Open Letter to the Jefferson County Planning Commission in Opposition to the Mountain Pure Water Bottling Concept Plan
To: Jefferson County Planning Commission
Concerning: Mountain Pure Water Bottling Concept Plan, Matter 24-6-SP
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Conservation West Virginia opposes the proposed concept plan for a water bottling plant near Middleway, West Virginia. We support the many comments filed in opposition which make the following points:
(1) groundwater extraction is not a permissible use under the zoning ordinance, (2) water is a scarce resource and groundwater is essential for the well-dependent residents and agricultural operations in the area, (3) an out-of-state company should not be able to swoop in and extract a scarce resource converting it to private profit, (4) there have been no hydrological studies to determine the effect on the water table of an operation that would suck up so much groundwater, (5) the toxic residue from the 3M operation might be spread by this activity, (6) residential property values will be destroyed, (7) the traffic would undermine the historic character of Middleway, and (8) Sidewinder Enterprises is an unknown, untrustworthy company that has not been transparent and whose story has changed when pressed to explain the nature of the proposed operation.
We believe these additional points should be made.
I. Groundwater is a Public Resource and The Planning Commission is its Trustee
Groundwater is a public resource that should not be depleted or used in excessive quantities except for the public good. The West Virginia Legislature has declared that the waters of the state, including groundwater, are valuable public natural resources held by the state for the use and benefit of its citizens. In the Water Resources Protection and Management Act, WV Code 22-26-1, the Legislature made the following findings
- The West Virginia Legislature finds that it is the public policy of the State of West Virginia to protect and conserve the water resources for the state and to provide for the public welfare. The state’s water resources are vital natural resources of the state that are essential to maintain, preserve and promote quality of life and economic vitality of the state.
- The West Virginia Legislature further finds that it is the public policy of the state that the water resources of the state be available for the benefit of the citizens of West Virginia, consistent with and preserving all other existing rights and remedies recognized in common law or by statute, while also preserving the resources within its sovereign powers for the common good.
What constitutes the public good in a particular case sometimes must be determined by local elected officials and their administrative boards, such as this Planning Commission. There is no other mechanism prescribed by state law to protect the public’s interest in its natural patrimony.
The concept plan submitted by Sidewinder Enterprises raises more than a question of whether the right boxes are checked in the planning process. That plan proposes to convert huge quantities of a valuable public resource to private gain. Sidewinder Enterprises acknowledges that they will use 1.44 million gallons per day from one parcel – but they have a big incentive to understate the actual amount. There is no reliable way to tell how much water this operation will actually use and what the impact of its removal from the ground would be. There is also no way to govern the behavior of this company after their operations begin. The Planning Commission must act as a trustee to determine if that use of the public’s groundwater is in the public interest. Under the circumstances, clearly it is not.
Ownership of the surface in West Virginia entitles the owner to the groundwater underneath in quantities appropriate for the surface use permitted by law. Farmers can use the groundwater for sustaining their livestock. Neighbors can use the groundwater for drinking and bathing. None of these uses threaten the public groundwater used by other members of the public. But mere ownership of the surface rights does not entitle an owner to suck gross quantities of groundwater from underneath other owners’ property. Because groundwater is a public resource, then one surface owner has no greater rights to the groundwater than any other.
This concept is demonstrated by the way water flowing in a stream through the property of various landowners is allocated. These are “riparian” owners. The right of each riparian landowner to use the water must be weighed fairly and equitably with the rights of the others. One owner doesn’t have the right to gobble up so much water from the stream that downstream owners have too little. In this case, the water course is an underground aquifer.
Groundwater is different than coal or some other mineral resource. Coal is not a public resource and can be exploited by a surface owner. Instead, groundwater can be likened to air. No factory would be permitted to suck the oxygen out of the air such that it affected the ability of people surrounding it to breathe or their farm animals to survive. Groundwater belongs to the public. The Board of Directors of Conservation West Virginia urge the Planning Commission not to give away the public’s groundwater in perpetuity to an unregulated commercial enterprise that does not care about the public interest. We have only this one chance to get it right.
The Real Product of Sidewinder Enterprises is Plastic Bottles
The Planning Commission should not be duped into thinking that the product of Sidewinder Enterprises will be pure drinking water for human consumption. Bottled water is gone in an instant. What remains is the plastic bottle it was packaged in. The real product of Sidewinder Enterprises is plastic bottles.
The plastic refuse from this proposed operation is what is known as a negative externality – a cost of the operation not borne by the business itself but rather foisted off on society. There are several of these costs. First, plastic bottles do not biodegrade and will litter our lands and waters or remain in landfills for nearly 500 years. Over 90% of plastic waste is not recycled. Second, when plastic does break down it does so into smaller particles that are still plastic. Micro-particles and smaller nanoparticles of plastic end up residing in our bodies and causing health damage that is not fully understood.
National Geographic magazine has reported on a study to measure how much plastic has been produced since 1950 and where it ended up. Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that have been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons have become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter, much of it ending up in the ocean. One prediction is that by mid-century there will be more plastic in the oceans by weight than fish. The cost of landfill maintenance and environmental spoliation created by plastic waste is not borne by the companies that produce it, but rather by taxpayers and citizens.
Sidewinder Enterprises has articulated no plan for dealing with the mountains of plastic waste it proposes producing. It would prefer to ignore this negative externality in the hope that the Planning Commission and the citizens of Jefferson County and West Virginia do so as well. But eventually, we will not be able to ignore it because we will be taxed heavily to cover the cost of remediation.
For the Board of Directors
Conservation West Virginia, Inc.
A. Neal Barkus
President