RANSON, W.Va. — A leader in the fight against Rockwool’s planned manufacturing plant in Jefferson County says the opposition is growing against the planned construction.
“Our school board last night challenged Rockwool and actually asked them to pause site development because they have some concerns about the health and safety impact on the school,” said Chris Kinnan, member of Jefferson County Vision. “The Harpers Ferry Town Council last week also voted unanimously to oppose the project.”
Rockwool announced in July 2017 the $150 million plant, which will be used for manufacturing stone wool insulation. The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved permits for the facility, and monitoring will happen.
Citizens and governing organizations have raised concerns about the proposed plant due to the possible health concerns, mainly pollution. Kinnan said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline” the state did not consider multiple factors with the permits, including the proximity to several public schools.
“There are state guidelines between building schools next to industrial facilities,” he said. “If this facility existed, you’d never be able to build a school near it. The law doesn’t anticipate the reserve that a community would actually choose to put heavy industry next to the schools.”
Rockwool held multiple public hearings last week on citizens’ concerns, but Kinnan said it is too late.
“If they were serious about transparency, they wouldn’t have done the minimal notice. They would have done a town hall a year ago before the town hall voted before our government voted on this deal,” he said. “The fundamental question for us is are we putting a global-scale industrial facility near our schools, and you can’t really negotiate that with some expert territory.”
Construction on the site is expected to wrap up in the early part of 2020.