Morgantown has a lot to protect from air & water pollution

From an Article by Tracy Eddy, Morgantown Dominion Post, June 9, 2011

Municipalities — such as Morgantown and Westover — do not have the authority to extend their jurisdictions up to one mile outside of their city limits, the Monongalia County Commission said in 2011. “It’s unconstitutional,” Commissioner Eldon Callen said.

But Morgantown Mayor Bill Byrne and Westover Mayor Dave Johnson beg to differ, saying a state code gives cities that power. Morgantown City Council approved Tuesday the first reading of a law to ban horizontal drilling and fracturing — or fracking — in the city limits and up to one mile beyond Morgantown’s borders. Westover City Council is considering a law that would require potential drillers in its one-mile buffer to prove — with data — the drilling would be safe to Westover residents.

Commissioners said the county would take legal action to prevent the cities from enforcing those laws, if they are passed. Commission President Asel Kennedy said the same goes for any other municipalities that would impose restrictions on property owners living in the county.

Callen said the issue is not about Marcellus shale — it’s about the cities trying to use their authority outside their limits. “We as a county commission have a responsibility to all the people in the county,” he said. “The people inside municipalities and the people outside them.”

During its Wednesday meeting, the county commission voted unanimously to send letters to Morgantown and Westover city officials, requesting a work session to discuss the proposed city laws.

Morgantown drafted its law using W.Va. Code 8-12-19, Byrne said, which allows cities to extend their powers up to one mile outside their corporate limits if it is necessary to efficiently exercise those powers. Byrne said the city didn’t discuss the law with the county prior to drafting it because the city was trying to move as quickly as possible to protect its water supply and its residents. “We had a responsibility and a legal right to do this,” he said.

Callen said that particular section of code has never been tested in court. The city hasn’t said what specific power it is trying to exercise by passing the law, he said. He also said the one-mile figure was “arbitrary.” Also, “you can’t just draw a one-mile circle around the town,” he said.

Kennedy said he understands Morgantown is concerned about the water supply and its proximity to the two Marcellus wells being drilled, but, “a mile outside the city is a long way.” He said areas such as Point Marion Road and Grafton Road fall into the one-mile buffer but aren’t near the water supply.

If people living outside the city limits wanted to sell the mineral rights to their property, the city law could stop them, if it were passed. “We, as a commission, need to intercede [if the law is passed] so that hundreds of others don’t have to use their time and money to do so,” Kennedy said.

The two Marcellus wells being drilled at the Morgantown Industrial Park are about 3,000 feet from the Morgantown Utility Board’s water intake. If any fluid discharged from the site enters the Monongahela River, it will do so 1,500 feet from the water intake.

Commissioner Bill Bartolo said this situation exists because the governor and the state Legislature failed to develop new regulations for the Marcellus shale permitting and drilling process. The County Commission sent a letter to the governor last week, urging him to call a special session so the Legislature could come up with regulations to better control the drilling statewide.

Bartolo said the issue should be addressed at the state level, not at the city level. He does support cooperation between the county and the cities, he said. “We need to do the right thing,” he said. “Whatever it is.”

Byrne said the city would be willing to meet with county officials. Johnson said Westover would be willing to listen to the county as well, but he doesn’t think the one-mile buffer is unconstitutional because it’s allowed by the state code.

Westover is taking a more conservative approach to its law than Morgantown is, Johnson said. “Westover is going to be very careful about how we do this,” he said. “We’re not trying to shut [the drilling industry] down completely, but we want to make sure it’s going to be safe.”

W.VA. CODE § 8-12-19 ~ Wherever the powers and authority granted in this chapter cannot be reasonably and efficiently exercised by confining the exercise thereof within the corporate limits of the municipality, the powers and authority of the municipality shall extend beyond the corporate limits to the extent necessary to the reasonably efficient exercise of such powers and authority within the corporate limits. Such powers and authority, unless other wise provided in this code or elsewhere in the law, shall not, however extend more than one mile beyond the corporate limits, and such powers and authority shall not extend into the corporate limits of another municipality without the consent of the governing body thereof.

Commissioners Bloom, Hawkins, and Sikora

NOTICE — On December 16, 2020, the Monongalia County Commission sitting in Morgantown, WV, adopted “payment in-lieu of taxes” or PILOT agreements on behalf of two proposed projects, The Mountain State Clean Energy LLC is a 1200 MW plant to be fired with natural gas AND Mountain State Renewables LLC is a 70 MW solar panel array facility. Both are proposed for Ft. Martin, WV, north of Morgantown and essentially on the Mason Dixon Line.

