By Richard Kerns
rkerns@newstribune.info
Tribune Staff Writer
KEYSER — Representatives of the city of Keyser will meet Thursday afternoon with a Charleston attorney to consider joining a coalition of Panhandle communities that have banded together to protest state and federal sewage-treatment mandates that will require sewer plant upgrades costing millions of dollars.
The Keyser Sanitary Board will meet in City Hall at 4 p.m. Thursday with Richard Lewis of the law firm of Steptoe and Johnson.
According to Lewis, the coalition that is being formed includes Mountain State communities within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed that are being required to upgrade their sewage treatment facilities as part of federal and regional efforts to clean up the Bay. Specifically, the treatment plants are being updated to provide enhanced removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, pollutants that spur the growth of algae and rob water of oxygen, harming aquatic life.
In Keyser, those upgrades will cost an estimated $3 million to $5 million, with at least some of that
(See COALITION, page 2A)
expense passed on to users of they system – namely, Keyser taxpayers.
“And that would be just a start, I can tell you that,” Lewis said of the anticipated pricetag. “We’re talking about very significant capital costs, and operating costs go up too.”
Lewis said communities with similar effluent flow as Keyser have seen projects that cost $25 to $30 million.
Just across the Potomac River, Allegany County is upgrading its sewage treatment plant below Barton, at a cost of $28 million, to meet the same Bay treatment requirements.
However, the state of Maryland is providing two-thirds of the funding for the project, from revenue generated by the recently enacted “flush tax” assessed against all residences and businesses in the state.
West Virginia has no such funding mechanism, and that gets to the heart of the coalition’s cause. Communities like Martinsburg, Charles Town and Ranson are arguing that because West Virginia entered into a compact as part of the regional effort to improve the water of the Bay, the burden should be shared statewide, and not dropped on the handful of communities in the Chesapeake basin.
“If it’s a state-level commitment, our position is it’s a state-level problem,” Lewis said.
According to city officials, Steptoe and Johnson have offered to represent Keyser at a cost of $1,000 a month over 36 months, which would include membership in the coalition. Lewis said the coalition is working on multiple fronts, challenging specific permit requirements for nutrient removal, and also working in Charleston to educate lawmakers about the impact of the mandates on the communities.
Briefed on Thursday’s meeting at a recent work session, members of the Keyser City Council were receptive to at least considering the proposal.
Jim Hoffman, supervisor of the sewage treatment plant, said the expense of the plant upgrade justifies exploring other options. “I think it’s a good idea, if we could save $5 million for $36,000,” Hoffman said. “(The attorney) has been known to come through on some other issues.”
Keyser, W.Va. —
