Pro-Industry Bullies Try to Divide a West Virginia Community
Jefferson County, WV’s Industrial Amazon
The multinational Denmark-based company Rockwool is moving full steam ahead with its plans to develop an industrial plant in rural Jefferson County.
And since January, a pro-industry group calling itself “Jefferson County Prosperity, Inc” has formed in full-throated support of the project. The faceless group hasn’t accomplished much. But they spend a lot of energy (and some money) on Facebook: cheer-leading foreign industries and sowing division in Jefferson County. More on that in a moment.
Rockwool is “an inorganic insulator made from stones or rocks by blowing a jet of steam through molten rock (such as siliceous rock or limestone) or slag.”
The deal to build a Rockwool plant in Jefferson County, WV is convoluted at best, and it hinges on a tax incentive agreement that possibly violates the state constitution.
Rockwool and its cheerleaders claim that the plan is great because it promises 150 jobs and supposedly opens the door for billions in future industrial development surrounding Rockwool… which also neighbors an elementary school.
On the other side are several groups that are fighting for, among other goals, more community oversight for county development projects. They point to the county’s current agricultural output (#1 in the state) and the county’s current relative wealth compared to the rest of the state (highest per capita income in the state).
Concerned citizens are taking the truly conservative stance of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
And that’s not even mentioning the litany of well-documented and well-founded environmental concerns, particularly about PM2.5 and PM10 air pollutants. There’s also grave uncertainty about the amount of sewage discharge that Rockwool will put out.
Citizens are also rightfully concerned about the promise of future industrial development neighboring an elementary school. (Won’t anybody think of the children?)
To make matters more damaging to West Virginia taxpayers, the deal is based on an elaborate tax giveaway called “Payment In Lieu of Taxes,” or PILOT.
In any form, tax giveaways do little to incentivize future business development. As Michael Hiltzik recently pointed out in the LATimes about Amazon’s pull-out from New York City: “it’s well established that tax incentives rank low on the list of factors in a company’s siting decision, overshadowed by many of the other factors […], such as the availability of a skilled workforce and transportation and communication infrastructure. Companies ask for the handouts, and take what they’re offered.”
The situation with Rockwool is no different. Rockwool asked for a handout, and they’re trying to take what the Jefferson County Development Authority offered, with minimal input from the community.
And there is no doubt that the Rockwool plant — and any neighboring industrial development in the future — would fundamentally transform Jefferson County’s economy.
The question is: does the community want that? After all, using basic economic measures, Jefferson County is already #1 in West Virginia.
Pro-Industry Opposition Confronts the Community
A pro-industry front group called “Jefferson County Prosperity, Inc” is playing a game of “divide and conquer”. On their webpage they dismiss a group of thousands of concerned citizens as “radicals” with “one goal: end progress in Jefferson County”.
They’re saying this about business owners and families who have roots in Jefferson County from before the Revolutionary War. It would be hilarious if it didn’t border on defamation, and if the stakes weren’t so high.
On Facebook they call opposition members “radical elitists”. They strangely invoke Venezuela in a discussion on local politics, while maligning their opponents as anti-Coast Guard (in a state with no coasts). They harp on the “Marxist” political leanings of one Jefferson County native-son to somehow smear all the pro-oversight groups. They are running ads on Facebook calling First Amendment-sanctioned protest an “attempt to destroy our economy here in Appalachia”.
This is simply bullying and name-calling, and they provide no evidence for any of their claims in any of their posts.
The group is new to Facebook, founded in January, 2019. And with just about 700 members, it’s small compared to the pro-oversight group, CONCERNED CITIZENS AGAINST ROCKWOOL-Ranson WV, which has over 10,000 members.
Their group name is also very deceptive, and it is easy to accidentally find the Jefferson County, Colorado government webpage for the “Jefferson County Prosperity Project”.
Their name is also eerily close to the national right-wing group “Americans for Prosperity.”* Americans for Prosperity is funded by billionaire anti-government ideologues David and Charles Koch. (In 1980, David Koch ran for Vice President on such an extremely anti-government platform that it called for privatizing America’s roads.)
The naming confusion could be coincidence, but that would imply that no one involved with Jefferson County Prosperity, Inc knows how to use Google. To avoid any confusion, this author will refer to the pro-Rockwool group as “JCP, Incorporated”.
JCP, Incorporated isn’t presenting any new ideas. They’re simply walking out the tired trope that a person is either pro-jobs and anti-regulation, or pro-environment and anti-jobs.
The tactic is simple: divide the community, and then steamroll the fragmented community.
Addicted to Industry
JCP, Incorporated wants people to believe that jobs — and therefore industry — are the most important thing in the world: more important than family, and more important than community.
In fact, they want industry to be the centerpiece of every community. They want industry to be more important than churches or schools; than homes or farms; than clean air or clean water.