Two coal-fired power plants already operate at Ft. Martin, the Ft. Martin plant at 1100 MW and the Longview Power facility at 700 MW. Both use stack gas scrubbers for sulfur dioxide control, but generate thousands of tons of coal ash and scrubber waste for local disposal continuously.

The Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition and the WV Sierra Club opposed the proposed gas-fired “Clean” energy plant for various reasons including the excessive greenhouse gases (GHG) that will be generated. The protest list below was presented to the Mon County Commission before the vote.

Both Mountain State PILOT Agreements were approved in a single resolution three (3) to zero (0). A PILOT Agreement for the coal-fired Longview Energy plant has been in force from the beginning of its operation in 2011 and remains active for the foreseeable future.

SEE MEETING VIDEO HERE: Monongalia County Commission Dec. 16, 2020 – YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt8DLPYF7ic

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PROTEST MEMORANDUM FROM M.V.C.A.C. PRESENTED ORALLY ON DECEMBER 16, 2020

RE: AGENDA OF MON. COUNTY COMM. FOR 12/16/20. Item C. To consider approval of documents related to Mountain State Clean Energy LLC & Mountain State Renewable LLC

1. These activities today are too important to our County, State and Nation to be finalized without the full and open consideration that informs the public, provides time for consideration and provides a public comment process.

2. The name Mountain State Clean Energy LLC is very inappropriate, misleading and inconsistent with the industry and with public usage. This proposed fossil fueled power plant will involve thousands of tons of emissions and effluents including acid gases, fine and ultrafine particulates, as well as greenhouse gases galore; it will not be “clean.”

3. The Conditions # 4 and 5 of the FACILITY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT(s) specify that the power company will hold the “Deed” and this Monongalia County Commission will hold the “Lease” during plant operations, over 30 years. If that is the case, this Commission will not actually own the facility, so said facility will not be exempt of ad valorem taxes.

4. Should the power company become bankrupt, their possession of the Deed will put our County at the mercy of the bankruptcy court. So, this problem should be corrected so that Monongalia County is the holder of the Deed.

5. Should this PILOT agreement be declared illegal or unconstitutional, which is quite possible, given that such questions are currently before the West Virginia courts, then the fact that the power company holds the Deed will be problematic. So, these problems should be corrected so that Monongalia County is the holder of the Deed.

6. Alternatively, a third party Trustee should be designated as the Deed holder so as to protect all parties to these agreements from these unanticipated circumstances.

7. Our Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition (MVCAC) provided this Commission yesterday with copies to each Commissioner of a West Virginia Law Review article entitled “PILOT AGREEMENTS IN WEST VIRGINIA: A TALE OF TURBULENT TAXATION.” This document was published on December 13, 2020, just this week, and brings forward many issues, including that PILOT agreements are not well established in the law.

8. Finally, on Monday of this week, the WVU Center for Energy & Sustainable Development issued an extensive and in-depth report titled “West Virginia’s Energy Future.” This presents a plan to ramp up renewable energy to decrease costs, reduce risks, and strengthen economic opportunities here in West Virginia. This report is the subject of in-depth articles today in both the Morgantown Dominion Post and in the Charleston Gazette Mail. The full report is now available on the World Wide Web (Internet).

Duane G. Nichols, Coordinator, Mon Valley Clean Air Coalition,
330 Dream Catcher Circle, Morgantown, WV 26508.

Consider the Longview II PILOT Agreement for New Power Plant

By Kelly Allen, WV Center on Budget & Policy, December 10, 2019

While local government agencies have not disclosed the forgone revenue estimates from the Longview I or II PILOT agreements, we can estimate the value of the tax expenditure by looking at what Longview would be paying if it paid the same tax rate as other businesses in Monongalia County.

PILOT Agreements in West Virginia Lack Transparency and Are Often Unnecessary —
-Neither the state nor the county report on how much property tax revenue is lost each year to PILOTs and other business tax incentives.
-There is no evaluation process for determining that PILOTs have provided a net good for residents and taxpayers.
-Research suggests that between 75-98% of the time, business tax incentives do not affect a business’ decision on where to locate.
-Even when they do tip a location decision, they rarely pay for themselves by providing net positive tax revenues.
-Poorly designed business tax incentives threaten public services, turning a tool said to promote growth into an economic disaster.

