Latest news with #MonongaliaCounty
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Monongalia County Commission wants to sit down with NextEra
Jun. 27—MORGANTOWN — After being inundated in recent weeks with correspondence and public comment against a power transmission project eyeing a potential route through parts of Monongalia County, the Monongalia County Commission is seeking an audience with NextEra, the company building it. The Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link, or MARL, is a 105-mile, 550-kilovolt "major highway " of overhead transmission lines stretching from Greene County, Pa. to Frederick County, Va. It's to be constructed by NextEra by the end of 2031. While the exact path from Point A to Point B has yet to be selected, Monongalia, Preston, Hampshire and Mineral counties are within the route selection study area in West Virginia. Maryland's Allegany and Garrett counties are also included, as is Fayette County in Pennsylvania. The project will require a 200-foot right of way along its entire length, and some residents in the potentially-impacted areas have started organizing and voicing concerns about the possibility of an "electricity superhighway " running through or near their properties. The possible impacts are made more disturbing, critics say, because rural parts of West Virginia will serve as no more than a pass-through in order to plug in a power hungry portion of northern Virginia that serves as the data center hub of the east coast. Monongalia County Commissioner Sean Sikora said representatives from NextEra initially indicated they would be in town, so the commission scheduled a work session following its June 25 meeting. "After providing that availability, we scheduled a meeting and they indicated that they weren't available, " Sikora said. "So, I relayed to them my displeasure that they didn't come to talk to us because we've been getting a lot of correspondence regarding this project, and we're not hearing from them. All we're hearing is from the public." In an emailed response, NextEra Senior Development Director Kaitlin McCormick assured the commission that no decisions have been made about the route of the project, and that the path chosen by the company will ultimately be subject to review by the public service commissions of the impacted states. Further, she reminded the commission that the company recently held eight open houses across the project study area to collect public input. Lastly, McCormick reiterated NextEra's belief that the project could generate anywhere from $150 million to $400 million in tax revenue for West Virginia and $50 million to $100 million for Monongalia depending on the route selected. McCormick and other NextEra representatives originally sat down with the commission in December to generally describe the project and let the body know Monongalia County is within its route study area. Many of the communications being received by the commission of late are highlighting the actions of its Preston County counterpart. On May 29, the Preston County Commission passed a resolution opposing the MARL project as currently proposed and urging state and federal regulators, as well as NextEra, to halt any development of the project through Preston County. Sikora has said the Mon Commission is looking into the matter. "The commission is doing its fact finding to understand all angles of the project. Just because we've been silent doesn't mean we're not getting educated on the issue, " he said. "It's the intent of this commission to generally research issues and make sure we have all the facts before we weigh in." It's expected that at least one member of the commission plans will attend a community-organized meeting planned for 1 p.m. Sunday at Rexroad Auction, located at 887 Rexroad Farm Road, in Bruceton Mills.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Mon Commission not getting swept up in Richard water issues
Jun. 25—MORGANTOWN — "We're frustrated, " Monongalia County Commission President Jeff Arnett said Wednesday, "But we're not giving up." Arnett's comments were directed to Richard-area resident and property owner Kevin Dailey. The commission's stated frustration is a result of its inability to address water issues in the small, unincorporated area that have been brought before the body periodically for years — and almost weekly for months now. The problem, commissioners have repeated time and again, is the county has very little standing outside the involvement of Floodplain Administrator Harold "Hap " Sperringer. They see it primarily as an issue between private landowners with possible involvement necessary from the West Virginia Division of Highways in regard to the DOH's stormwater infrastructure along WV-7 (Earl L. Core Road). Dailey presented the commission with a petition including the names of 11 Richard area property owners requesting an evening work session with representatives of the county and relevant state agencies. The commission seemed reluctant to accommodate that specific request. During last week's meeting, Commissioner Tom Bloom expressed frustration with Chad Matheny — who runs a business and rental