Ranson, W.Va.—Local residents rallied at the doorstep of the planned Rockwool insulation factory on May 16 to express their resolve to keep fighting the insulation manufacturer, even as walls of factory buildings rise on the construction site. Resist Rockwool, organizer of the rally, estimated that as many as 400 people […]
Mountaineer Gas Pipeline
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Update: Building plans including foundations for three “stacks” are permitted for the Rockwool plant. Two foundations are intended for 210-feet tall smokestacks, and the third is for a 115-feet tall, 4-foot diameter “chimney,” according to Michael Zarin, Vice President of Group Communications at Rockwool, in an email to DC Media […]
Update, May 1, 2019: A federal court judge granted Rockwool’s motion for a preliminary injunction, halting the Jefferson County Board of Education’s efforts to obtain the Rockwool site by eminent domain. The judge’s order means that the BOE may not pursue condemnation of the property in state court. The injunction […]
Ranson, W.Va.–Granny Smith Lane was until recently riddled with almost impassable potholes. If you navigated them successfully and wound your way to the end of the narrow, tree-lined roadway, you would reach a secluded corner of what used to be an apple orchard. Hardly noticeable, a few gravestones sit atop […]
Drone photos indicate that concrete walls are rising on the Rockwool site in Ranson, W.Va., a signal that construction of the manufacturing complex to produce mineral wool fiber has begun in earnest. Official groundbreaking took place on June 26, 2018 and site preparation has proceeded since then. Construction of the […]
The West Virginia Department of Environment (WVDEP) on Friday issued the final permit necessary for Mountaineer Gas to build a gas pipeline to service the Rockwool factory in Jefferson County, ignoring repeated requests to reschedule a public hearing on the matter. The decision was reportedly made at the highest levels […]
After cancelling a public hearing last month on a permit for an extension of the Mountaineer Gas Pipeline, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) appears to be waffling on setting a new date–and the people who asked for a hearing are growing impatient. The proposed 4.85-mile distribution line […]
A Maryland administrative board has denied Columbia Gas a necessary permit for it to build a controversial gas pipeline across the Potomac River. By a unanimous vote, the Maryland Board of Public Works rejected a right-of-way easement for the Eastern Panhandle Expansion, commonly known as the Potomac Pipeline. Without the […]
Hagerstown, Md. — To transport gas from the fracking wells in Pennsylvania and Ohio to the Eastern Panhandle, Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of TransCanada, needs to drill under the Potomac at Hancock, Md. But if things go wrong, it could mean disaster for the river and all who depend on […]
Opponents of the gas pipeline extension that would feed the Rockwool stone wool factory made their feelings very clear to the West Virginia Public Service Commission two weeks ago during a hearing for public comment in Shepherdstown. But, if an evidentiary hearing this morning in Charleston is any sign, the […]
Hundreds of people packed the room at the Shepherd University Student Center Wednesday night to deliver impassioned statements to the West Virginia Public Service Commission on a permit for a gas pipeline extension in the Eastern Panhandle. The proposed extension of the Mountaineer Gas Pipeline would cut through Jefferson County […]
The West Virginia Department of Environment Protection (WVDEP) cited Danish stone wool manufacturer Rockwool for failing to report the formation of a sinkhole and other problems at a construction site in Ranson, W.Va. Rockwool’s failure to alert WVDEP of “noncompliance” with the conditions of its stormwater permit “may have endangered […]