Biomess in Mason County? Part 2

Today's topic is ADAGE. But first some background. (See my Feb 4 blog for Part 1)

For those of you who I've never met you are not aware that I have a funny accent. I come by this accent honestly. I grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia. My father, grandfathers and their fathers all worked in the coal mines.

The property that my family rented sat between two coal mines with a little stream running down behind the house. My brother and I couldn't play in this stream because the water was so toxic from chemical run off. The air was filthy with coal dust.

My father and grandfathers didn't believe they had options on where they lived or what they did for a living. Subsequently, their lives were shortened because of their work. As a child I experienced what it means when jobs are scarce. I also know what it's like to watch someone die from respiratory disease. Poverty kept us immobilized and left my family with few options.

Why am I sharing this personal information with you? I'm concerned here in Mason County that we are heading down the path that will ruin our environment - all for a few minimum wage jobs. Mason County will get a few jobs and the corporate leaders of Duke Energy and AREVA, a French firm, will walk away with the profits.

Having grown up in poverty, I know all too well what a difference a steady income makes in our lives. But I also know that we must carefully weigh the trade offs facing us.

We need more information about this facility and what it means to our environment. We must demand that our county commissioners tell us what the process is for the approval of the construction of this facility. At the state level we need to speak up and say that before ADAGE is approved we want to know what the impact will be to the air we breathe. I've been told that approval by ORCAA (clean air regulatory agency) is currently slated to be routine with no public hearing planned. The reason being that no citizens have complained.

I will attend the ADAGE meetings on Wednesday, April 7 but these meetings cannot take the place of public meetings held by elected officials.

More to follow on this.