The Highlands Voice February, 2017 Page 1 West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Non-Profit Org
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The Highlands Voice February, 2017 Page 1 West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Non-Profit Org. PO. Box 306 U.S. Postage PAID Charleston, WV 25321 Permit No. 2831 Charleston, WV The Highlands Voice The Monthly Publication of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy Volume 50 No. `2 February, 2017 Whoa, hold your horses FERC, Dominion Seek to By John McFerrin Rush Pipeline Review The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and anticipated a big pipeline running through the Forest. Because of Dominion Resources have proposed an accelerated schedule this, it would be illegal to allow a pipeline to cross the Forests unless for approval of the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The Forest those plans are changed. Service has pushed back against that proposal, suggesting a more As a matter of law, neither a change in the Land and Resource thorough review. Management Plan nor issuance of a special use permit can come Dominion’s proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline about before the Forest Service has all the relevant information and would cross 21 miles of the George Washington and Monongahela follows its procedures. National Forests. In order to build the pipeline, Dominion must have So far, the Forest Service has not shown any hostility to approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). the proposed pipeline. Neither has it shown any great fondness. It must also have the approval of the U.S. Forest Service. Instead, it has consistently shown its commitment to a careful and The Forest Service approval would come in the form of a thorough analysis of the pipeline, requiring the applicant to provide Special Use permit that would allow the construction of the pipeline complete and high quality information and making decisions based on the National Forests. on its own timelines. To approve the pipeline, the Forest Service would also have Now FERC and Dominion Resources want to change all to revise the Land and Resource Land and Resource Management that. FERC has proposed that it go ahead and make its decision Plans for both the Monongahela National Forest and the George on the pipeline, allow construction to begin, and then let the Forest Washington National Forest. Every ten to fifteen years, each Service make decisions on changing the Forest Plans and issuing National Forest does a Land and Resource Management Plan, special use permits. setting out how the Forest Service plans to manage the Forest. This puts the Forest Service in an impossible position. To The Monongahela National Forest did its Plan in 2006; the George make decisions on the special use permit or amending the Land Washington National Forests did its Plan in 2014. Neither Plan (More on p. 3) What’s inside: Thoughts from our president 2 Get a history book 9 Get a Hiking Guide 15 Improving the Hiking Guide 4 Self guided tour of pipeline 10 A great unfairness 16 CELEBRATE!!! 5 Arboretum dodges bullet 12 Fun seeds for sale 17 The Court speaks 6 Roster of Officers 12 Board highlights 18 Rule in peril 7 Where to put windmills? 13 Public lands in peril 19 A helpful explanation 7 Be a stream monitor 13 Legislature coming 19 Water rules 8 Predictions 14 Stuff to buy 20 How to join 9 APB for a bumblebee 14 Visit us on the web at www.wvhighlands.org Find us on Facebook The Highlands Voice February, 2017 Page 2 Ramblin’ the Ridges By Cynthia D. Ellis Places in Our Hearts Most times we do not save mountains many times in the coming years. Our hike, “Judge Maxwell ordered lawyers… all on our own. We have help. But in many which was led by Sayre Rodman, attracted to get together to agree on a method past instances, we did take the lead and one-hundred-nineteen people including our of sampling that didn’t require roads. offered a major portion of the work required Secretary of State, John D. Rockefeller, IV, Pack horses and helicopters were to protect quite a few special places in the and his wife…I hope that every member two alternatives…Island Creek Highlands of West Virginia. will lend his hand to help save the “Valley announced that horses were the There’s a long list: Cranberry, Dolly of Opportunity.” choice… [drill rigs] were taken apart Sods, Blackwater, Otter Creek, Canaan In a subsequent column, King and loaded onto a specially designed Valley, the “Mon” Forest, Spruce Knob, outlined the challenges of achieving litter-shaped platform suspended Seneca Rocks, Laurel Fork, Spice Run, wilderness status for Otter Creek. He between two draft horses…A team Roaring Plains, and Big Draft. We---you cited the Forest Service stance that 2/3 of can carry 800 pounds…it takes nine and I---and all of us of the West Virginia the area should be