There are best practices for ensuring transparency and accountability when PILOTs are done —
✓ Disclose the forgone property tax revenue and require an evaluation of all PILOT agreements to ensure a net positive taxpayer benefit.
✓ Give school boards decision-making authority to approve all agreements as they are the most impacted by loss of property tax revenue (2/3 of property taxes go to local schools).
✓ Enlist a neutral or third-party to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the deal is worthwhile over the short- and long-term life of the project. (Our only current analysis was paid for by Longview).
✓ Include local hiring provisions, pay and benefit standards, and clawback/recapture provisions if the developer fails to fulfill their obligations.
✓ Grant abatements only to areas in need of development and to those that maximize beneficial outcomes (infrastructure improvements, quality jobs, overall revenue gains).
✓ Limit the length of the abatement to the minimum necessary to attract the development sought.

At the very least, PILOT agreements in West Virginia, especially those where almost all of the economic impact happens during construction, like Longview Power, should require that the new tax revenue from the project exceeds the property tax abatement and that there are job creation and retention requirements.

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See also: PILOT Agreements Cost State Millions in Tax Revenue: An In-Depth Look at Longview Power Plant, Ted Boettner, October 15,2019

Proposed Longview Power electric energy complex on Mason Dixon Line

From an Article Ben Conley, Morgantown Dominion Post, February 23, 2019

MORGANTOWN — Already operating one of the world’s most advanced and efficient coal-fired power plants, Longview Power is ready to invest an estimated $1.2 billion to build natural gas and solar power generation facilities.

Longview Power President and CEO Jeffery Keffer said the company plans to bring the new facilities online in 2020, making Longview an “all of the above” energy center.

The bulk of the investment, about $900 million, will go toward the creation of a natural gas combined cycle plant to be located near Longview’s Fort Martin Road coal facility.

While the gas plant will be significantly smaller, it will generate 1,200 megawatts, far outpacing the 710 megawatts generated by its coal-fired predecessor.

“This will be smaller, but more efficient in a lot of ways because of the type of equipment that’s used,” Keffer said of the gas-powered turbines at the heart of the plant. “We’ll be using the latest types of these so that we’ll have high efficiency. Again, the same idea that went into Longview — the latest equipment, most advanced technology and a fuel that’s abundant and easily available.”

The natural gas facility will be fed using a 6.2-mile, 20-inch gas pipeline that will run into Pennsylvania to connect with Trans Canada’s Columbia 1804 interstate transmission line.

Keffer said all necessary rights of way have been secured, and environmental studies and permitting procedures with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are well under way. Longview is working with Thrasher Engineering on the $30 million pipeline, the majority of which will run underground.

Once the natural gas plant is completed, the staging areas used in its construction will be part of a series of solar arrays covering 350 acres near the plant and in Pennsylvania. When the sun is shining, the solar arrays will generate about 50 megawatts, offsetting a significant portion of the power used to operate the coal plant.

“The solar takes about 350 acres and produces 50 megawatts, and that’s if the sun is shining. The gas plant takes 26 acres and produces 1,200 megawatts. That gives you a sense, you know, when people say we’re going to all renewables, I’m not sure where that’s all going to take place,” Keffer said, noting the solar arrays have an estimated cost of $70 million.

He went on to say that the two-plus-year buildout will likely generate about 6,000 construction jobs. The natural gas plant will likely generate between 30 and 40 permanent jobs.

“Using the infrastructure we already have here reduces our upfront cost. Where we can also economize is just in the number of jobs,” Keffer said. “Typically a plant like this would create maybe 50 jobs, permanently. We would be able to utilize our resources already here in terms of maintenance people, our accounting people and that sort of thing.”

As incentive to build the $2.2 billion coal plant locally, Longview entered into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with the Monongalia County Commission in 2008.

Commission President Tom Bloom said a separate agreement will be worked out regarding the upcoming improvements.

“We’re excited about the investment locally,” Bloom said. “Yes, we will need to set up another agreement. What that is, we don’t know at this time. It’s too premature to say exactly what that would look like.”

Research on Marcellus shale drilling now underway in Monongalia County

From an Article by Luke Torrance, Pittsburgh Business Times, December 24, 2018

Testing is set to begin this week in West Virginia as part of an effort to advance hydraulic fracturing techniques that would allow the extraction of natural gas to be done more efficiently.