And they want everyone to believe that none of those other things can even exist unless the community first bends over backwards to welcome industry with tax incentives and with promises not to pass any laws that might protect the community from industrial pollution.
That’s why, even before they break ground, big polluters immediately begin funding church groups, school groups, and local United Way chapters, (among other groups at the roots of a healthy community).
That industrial funding becomes an addiction: it’s not the money that’s harmful — it’s the threat of withdrawal.
Churches, schools, and athletic teams are then forced to choose between what’s good for the organization, and what’s good for the entire community. It’s very similar to famed hostage negotiator Thomas Strentz’s description of Stockholm Syndrome, “the victim’s need to survive is stronger than his impulse to hate the person who has created the dilemma.”
Rockwool is ingratiating itself in the community by buying key ad spots, billboards, and donating to local organizations. Meanwhile, its allies at JCP, Incorporated are working to distract the community with divisive rhetoric and name-calling.
The Sewer to Prosperity?
JCP, Incorporated is currently very excited about an offer from the state of West Virginia. On their Facebook page on February 5th they gushed, “ The State of West Virginia is offering the City of Charles Town no interest and no risk state money through a sewer bond. This sewer bond will ensure that Charles Town and Ranson have the funds to pay their $1 million debt, while also making sure that sewer rates and taxes are not increased.”
The Facebook post from JCP, Incorporated goes on to say that if Jefferson County doesn’t accept Rockwool and accept this money, then the county will have to raise taxes to pay for the sewer.
It’s a blatant threat from folks who want industry to be the center-point of Jefferson County.
It’s also blatantly untrue, based on Rockwool’s own filings. The opposite may be true, because Rockwool has provided several different estimates for how much sewage it plans to discharge over its initial operating period.
As noted in a February 13th press release from Jefferson County Vision regarding Rockwool’s filings with the Charles Town Utility Board (CTUB):
“As part of its plans for a massive new industrial sewer, CTUB is asking WVDEP for a permit to handle a maximum flow of 14,900 GPD [Gallons Per Day]. But in correspondence with CTUB on January 24 and February 5, 2019, Rockwool explained their capacity needs are actually 46,800 GPD, which is over three times greater than the discharge limit in CTUB’s pending permit modification. Rockwool’s latest number is also consistent with the Hatch Chester engineering analysis from January 22, 2018, which states that Rockwool expects to discharge 40,000 GPD “beginning in 2019”. […]
[Jefferson County Vision Board Member Lori Maloney said,] ‘if CTUB obtains a permit at 14,900 GPD but fails to obtain the next one for 46,800 GPD, the overall project financing will be undermined and West Virginia taxpayers and the City of Charles Town will be put at financial risk.’” [Emphasis Added]
JCP, Incorporated is aggressively pushing back against this kind of critical citizen oversight on this project. Short of substance, they resort to personal attacks against their opposition.
JCP, Incorporated wants everyone in Jefferson County to take Rockwool and the other pro-industry forces at their words. But in this case, it’s hard to know which set of Rockwool’s words to believe — which estimate is accurate? This is critical at a very basic level: to know both the diameter of the sewer pipe, and to calculate how much discharge will occur at the end of the pipe.
JCP, Incorporated doesn’t seem to care about such basic engineering details: they only want concerned citizens to fight amongst themselves and point fingers at each other, while Rockwool continues at full-steam ahead.
Finding the Truth Demands Real Oversight
JCP, Incorporated recently boasted that it is “committed to finding out the truth about the planned Rockwool facility.”
If that were true, JCP, Incorporated would join with concerned citizens to find out which set of estimates is accurate about Rockwool’s sewage, because the wrong answer will leave West Virginian taxpayers on the hook.
Instead, JCP, Incorporated seems more interested in serving as a mouthpiece for a multinational company, spewing divisive name-calling and meaningless fear-mongering rhetoric about socialism and Venezuela.
Jefferson County citizens are rightfully scrutinizing Rockwool and the surrounding projects: anything less would be negligent to Jefferson County families, to the community, and to the surrounding regions.
Jefferson County’s citizens shouldn’t give in to pro-industry bullies.
If Rockwool is good for Jefferson County, they should take the time to prove it to the community.
And if Rockwool can’t take scrutiny, they should find another location, because Jefferson County’s citizens won’t stand by while (Rock)wool is pulled over their eyes.
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*Americans for Prosperity just happens to publicly support Republican U.S. Representative Alex Mooney, who currently represents WV’s 2nd District (including Charles Town and Ranson). Mooney has not taken a strong stance either way, and has said that he ‘wants to ensure that Rockwool “does not contribute to increased water and air pollution,”’ as though there is a possibility that Rockwool can achieve zero pollution into the air and water. (There isn’t).
** This story has been edited on 2/18/19 to clarify what Rockwool manufactures.
*** JCP, Incorporated has responded to this article with a post that further makes this author’s case. https://www.facebook.com/Fighting4You/posts/559935131154430