devoted to timbering trips to transport an entire rig…The Highlands Conservancy, nurtured them and and the intention of Island Creek Coal ground is frequently rocky and the wanted to secure their future. Company to core drill 5 sites in the valley. horses are constantly losing shoes…” One special place targeted in the King said, “Remember the coal belongs And then, the Charleston Gazette early 1970’s was Otter Creek. featured an article, “Otter This wilderness area in Tucker Creek Prospecting Put on County, rimmed by Shavers Shelf.” The story ends with Mountain and McGowan timbering and roads deflected, Mountain, is comprised of and the coal company 20,698 acres. It features deciding that mining was not tumbling waterfalls and 45 feasible. miles of challenging trails. We won. Bob Burrell Early on, our volunteers hiked was president and The Voice and explored the area, and included his remark, “It is a rare shared their findings with day when the West Virginia government agencies and Highlands Conservancy can individuals and with anyone claim an almost complete concerned. victory.” More specifically, Vic I had intended to write Schmidt and others prepared about those other places listed an Otter Creek brochure too. But, this Otter Creek [based on the work Helen episode captured me from McGinnis had done in, “A the first instance of hearing of Dolly Sods Guide”.] His it. [Also, I did really have an Helen McGinnis on one of the horses booklet was a trail guide for experience there, struggling used to transport the drilling rig. Otter Creek with maps and had to keep up with a Brooks Bird a bonus of recommendations regarding the to Island Creek, but the surface belongs Club group on one of Dr. Jay Buckelew’s protection of this place. At a WVHC Mid- to you! You have as much right to the aptly nicknamed “Death Marches.”] Winter Workshop, it was noted that--- preservation of your property as they do And truly, whether you read of them “Most of the Board’s attention was to theirs.” He pointed out that there were here or not, in the end, all those places are devoted to Otter Creek. The main program moves in Congress to promote wilderness still at the heart of the work we continue to for Saturday afternoon was concerned with bills, particularly by WV Congressman Ken try to do. the Conservancy’s wilderness proposal for Hechler. See more on Otter Creek http://www. this area…vs. that of the Forest Service…” Next, we held public meetings. wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1782 ] * Then we went to court. We sought, We pressed for the “multiple use and obtained a temporary injunction against This continues a set of columns focusing concept” rather than the heavy emphasis the core drilling. The Forest Service on our group’s 50th anniversary. My on timbering which was prevalent then. appealed; the appeal was denied. So, writing of past events has been greatly And we brought folks to Otter Creek for the case went back to court and, in 1971, helped by the work of David P. Elkinton, first-hand views of this forest gem. In 1969, Island Creek Coal won limited permission and his book, Fighting for the Highlands: WVHC president Tom King wrote, in The to drill. “Limited!” We proposed and gained The First Forty Years of the West Virginia Highlands Voice--- the requirement that all travel in to the drill Highlands Conservancy. “I was almost overwhelmed by sites be accomplished not via any newly the wilderness beauty of the Otter Creek constructed roads, but by pack horses! valley, it is an area to which I will return Helen McGinnis wrote--- The Highlands Voice February, 2017 Page 3 FERC, the Forests, and the Pipeline (Continued from p. 1) and Resource Management Plan, the example, the Forest Service has asked If you wish to send a statement of Forest Service must review the impacts of for information on slope stabilization that support, you may send it to Forest Service the project according to the requirements Dominion hasn’t provided. It needs that Chief, Thomas Tidwell, [email protected]. of the National Environmental Policy Act information to determine if the pipeline can us, and Regional Foresters, Kathleen and its own procedures. Before the Forest be safely built. Should the pipeline be built, Atkinson, [email protected], Tony Tooke, Service can do this, there must be an the Forest Service would develop plans [email protected], and Clyde Thompson Environmental Impact Statement. to avoid or minimize damage to National [email protected] Copies should For the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the Forest lands. Dominion has not provided also be submitted to FERC (to be included Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is the information necessary to do that. in the administrative record). Submissions in charge of preparing an Environmental It is critical that the Forest Service stay can be made through http://www.ferc.gov/.