMM Architects to see how the proposed Capital Sports Center is expected to look:
ZMM Proposed Capital Sports Center
The city and county leaders, alongside U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, cited a sports tourism study that showed the economic impact sports can have on a region and the need for a single indoor facility to host large regional and national events.
“In order to position our capital city to attract top-tier, revenue generating events and the associated economic impact, we must have the necessary facilities to compete, “ Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said. “Through the proposed Capital Sports Center, we will have the opportunity to attract major regional or national swimming, volleyball, basketball and pickleball events. In addition to the economic impact of sports tourism, this facility will also provide our young athletes with a state-of-the-art facility in which to train — better preparing them to compete in collegiate athletics or other sports opportunities they may want to pursue.”
“I am so excited to announce our partnership with the City of Charleston to build the Capital Sports Center,” Kanawha County Commissioner Ben Salango said. “Youth sports tourism is a booming industry, and this indoor facility will enable us to compete on a national level. This state-of-the-art, 247,000 square foot facility will have a significant economic impact for our local businesses and economy. With the incredible success of the Shawnee Sports Complex, Kanawha County and the City of Charleston are well positioned to be leaders in sports tourism.”
The Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau, with funds received through the City of Charleston’s federal COVID-relief funds, contracted with The Huddle Up Group to conduct an audit of the current sports tourism work of the CCVB and an analysis of the area’s sporting venues.
The study identified facility enhancement/development as an opportunity to grow sports tourism in Charleston. More specifically, it noted the importance of having “anchor” and “tournament friendly” facilities to attract “top tier participant focused championships and their related tourism dollars.”
Charleston and Kanawha County partnered with ZMM Architects & Engineers to do draft renderings for proposed sites in downtown Charleston, Kanawha City and North Charleston.
The plan will cost an estimated $80 million and will be paid for with a combination of private donations and a potential excess levy where the government would sell bonds against the debt and they would be paid off by income from the facility.
The mall itself will not be part of the construction. Plans involve taking part of one parking building down and turning the Macy’s building that is attached to the mall into the aquatic center.
