Mountains near Cannelton, WV, News
Blessing of the mountain in Ansted, WV
Saturday, November 17th, 2007
Ansted, WV group fears devastation to local community
November 10, 2007
A preservation group in Ansted sponsored a blessing ceremony Saturday morning as they sought divine intervention to stop what they fear will be devastation in the area between the Gauley River and the New River.
Members of The Ansted Historic Preservation Council Inc. believe the timbering and mining proposed for the area just outside of Ansted will affect a nearly 3,000-acre watershed.
In September, members of the newly formed group testified at a packed Department of Environmental Protection agency hearing, and asked state officials to deny a national pollution discharge permit for Powellton Coal Co. LLC, the company that plans the large mining operation. The company wants to discharge into Rich Creek, a trout stream and a tributary to Gauley River.
At the hearing, they also voiced their fears that the coal seams to be mined will cause toxic levels of selenium to be released into the waters. Several communities use water from the upper Kanawha River for drinking water.
The area to be mined is covered with trees and creates a backdrop for the Gauley Mountain Recreation Area. People in Ansted are also developing a trail system that follows tributaries that could be impacted by water pollution.
Father Roy Crist, who heads the group, will offer the blessing Saturday. He is a Missioner of the New River Episcopal Ministries. He said he wants everyone to know his group does not oppose mining.
“Mining is an honorable profession. We admire and respect those who work in the mines. But mountaintop removal is a crime against man and nature and must be stopped while we still have mountains left. These corporations rip, rape and run, and leave us with unredeemable land, toxic streams and rivers and air pollution which cause illnesses and disease.”
In her communications with DEP officials, Katheryne Hoffman, secretary to the Hawks Nest State Park Foundation, wrote that the connectivity of the streams worries her.
“At Gauley Bridge is the confluence of three rivers, the Gauley, the New and the Kanawha. The New is a National River, the Gauley runs through the Gauley River Recreation Area and both flow into the Kanawha. Rich Creek flows into the Gauley. Bridge Fork, West Lake Creek, Shade Creek and Mill Creek may also be affected in various ways by this operation. That these waters remain as unpolluted as possible is critical to the economic engine now fueling Fayette County, which is not coal, but tourism.”
Although the operation is outside the corporate limits of his town, the mayor of Ansted, R.A. Hobbs, told DEP officials he worried about the company’s plans to use settlement ditches instead of settlement ponds. Hobbs also explained times when Ansted has flooded. He said he feared the increased potential for flooding from the proposed mine ditch system would threaten his town with flooding.
State inspectors have previously cited Powellton Coal for allowing sediment to enter Rich Creek and the Gauley River. Powellton Coal has an 18,000-acre tract located between Ansted, Gauley Bridge and Jodie in Fayette County. A spokesman for the company said Thursday that he could not comment for this story.
Reprinted from the Charleston Gazette
By Susan Williams
See more on the ongoing organizing in the Ansted, WV in the latest Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition newsletter.
