{"id":2999,"date":"2017-09-22T10:37:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T14:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2017-09-22T11:42:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T15:42:28","slug":"wv-dep-to-hear-citizen-concerns-about-us-silica-blasting-october-10-at-moose-lodge-in-berkeley-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2999","title":{"rendered":"State to Hear Citizen Concerns About US Silica Blasting October 10 at Moose Lodge in Berkeley Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The West Virginia Department of the Environment (DEP) will hold a public meeting on October 10 from 3 pm to 7 pm at the Moose Lodge in Berkeley Springs to hear citizen concerns about US Silica\u2019s proposal to move their blasting operations closer to town.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3000\" src=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/springs-1-300x171.jpg\" alt=\"springs\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/springs-1-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/springs-1.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;I&#8217;m concerned about the impact extraction and blasting this close to town will have on the springs,\u201d said local resident Rebecca MacLeod. \u201cEconomic development money has been invested in the depot and the trail, just across the proposed blasting site. Citizens should attend this meeting to express their concerns. We want Silica to explain risk protection for the town. What kind of safeguards will the community have?&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The DEP said that they have scheduled an \u201cinformal conference from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday October 10, 2017, in the Moose Lodge, located at 593 N Washington Street in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe purpose of the conference is to allow comments from those people having an interest which is or may be adversely affected by the proposed U.S. Silica Company modification,\u201d the DEP said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the informal conference, the director of the DEP then has 30 days to make a decision on the application. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That decision may then be appealed to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dep.wv.gov\/smb\/Pages\/boardmembers.aspx\">DEP\u2019s Quarry Board.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/swap.pdf\">Warm Springs Watershed Association issued a statement<\/a> saying it was \u201cconcerned that southward expansion of mining and quarry activities associated with extraction of sandstone poses a threat to the hydrogeologic setting of the aquifer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUS Silica has not provided evidence the recharge area for the aquifer will not be reduced, nor have they demonstrated that the pathways the groundwater flows to the surface will not be interrupted from deep pit excavation and blasting within the designated source water protection area,\u201d the Watershed Association said in its statement.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The West Virginia Department of the Environment (DEP) will hold a public meeting on October 10 from 3 pm to 7 pm at the Moose Lodge in Berkeley Springs to hear citizen concerns about US Silica\u2019s proposal to move their &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2999\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3003,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}