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On June 30th I attended an informational meeting conducted by the Friends of the Cheat about a proposed landfill at the confluence of the Little Sandy and the Big Sandy. It was attended by about 300 people including a Preston County commissioner and several other local elected officials. There were also TV crews from Morgantown and newspapers there. For more information, see the Friends of the Cheat website.

CCS Corporation has applied to the Preston County Solid Waste Authority for a permit to build a 120 acre landfill about 20 feet deep on the site. The corners are within 500 feet of both the Little Sandy and Big Sandy. This landfill is being built to take solid waste from the Marcellus wells being drilled in OH, PA, WV, and VA. It will have a 25 year life and then be closed and left un-monitored.

They expect to be accepting solid wastes containing: drill cuttings, drill mud, benzene, toluene, barium, kerosene, diesel, radionucleides.

The main concerns were: a breech of the liner, hazardous dust, truck traffic and the impact on the watershed that is finally clean enough to support trout after 10 years of effort by FOC and millions of dollars spent.

It appears that there is little economic impact for Preston County from this facility. Just a few jobs and some tipping fees but no big money. What Preston County gets is a lot of risk to the aquifer, surface water, and air with no bond posted or any way to clean it up if an accident occurs.

There will be no help coming from Charleston or the Department of Environmental Protection. The county commissioners cannot stop it either but are involved. Only the Preston County Solid Waste Authority can stop this landfill by denying the permit. They appear to be delaying the project while they do their homework and are accepting questions and input from all concerned parties. Note that the members of this group are ordinary citizens and not professional politicians - so be nice to them.

What can you do? Write the Preston County Solid Waste Authority and tell them how important a clean Sandy watershed is to recreation and tourism. Tell them putting a waste facility at the confluence of two clean streams on top of a hill is a bad idea.

Preston County Solid Waste Authority
c/o Mr. Fred Taylor
118 Lick Run Rd.
Newburg, WV 26410