<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Friends, I received this today from Eric Engle, president of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action. It’s gratifying how many people care about that little “swamp!†More good news:<div><br></div><div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Good Afternoon, </span><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">The following was just submitted to me by Autumn Crowe with WV Rivers Coalition: </div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">“<span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> Yes, permits are required for any impact to wetlands. The State just changed their mitigation requirements depending on the quality of the wetland. But any impacts to over</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> </span><a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" dir="ltr" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" style="color: currentcolor; text-decoration-color: rgba(128, 128, 128, 0.38);">1/10</a><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">of an acre require a permit and mitigation to restore, preserve or replace wetlands. The state has a policy of no net loss of wetlands. Part of their permit will require a wetland delineation to determine how much of the wetland will be impacted. </span><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br clear="none" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;"></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">You can view DEP's wetland map here: <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv5612953112LPlnk879219" target="_blank" href="https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/wvdep_gis_viewer/" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;">https://tagis.dep.wv.gov/wvdep_gis_viewer/</a> In the layer list check the box for wetland function and check all sub-boxes underneath it by clicking on the dropdown arrow next to wetland function box. The wetland function score and the acreage of impacts will determine how much mitigation is required.</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br clear="none" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;"></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">You can also contact the environmental advocates office. For this issue, I'd recommend John King <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" id="yiv5612953112LPlnk739271" ymailto="mailto:John.M.S.King@wv.gov" target="_blank" href="mailto:John.M.S.King@wv.gov" style="color: rgb(134, 49, 49); -webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">John.M.S.King@wv.gov</a> who lives in the greater Parkersburg area, to see if a permit has been submitted yet. It's really hard to get any details on the project until they submit a permit. <span style="color: rgb(134, 49, 49); text-decoration: underline; font-family: serif; font-size: 12px; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:John.M.S.King@wv.gov" target="_blank" href="mailto:John.M.S.King@wv.gov" style="color: rgb(134, 49, 49); -webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; word-wrap: break-word !important;"></a></span></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br clear="none" style="word-wrap: break-word !important;"></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.â€</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">I would encourage concerned residents of Williamstown and Boaz and the surrounding area to contact John King to see if a permit application has been submitted yet. I would also encourage folks to contact Delegate Bill Anderson of House of Delegates District 08 who represents the area and State Senators Donna Boley and Mike Azinger, as this appears to be a state matter, with your concerns. Contacting the WVDEP in opposition may be worthwhile as well. </div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">*****</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br></div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;">—dawn</div><div style="font-size: 12pt; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; word-wrap: break-word !important;"><br></div></div><br><div dir="ltr">Sent from my iPad</div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Nov 19, 2020, at 10:44 AM, Little Kanawha <littlekanawharcd@hotmail.com> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Thank you for this<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Barbara Stewart [mailto:barbhoney@gmail.com]
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<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:33 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Julie Zickefoose <juliezickefoose@gmail.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Brent Bailey <Brent@wvlandtrust.org>; D J Allen <dj.allen@lkrcd.com>; D J Allen <dnrallen@zoominternet.net>; Dawn Hewitt <hewitt@earth-maker.com>; EDIE LINDLEY <bontree@hotmail.com>; Green Sanctuary List for Environment Issues <green@fuusm.org>;
Kittie Clark <kittier2@gmail.com>; Little Kanawha <littlekanawharcd@hotmail.com>; Marcy Wesel <wesel62@sbcglobal.net>; Michael Schramm <michael_schramm@fws.gov>; Pam Cannon <pam.cannon@suddenlink.net>; Pat Calebaugh <kbcalebaugh@hotmail.com>; Sheila Jackson
<sheilajackson5@gmail.com>; Shila Wilson <janet.shila.wilson@att.net>; Steve <steve.mccarthy@realliving.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: Williamstown Wetlands<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">From today’s paper. Article on the meeting of Williamstown City Council last night.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 11:38 AM Julie Zickefoose <<a href="mailto:juliezickefoose@gmail.com">juliezickefoose@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> I'll confess, I skipped the city council meeting because the agenda didn't look promising to me. I, too, find the Facebook commenters on "You Might Be from Williamstown If" page very discouraging. It's pretty clear to me that Bender has
quite a coterie of admirers who are circling the wagons for just such objections as they will get from us. Maybe it does make sense to make pre-emptive strikes on ACOE (as I did with Manchin's office) to let them know we're out here and watching, and we want
the wetlands protected. It may be akin to appealing to the fox to take good care of the henhouse, but we need to do it. And let's not forget that WV Land Trust is out there, willing to help if purchasing the wetland is even a possibility. I highly doubt that
anyone has ever offered to buy it from her. Maybe she'd sell. Just crazy enough, it might work. Especially if she hits regulatory bumps. The trick is going to be seeing if there ARE regulatory bumps for her to hit, given tRumps de-fanging of the Clean Water
Act. Mitigation, if enforced, could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not over a million. How deep are her pockets? How to find out from ACOE if mitigation would be invoked? Anybody know anyone there?<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> Heavy irony: the wetlands is the largest photo on the Williamstown city website banner. So somebody there doesn't see it entirely as a mosquito factory.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I sure appreciate your legwork on this. <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Julie<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 10:48 PM Dawn Hewitt <<a href="mailto:hewitt@earth-maker.com" target="_blank">hewitt@earth-maker.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Friends,<br>
<br>
Since the Williamstown City Council meeting was kind of a but this evening, I spent some time trying to track down the implications of the 2020 version of the Clean Water Act. Until a few years ago, it was clear that wetlands such as Williamstown’s fell under
the Clean Water Act (Section 404). Today, with a revision to the act that took effect in September, I’m not so sure.