properties in Richard — over his belief that Matheny had misrepresented himself to the DOH as somehow speaking on behalf of the commission. Matheny said that was not the case. Further, Matheny said he was told by a DOH representative that the problems lie solely with property owners, not the state. That, he said, is also not accurate. "This morning, I got up early after the rain. It had stopped raining. I have video footage of several drains that are totally stagnant. There's no water going through them whatsoever, " Matheny previously said, referencing DOH storm drops. While Dailey and Matheny are at odds over the particulars of what's causing all the water to collect in Richard, they both seem to believe the DOH has a role to play in fixing it. And they're both getting similar responses when asking for assistance from the commission. "We have beat the drum on this to anyone that would listen. At one point we had a representative from DOH. We had Hap [Sperringer ] there at a meeting, and we're not giving up on the issue, " Arnett said. "But Commissioner Bloom is right in that we're limited in what we can do. What we can do is bring, or at least request, the parties that can do something come to the table. And Hap is doing a good job trying to coordinate the thing and get help where he can. He's reaching out to different entities — DEP, DOH — trying to get somebody to come in and take ownership." In other news, the commission canceled its July 16 regular meeting.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Monongalia County Sheriff's Office sheds more light on motorcycle accident
May 30—MORGANTOWN — A motorcycle rider involved in Thursday's accident on the Mileground has life-threatening injuries, according to the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department. At 2:10 p.m. Thursday, deputies responded to the accident at the intersection of Mileground and Hartman Run roads. A press release states a Nissan Xterra was heading onto Hartman Run Road while a Yamaha motorcycle was traveling toward Easton Hill. The two vehicles collided head-on, throwing the rider off the motorcycle. The rider was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital by Monongalia County EMS with life-threatening injuries, the release states. The identity of the rider has not been released. Due to the severity of the accident, the sheriff's department crash reconstruction team was called to the scene to assist in the ongoing investigation.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Yahoo
Driver charged in fatal Cheat Lake crash booked into NCRJ
GREENWOOD, (WBOY) — Sukhjinder Singh, the man accused of driving a tractor-trailer that hit Kevin Lataille's car on Interstate 68 in Monongalia County during a snowstorm, has been booked into the North Central Regional Jail. According to the West Virginia Division of Correction and Rehabilitation website, 37-year-old- Singh was booked into the jail at 6 a.m. on Saturday and is being held on a $500,000 cash bond. He is charged with negligent homicide. Man wanted in WV, OH apprehended after FedEx driver locks him in truck Singh was first arrested in Fontana, California on March 6 and held in the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. After refusing to waive his extradition, he was served with a Governors Warrant and ordered into the custody of the state of West Virginia for extradition on April 30. Kevin Lataille's car and body were recovered from Cheat Lake on Jan. 26. His family has filed a federal lawsuit against Singh. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Furniture, clothes and other cheap deals at Blue and Gold Mine Sale in Morgantown
: WVU Commencement starts Friday, to continue through the weekend MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Spare and used furniture, DVDs, mugs, glasses, cookware and just about anything else you can imagine were all for sale at this year's Blue and Gold Mine Sale held at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown on Saturday. This unique United Way Fundraiser allows attendees to find antique furniture and other items that were gathered from dorms across the WVU campus and donated by residents around Morgantown. The funds raised from the sale of those items then support the United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties. Essentially, the sale gives items a second life when they would otherwise have been thrown away or ended up in a landfill. 'We get all kinds of things here,' said Mon and Preston United Way Director of Development Jenna Russell. '[A] chair that came from the Mountainlair, we get full furniture sets, random things from people's apartments, all the cookware you could imagine. Pretty much anything you think you might need, we have it here.' Randolph County BOE notifies state it will be unable to balance budget During the sale, shoppers could fill a bag with whatever they wanted and walk away with a final price tag of $25. Through that, the sale has raised more than $200,000 for the United Way while keeping literal tons of would-be trash out of landfills over the 20 years the sale has been held. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