The drilling tests are being carried out by the Marcellus Shale Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (MSEEL), a research partnership between West Virginia University, Northeast Natural Energy, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

The tests will seek to improve gas recovery from horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, a method in which rock is fractured by pressurized liquid, releasing the natural gas. They will be carried out near Core, W.Va., which is located about 15 miles northwest of Morgantown.

Previous research by WVU and Northeast Natural Energy led to the creation of stimulation zones that offered the best well sites around natural fractures in the shale. These sites were monitored using seismic and fiber optic distributed temperature and acoustic sensing, a method that is too costly to be used on all wells.

“Therefore, aided by advanced numerical modeling developed by WVU, the project team will compare the use and results of new completion/stimulation techniques at the Core site to the large array of relatively cost-prohibitive techniques used in the Morgantown Industrial Park wells,” according to NETL.

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Man dies from injuries sustained in explosion at MarkWest facility in Washington County, PA

From an Article by Luke Torrance, Pittsburgh Business Times, December 20, 2018

A man who was critically injured in an explosion at the MarkWest facility in Washington County, PA, last week has died, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.

Jeffrey Fisher, 61, of Salem, W.Va., was one of four workers injured last week after an incident near two temporary tanks that were on-site for routine maintenance led to an explosion on December 13th. The men were working at the MarkWest facility in Houston, Pa., which is owned by Marathon Petroleum.

Chestnut Ridge map shows Cheat Lake in lower left corner, Lake O' Woods at lower center

Underground Natural Gas Storage Services Proposed for Summit Gas Field in Fayette Co., PA, Monongalia & Preston Co., WV

From an Article of PRNewswire, Houston, TX, July 31, 2015

Interstate Natural Gas Storage Services – Chestnut Ridge Storage, LLC, owned by affiliates of eCORP International, LLC and financial partners, is conducting a non-binding Open Season for natural gas storage capacity and deliverability that will be offered at the Junction Natural Gas Storage Facility that is currently under development.

The Open Season for the initial 15 BCF of working gas capacity will begin on August 3, 2015 and will end at 5:00 pm CDT September 15^th, 2015. After evaluating open season submissions, Chestnut Ridge will seek to execute definitive precedent storage service agreements with successful bidders.

The proposed facility is to be constructed within the West Summit Field that is located in Fayette County, PA and the counties of Monongalia and Preston in West Virginia.

Junction Storage will be a multi-cycle, high deliverability facility with up to 25 BCF of working gas capacity and 500,000 dth/day of peak injection and withdrawal capabilities.

The project scope includes interconnects with the Columbia Gas Transmission, Dominion Transmission, Equitrans and Texas Eastern pipeline systems near the town of Waynesburg, PA.

Chestnut Ridge will seek authorization to construct the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and will request market-based rate treatment for this new interstate storage facility. The proposed in service date for this facility is the 2^nd Quarter of 2018, with the potential for limited commercial operations in the 4^th quarter of 2017.

The Junction Natural Gas Storage Facility will be strategically located to provide service to the expanding pipeline networks that are being built to transport the Marcellus and Utica natural gas production to the most valuable markets in the United States. Because of the facility’s design it will be unnecessary to impose restrictions that typically limit the use of conventional gas storage in the region.

Junction Storage will provide highly flexible services that can be specifically tailored to each customer’s needs. This flexibility will provide customers with a valuable new “on-demand” asset to help manage strategic and operational gas requirements, including supply, demand and transportation imbalances, basis, and seasonal price spreads. These services can be particularly useful when the requirements are the result of unplanned circumstances.

About eCORP International, LLC – eCORP International, LLC is a Houston, Texas, based privately held energy company, that is engaged in the development of natural gas storage facilities, natural gas pipelines and unconventional resource plays through its subsidiaries and affiliates.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Longview Power Plant on WV Route 51 near PA

Emergency evacuation for area near coal-fired power plant in Maidsville (Monongalia County) facility

From an Article by Alex Lang, Morgantown Dominion Post, January 6, 2015

Several people had to be evacuated from their homes as crews tended to a natural gas fire at Longview Power Plant on Monday (January 5^th). Shortly after 2 p.m., emergency crews were called to a reported fire at the power plant, located off Fort Martin Road in Maidsville.

According to Longview Power LLC, the fire occurred at a recently installed, temporary liquefied natural gas storage system. The fire occurred during testing of the system and was located several hundred yards from the power plant. The system is used during plant startups, when pipeline gas in unavailable, Longview said.No injuries, environmental or property damage occurred, according to Longview.