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Apparently, in order to fill the wetlands, Ms. Bender will still need to apply for a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. There may be a public comment period, but my experience with the Army Corps is notices of such are not always published in the LOCAL
newspaper. <br>
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Even when the Clean Water Act had real teeth, the issue of whether wetlands were included in it was contentious, and even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. But now, I gather that the Army Corps issues permits for filling wetlands more easily than it once did,
and has turned over much of the regulation and oversight to the states (Section 401).
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What our side of the issue has in its favor is that Ms. Bender is not planning to fill the wetlands for purposes of agriculture or some sort of natural area restoration. Filling a wetlands (with year-round standing water, closer than 4,000 feet to a navigable
river) to pave it and build a casino might well require a permit and possibly mitigation ($$$$). I think we would be wise to express our appreciation of the wetlands to the Army Corps of Engineers and to the WV Department of Environmental Protection, noting
the services it provides not only to wildlife, but to water purification, channeling stormwater, green space… well, you know.
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I hope others will delve into the revised federal Clean Water Act as well as West Virginia laws and regulations governing wetlands. Also, we should encourage and facilitate Williamstown City Council, Planning Commission, and Board of Zoning Appeals to be aware
of state and federal laws protecting wetlands.<br>
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And if you haven’t been to the “You Might Be From Williamstown, WV, if….†Facebook group, I encourage you to do so. There are an awful lot of people responding to Fred Canon’s post saying “It’s Chris Bender’s land. She can do with it what she wants. This is
America! This is capitalism!†or else “That swamp just breeds mosquitoes! Fill it!†It’s really discouraging.
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I wonder if wetlands provide any benefits to bees?<br>
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—dawn<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#990000">Julie Zickefoose<br>
Artist/author</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://redstartbirding.com/collections/print-books-booklets/products/saving-jemima-life-and-love-with-a-hard-luck-jay" target="_blank"><b><i><span style="color:#990000"><br>
</span></i></b></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="color:#990000"><a href="https://redstartbirding.com/collections/print-books-booklets/products/saving-jemima-life-and-love-with-a-hard-luck-jay" target="_blank">Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-luck Jay
</a></span></i><span style="color:#990000"><a href="https://redstartbirding.com/collections/print-books-booklets/products/saving-jemima-life-and-love-with-a-hard-luck-jay" target="_blank">
</a><span style="background:white">2019</span><i><a href="http://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/Baby-Birds/9780544206700" target="_blank"><br>
</a></i></span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="color:#990000"><a href="https://www.juliezickefoose.com/book/babybirds.php" target="_blank">Baby Birds: An Artist Looks Into the Nest
</a> </span></i><span style="color:#990000"> 2016</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="color:#6FA8DC"><a href="http://www.juliezickefoose.com/book/overview.php" target="_blank">The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds With Common Birds</a></span><span style="color:#990000"> </span></i><span style="color:#990000">
2012</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="color:#FFE599"><a href="http://www.juliezickefoose.com/book/overview.php" target="_blank">Letters from Eden: A Year at Home, In the Woods
</a></span><span style="color:#990000"> </span></i><span style="color:#990000"> 2006</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#990000">blog <a href="http://juliezickefoose.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Julie Zickefoose on Blogspot</a></span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#990000">site <a href="http://www.juliezickefoose.com" target="_blank"> juliezickefoose.com</a></span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#990000">insta:</span> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/juliezickefoose/" target="_blank">@juliezickefoose</a></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:#990000">twitter</span></b>: <a href="https://twitter.com/harpyeye" target="_blank"><b>@harpyeye</b></a><o:p></o:p></p>
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