Molon Labe !!
Posted on 02/14/2002 8:07:07 PM PST by Nick Danger
Deal Finalized to Sell 12,000 Acres Canaan Valley Wetlands to Federal GovernmentCHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A Maryland-based utility completed on Thursday the $16 million sale of 12,000 acres of wetlands the federal government will add to the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Allegheny Energy Inc., Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Rep. Alan Mollohan and others announced the sale to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "With this transaction, we are confident the acreage will be dedicated to helping preserve the largest freshwater wetland area in central and southern Appalachia," said Alan Noia, Allegheny's chairman, president and chief executive officer. The 12,000 acres make up the second parcel of property the utility has agreed to sell or donate to government agencies. Gov. Bob Wise said last month the utility had agreed to hand over 500 acres of land adjoining West Virginia's Blackwater State Park. The state will pay $1.1 million for 250 acres and the utility will donate the remaining property. The utility has owned about 20,000 acres in Canaan Valley for 80 years. The company had planned to build a hydroelectric plant and reservoir in the upper end of the valley, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refused to issue a permit allowing the flooding of wetlands. The wildlife refuge was created in 1994 and has grown from 86 acres to about 3,300. The federal government hopes to eventually preserve 24,000 acres. The refuge, the nation's 500th, features 580 plant species and more than 290 types of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Mollohan and Byrd, both Democrats, included money for the purchase in federal appropriations bills the past two years. |
Sweet deal for the utility. Over $1300/acre for land with no apparent value. Being a "wetland", it can't be farmed, drained or developed. Useless property until Uncle Sugar came along.
Hey, you don't suppose Allegheny Energy made campaign contributions to Senator Byrd, do you...?
Ping.
Until Uncle Sugar came along and did what? Declare land they'd owned for 80 years to be a "wetland" that they couldn't build their hydroelectric plant on? Some sweet deal that was.
This sounds to me more like, "We have the power to keep you from doing anything with that land you bought, and we did it. Now you can't use it for squat. You want to sell it to us, or what?"
Molon Labe !!
I'll ditto that! Sir SuziQ and I spent a long weekend there in 1986, then took our boys with us in 1987 and stayed in the cabins at the Canaan Valley State Park and Resort. If it is the same today, it is the only State Park in WV which is run by a private concern and is the ONLY one which turns a PROFIT! It has cabins in the woods which are really nice, a hotel, swimming pool, tennis, golf, you name it! It is truly a lovely place, and it is just down the road from Blackwater State Forest which has some lovely waterfalls on their hiking trails. I'd love to go back sometime.
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