As a result of the fire, responders shut down Fort Martin Road from the intersection with WV Route 100 to the state line, as they tended to the scene. Residents who lived within a mile of the plant were evacuated and told they could go to the Granville Fire Hall.

Mon County Office of Emergency Management Director Mike Wolfe said less than a dozen people were evacuated. The agency sent a phone alert that mostly went unanswered or to answering machines in the one-mile radius, which led them to believe that many people were not home at the time of the fire.

Ralph Hicks lives along Fort Martin Road and was forced to leave his home near the Fort Martin Business Park.

He said that he received a call and was told to evacuate because of an emergency at the power plant. Hicks said he wasn’t bothered by the evacuation because the smoke from the plant goes toward the state line and not toward his home.

The fire was extinguished at 3:25 p.m. and by about 4 p.m., emergency responders cleared the scene, reopened the roadway and ended the evacuation.

Another alert went out at 5:55 p.m. Wolfe said that was because of a problem with the system. The alerts end with the name Jimmy Giana. That is an abbreviated version of the name of the State Director of Emergency Management, James Gianato. The alerts only allow for a set number of characters to appear (on cell phones).

The Granville, Star City and Westover volunteer fire departments responded to the fire. Mon EMS, the West Virginia State Police and the Monongalia County Sheriff Department also assisted.

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Emergency alert glitch corrected, being called a learning lesson

From an Article of WAJR 1440 AM, www.wajr.com, January 7, 2015

When a methane tank caught fire at Longview Power Plant in Maidsville, emergency management workers had two priorities – get the fire out and warn the region of a potential emergency.

The fire was contained and fortunately did not spread within the plant. Firefighters going door to door to advise residents of the issue and calls to landlines with the same message were successfully delivered.

But, a text message sent through the Emergency Alert System has come under criticism. “I certainly wasn’t prepared, wasn’t educated and didn’t know what in the world was going on,” said a caller to WAJR’s Morgantown AM.

Cell phone users received a message advising them to “evacuate now”. The message was incomplete, lacking a specific location and details on what sparked the evacuation order. The same, vague message was received multiple times by some residents, hours after the fire was extinguished and there was no longer a risk of danger.

A federal provision requires the Emergency Alert System to utilize text alerts to warn residents of a crisis or dangerous situation. That’s in addition to the alerts many are accustomed to seeing on television and hearing on the radio.

According to Mike Wolfe, the director of the Monongalia County Office of Emergency Management and Mecca 911, this particular text alert system had never before been used in the state.

“Because of FCC rules, they’re not allowed to test that program like they do the regular tests on the radio or on the television. So, that was one of the first few times that it was ever tested or ever used here in West Virginia. And, obviously it did not work,” explained Wolfe.

Wolfe said the Mecca 911 office was immediately aware of the inaccurate, repeated text messages but was at the mercy of the state agencies that issued the messages. “I was on the phone with the state homeland security director and receiving some emails from FEMA, that they were able to figure out what it was that went wrong and that’s the positive,” said Wolfe.

The emergency at the Monongalia County power plant occurred at approximately 2:30 pm. Seven hours later, some were still receiving the texts. “That night, when I got ready to go to bed, I thought, am I going to have this signal all night long,” said the WAJR listener.

The issue, said Wolfe, has been addressed and the result is to use it as a learning lesson. “Luckily this wasn’t an incident that caused any death or injuries and we were able to find that glitch and hopefully that saved someone else.”

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An investigation is called for regarding this LNG fire

By Duane Nichols, www.FrackCheckWV.net, January 7, 2015

There are a number of questions for which the public does not have a full and adequate explanation:

1. Why is there LNG being stored at the Longview power plant, a very dangerous material as it can leak, catch fire, and/or explode! (Longview has a pipeline connection for conventional natural gas supply.)
2. Why was there an evacuation call for the general public but not the Longview plant personnel who continued to operate the power plant through-out the fire event?
3. What is the radius of danger for this event? Was the evacuation announced to all residents within this radius? What was the information provided to those affected?
4. Why was an emergency announced to the entire Morgantown area, about 4 hours after the event’s occurrence?  Suppose this was a real announcement, where were all of the residents of Morgantown expected to go?
5. How much liquefied natural gas (LNG) was lost to the environment, and became methane and incomplete combustion products to the atmosphere?

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

WV Route 857 North

WV-DEP files case against area developer

From an Article by David Beard, TheDPost.com, May 23, 2014

MORGANTOWN — The state Department of Environmental Protection (WV-DEP) is asking Monongalia County Circuit Court to assess $25,000 per day penalties against a Morgantown developer for alleged environmental violations at a Cheat Lake-area industrial park.

