A public meeting on proposed pipelines will be held Saturday, July 19 at 1 p.m. at Pocahontas County Wellness Center, 831 3rd Avenue, Marlinton.
“Mountain People Stand Together” will be sponsoring public meetings on the proposed pipelines throughout Pocahontas County in the upcoming weeks.
The first Saturday event will be held on July 19. The Open House will begin at 1 p.m. at the Pocahontas Wellness Center, 831 3rd Avenue, Marlinton. Evening meetings will be scheduled and announced.
Moderator for July 19 will be Bill McNeel, The Pocahontas Times Editor Emeritus. The Public Meeting programs will include scheduled speakers, video presentations, comments and questions from the public.
Communication representatives from Dominion Power in Richmond, VA and Clarksburg, WV, EQT in Pittsburgh, PA and Spectra Energy of Houston, TX have been individually invited by phone message and email. “Mountain People Stand Together” has requested that representatives forward a video presentation if they are unable to attend.
Watershed protection associations throughout West Virginia and Virginia, along with public health organizations, environmental groups, local, county and state officials are invited to attend and speak. Included in the program are community and environmental groups from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.
On July 1, two 15-minute presentations were given to the Pocahontas County Commission, available on you tube for viewing as “Pipeline 42.” As described in the July 2, Pocahontas Times article “Group Warns Commission about Pipeline Dangers,” “the newly-formed West Virginia Wilderness Lovers (WVWL) gave a presentation to the Pocahontas County Commission about the certain consequences and potential dangers of a proposed natural gas pipeline crossing Pocahontas County. WVWL founder Lauren Ragland described several negative impacts of pipeline construction, including blasting and cutting to build the pipeline, noise from compressor stations, truck traffic and the potential for catastrophic water pollution.”
Allegheny Mountain Radio (WVMR)’s coverage shared details on the presentation by Ed Wade Jr. of Wetzel County Action Group, “he displayed several photographs of catastrophic damage from pipeline malfunctions in other areas, showing how blasting for pipelines had seriously degraded streams and wildlife in other areas.”
The public is urged to learn the facts on the three proposed 42” pipelines through the Virginia and West Virginia mountains and highlands. Visit the WVWL’s Facebook cause page, Google+ and Google blog for more information or write to mountain.people.stand.together@usa.com.