Dear Editor:
Have you ever seen Pickaway Falls or Taggard Falls in West Virginia? – probably not as they are respectively 120 feet [equals 8 stories] and 190 feet [equals 12.6 stories] below Dry Branch Road in very southern Randolph County, West Virginia. Crayfish Pool and Virgin Pool are both deeper than 14 stories underground and full of water.
Directly underneath Dry Branch Road at the exact location of the proposed 347 foot wide leveled path with a center trench 30 feet wide and 30 feet deep blasted and drilled through karst – there are flowing rivers 225 feet [equals 15 stories] beneath the surface.
There are two sumps in the depths of My Cave that direct water 150 feet below at a depth equaling a 10 story building to Simmons-Mingo Cave and the Canadian River. In addition, water flows through The Flush Hole at 210 feet beneath the surface, equaling the height of a 14 story building.
The rock below the proposed methane pipeline route is karst, 100 feet of Union Limestone, 70 feet of Pickaway Limestone, and 45 feet of Taggard Shale [totaling 225 feet, the height of a 15 story building].
These facts, maps and photos regarding Dominion Transmission’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline newest Beckwith Route which flattens Elk Mountain and Mingo Knob were presented to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [FERC] and are available on wvmatters.com.
Mingo Run is solid rock in the direct path of the proposed route. This stream flows from the Big Spring Fork and flows as the headwater of the Cheat Watershed, the Elk River Watershed and the Tygart Valley Watershed. I lived one mile from Simmons-Mingo Cave on Mingo Run for five years and I could hear boulders rolling deep beneath my home.
Most Sincerely and Seriously,
Lauren D. Ragland
West Virginia Matters
Green Bank