Loss of grant not likely to affect area projects

New Moorefield sewer treatment plant looking to fill $3 million funding hole October 21, 2011 By John McVey - Journal staff writer (jmcvey@journal-news.net) MARTINSBURG - The loss of a key $3 million grant to build the new Moorefield/Hardy County wastewater treatment plant will not have a big impact on plans to upgrade and improve sewer plants in the tri-county, said Sen. Herb Snyder, D-Jefferson. "It will be almost insignificant," he said in a telephone interview Thursday. Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the seven jurisdictions in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to dramatically reduce the amount of nitrogen phosphorus and sediment pollution getting into the bay via its tributaries. The Potomac River is one of the bay's major tributaries and the greater, eight-county Eastern Panhandle is in the Potomac River watershed. To comply with the very strict pollution controls, upgrades and improvements must be made to the major wastewater treatment facilities in the Panhandle. It has been estimated that Berkeley County Public Service Sewer District will have to spend about $40 million to upgrade five sewer treatment plants and Martinsburg expects to pay about $45 million to make major improvements to its treatment facility. Part of the funding for those projects will come from bonds financed with surplus lottery funds, made possible by Senate Bill 245, which was shepherded through the Legislature by Snyder. Without SB245 funds, the entire cost of the sewer plant improvements would be shouldered by customers. With the SB245 funds, customers only would have to pay a portion of the costs. "I hope with good interest rates and if construction costs are down, we could be at 50 cents on the dollar," Snyder said. Original estimates were that SB245 funds would cover about 40 percent of the costs for upgrades and improvements to local sewer plants. Snyder added that with the West Virginia Public Service Commission denying the Jefferson County Public Service District's application to build the new $27 million Flowing Springs plant, "that puts more money into the pot." The Flowing Springs plant was part of the original SB245 funding calculations. The state PSC ruled against the JCPSD's application in August. Additionally, a very large treatment plant to serve Moorefield, Hardy County and the Pilgrim's Pride poultry processing plant there was in the works. The cost of the new plant, which would replace four sub-par plants, was set at between $36 million and $37 million. The funding was to come from a combination of local, state, corporate and federal grants as well as slightly higher rates for customers. SB245 funds were not part of funding package. Part of a total $8.5 million EPA grant package, the $3 million grant that has been lost because of $140 million in overall budget cuts to the agency, reports indicate. The plant would be designed to handle 4.1 million gallons of wastewater per day and reduce about 45 percent of phosphorus pollution and about 30 percent of nitrogen pollution getting into the Chesapeake Bay from the Potomac River watershed, according to reports. An official with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection reportedly described the plant as "the single most significant project we have in West Virginia to clean up the Chesapeake Bay." The funding for the new Moorefield/Hardy County plant took some 10 years to put together. The state PSC approved the plant at the end of August and planners were going to put the project out to bid in about a month. The EPA grant was pulled toward the end of September. The EPA grant package was secured by the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and has been championed by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., since Byrd's death. Reportedly, EPA, local and state officials as well as a Rockefeller representative met in Moorefield to try to find alternative funding sources to build the plant. Some local officials had feared that if SB245 funds had to be diverted from tri-county projects to fill the $3 million hole created by EPA canceling its grant to build the new Moorefield/Hardy County plant, that would mean less money for tri-county projects and therefore rates would have to raised higher to make up the difference.