WV-DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management filed the “complaint for enforcement” on May 22. It issued 12 notices of violation (NOVs) from Sept. 16, 2010, through May 9, 2013, to defendant LPG Land & Development Corp., based on Fairchance Road (WV Route 857 in Monongalia County).

Paul Panson is LPG’s president. The 18-acre industrial park is sited between Fairchance and the Mon-Fayette Expressway, just north of the Interstate 68 and Mon-Fayette interchange. (The LPG site is a service area for the oil and gas industry.)

An LPG representative said Thursday that management hadn’t seen the complaint yet and couldn’t comment.

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Leak Found at Fayette County WV Frack Waste Site

From an Article by Jessica Lilly, WV Public Broadcasting, May 23, 2014

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection says there indeed was a leak earlier this month in a pipe carrying oil and gas waste from an above ground pit, to an underground injection well in Lochghelly in Fayette County.

As we reported earlier this week, Danny Webb Construction is working to close and reclaim an above ground pit holding waste from the oil and gas industry, including frackwater.

The WV-DEP confirmed that residents’ concerns about leakage during the process were valid. The WV-DEP says there was a leak earlier this month in a pipe carrying wastewater to an underground injection well on the property.

The state environmental agency says the leak was fixed and the impacted soil was dug up and disposed of in a landfill.

The reclamation work comes months after the DEP ordered the pits closed because the operator needed to update the lining and install a leak detection system.

Danny Webb Construction used the pits to remove sediments before injecting into a UIC or underground injection well. The permit for this well expired in 2012 but was renewed February 2014, only to be revoked in early March.

Since then, the WV-DEP changed the application for this type of well. The changes include a new format structured to look more like the permit applications used by the WV-DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management, and also inclusion of additional guidance on what is needed for the application.

As of Wednesday the operator had not resubmitted a permit application. Environmental groups and citizen Brad Keenan are appealing the revocation because it appears to allow the operator to continue to collect waste just the same as if the permit were approved. A hearing before the Quality Control Board is set for June 12 at the Charleston WV-DEP office.

WVU CAC March 24 - 28

MFA exhibition focusing on Deckers Creek Watershed open March 24-28

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– WVU Master of Fine Arts candidate Forrest Conroy will present his MFA thesis exhibition, focusing on the Deckers Creek Watershed, at the Creative Arts Center during March 24-28.

Titled “Watershed: A Call to Action,” the graphic design project will be on view in the Paul Mesaros Gallery. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held Thursday, March 27 at 6 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

The goal of Conroy’s exhibition is to educate visitors and challenge people to see how their personal actions are connected to the health of their environment. The cornerstone project of his thesis work is CreekDog, a web application that allows citizens to report and track serious pollution issues throughout the Deckers Creek Watershed.

Industries that used the creek as a source of water power included a forge and iron furnace, grist mills, saw mills, and a pottery and a paper mill. Rapid industrialization in the first half of the 20th century took a heavy toll on the once-pristine creek, as water quality declined and aquatic life diminished. Recreational fishing and boating on the creek eventually ceased after acid mine runoff and open sewage fouled the water.

Friends of Deckers Creek (FODC), a community non-profit watershed association, organized in 1995 to start clean-ups of illegal dumps and to monitor water quality. In 1998, the state Department of Environmental Protection and federal Natural Resources Conservation Service committed $10 million to clean up acid mine drainage in the Deckers Creek Watershed, an effort that continues to be guided by FODC.

Conroy’s project was developed in partnership with Friends of Deckers Creek and is based on their Watershed Bill of Rights Program that calls citizens to take action. CreekDog takes this one step further by providing a tool that facilitates action between citizens and the public agencies responsible for addressing these issues.

“It is important that we find ways to educate and empower citizens to take an active role in protecting their environment and bettering their communities,” Conroy said. “The story of Deckers Creek is one of both immense beauty and complex environmental issues. People want to help and do the right thing. Many people either don’t know there’s a problem, or, if they do, don’t know how to solve it—but everyone plays a part. I hope that this exhibition helps to create an opportunity for people to make a difference.”

The CreekDog project is being funded, in part, by a grant from the Appalachian stewardship foundation. The Mesaros Galleries are open Monday through Saturday, from noon to 9:30 p.m. For more information on the event, contact Robert Bridges, curator of the Mesaros Galleries at 304-293-2312.