Commission asks state to stop funding Pocahontas PSD - Snowshoe sewer project cited as reason

By Rick Steelhammer
Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Citing an unwillingness by the Pocahontas County Public Service District "to address the actual need and purpose" of the controversial Snowshoe/Slatyfork regional sewer project, Pocahontas County commissioners have asked that state funding for the PSD be halted.

Commission President Martin Saffer wrote a letter to Angela Chestnut, director of the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council director, asking that the council "provide no further funding to the Pocahontas County PSD at this time."

In the letter, Saffer wrote that the PSD's "inability to represent the community's needs and wishes in its execution of the proposed Snowshoe/Slatyfork regional sewer project" has caused the commission to conclude "that the PSD has failed with respect to this project."

A letter was also sent to Amy Swann, director of the water and wastewater division of the state Public Service Commission, asking that the PSC "assist us in the creation of a separate public service district for the Snowshoe area."

The proposed sewer plant serving Snowshoe Mountain Resort and a portion of the Slatyfork area began drawing resistance in 2005, after plans were unveiled to build a treatment plant along the headwaters of the Elk River and U.S. 219 near Sharp's Country Store.

Members of the Sharp family objected to having the sewer plant located so close to their business, and complained that discharge of warm, treated sewage into a seasonally dry section of the Elk River would kill trout and seep into the groundwater.

When the use of eminent domain to acquire the land was threatened, the project drew more community resistance. Saffer credits his opposition to eminent domain as a major factor in his election to the County Commission in 2006.

Commissioner David Fleming, elected to the commission last November, also opposed the use of eminent domain to procure land for the sewer project. He also complained that the proposed plant was being moved forward not so much by Pocahontas County residents as by the plant's design firm, the PSC's attorney and Snowshoe Mountain officials.

Saffer said if the commission's letters persuade state officials to suspend funding for the project, "we can bring it to a stop and take a breath without the force of momentum that's been behind it all these years."

Over the past few years, Saffer said, "we've heard from a lot of new stakeholders with a lot of good ideas, but the momentum of the project has continued at the same pace, with a sense of inevitability to it. It's time to stop, look around, and see what it is we're really trying to do."

He said he wants the PSD and the Infrastructure Council "to realize that the County Commission "has changed in personality in response to voters during the last two elections. We've now taken the position of acting in response to the will of the people who live in the county."

The Pocahontas County PSD recently took over ownership and operation of Snowshoe Mountain's antiquated and near-capacity sewer system and has been spearheading the effort to build the new Snowshoe/Slatyfork sewer system.

County commissioner Reta Griffith was not present during the meeting in which Fleming and Saffer decided to seek the funding halt.

Whether or not the Infrastructure Council decides to honor the commission's request to cut off funding for the PSC remains to be seen, Saffer said. So far, he has not received a reply to the letters.

"This project has had a lot of twists and turns, and I don't know what turn will happen next. But I hope we'll have time to give political will a chance to happen."