A higher head count can also translate to increased federal funds for the area. Every year, more than $300 billion of federal funding is distributed according to census data. An inaccurate count can mean a loss of money that could otherwise be used to improve local public services. According to County Commissioner Jim Surkamp, “For every person that isn’t counted in the census, county and local government will lose roughly $500 yearly in video lottery distributions.”

For people concerned about the county getting its fair slice of the pie, it is especially important for local residents to take time to fill out their census forms. In the past, many people have avoided filling out the census because of its perceived complexity and length. To combat this issue Census 2010 has been radically redesigned to include only 10 questions that should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Census 2010 also has addressed concern about its confidentiality, stressing that by law the census is not allowed to share any information it collects. The information cannot be seen by other federal or law enforcement agencies.

The census’s website, www.census.gov, is trying to help communities proactively inform their residents and collect accurate data. For example, it provides special materials for non-native speakers. In this region the Latino population has been traditionally undercounted because of its concern with privacy issues.

Another undercounted population is university and college students. Many people don’t realize that a person is considered a resident in the location where they spend 70 percent of the year. Locally, this means that Shepherd University students living in the dorms or off campus will be counted as Jefferson County residents.

Official Census forms will be mailed to households across the entire U.S. on March 11. Later, official census takers will do door-to-door canvassing to capture data from households that fail to return their forms.

This article was written by Jeremy Horner and Joyce Orlando students in Shepherd University’s Advertising & Imagery class, which is collaborating with the Jefferson County Commission to promote census participation.

Grant to Provide Momentum for Shepherdstown’s New Library Plans

The Shepherdstown Public Library has received a $5,000 grant through the 2010 FOCUS WV Brownfields program.   The grant will fund discussions with the Shepherdstown community about reclaiming the former Shepherdstown Municipal Dump for use as a new library.  The dump, which was used from 1954 to 1969, is located behind Elmwood Cemetery.

Dubbed the “Landfill to Library Project,” the plans for a new green, state-of-the-art library envision more space for all library functions, parking for patrons, and close proximity to Shepherdstown Elementary and Middle Schools.

According to Hali Taylor, Shepherdstown Public Library Director, “The grant will help us to bring the community into the planning process at the early stages.  It will provide information on brownfields reclamation and provide the opportunity for community input.”  Specifically, the grant provides funds for a one-day conference on brownfields and discussion of the specifics of the Shepherdstown reclamation effort.

The West Virginia Brownfields Assistance Centers awarded the Foundation for Overcoming Challenges and Utilizing Strengths (FOCUS) West Virginia Brownfields grant to the Shepherdstown Public Library. The program provides financial and technical assistance enabling communities in West Virginia to create a redevelopment vision for brownfield properties of strategic community interest.

The program was funded through a grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation through the WVU Foundation, a private non-profit corporation that generates, receives and administers private gifts for West Virginia University.

Shepherdstown’s Landfill to Library Project was one of only 11 projects awarded statewide to receive a 2010 FOCUS WV Brownfields grant. Brownfields are abandoned or underutilized properties that have not been redeveloped due to real or perceived environmental barriers.

Sera Zegre, FOCUS WV Program Manager says, “Shepherdstown’s Landfill to Library Project provides a stepping stone for revitalization efforts at a dormant dump, facilitating repurposing progress and community involvement.”

Information about the FOCUS WV Brownfields Program can be found at www.brownfields.com.  The Northern WV Brownfields Assistance Center is located at the West Virginia Water Research Institute, at WVU’s National Research Center for Coal & Energy; the WV Brownfields Assistance Center at Marshall University is located in the Center for Environmental, Geotechnical and Applied Sciences.

County Administrator Selected for Jefferson County

The Jefferson County Commission has selected a new county administrator.  Tim Boyde has worked in many aspects of  county government, most recently as county administrator for Centre County, Pennsylvania.   Boyde has a 23 year record of working at the county level of government and brings extensive knowledge of budget preparation,  personnel management and policy development.

According to Commission President Lyn Widmyer, “All the county commissioners and our acting County Administrator participated in the interview process.  Mr. Boyde was our unanimous choice.  He has a strong background in county government and believes in a collaborative approach to solving problems.”

Happy Retreat Named West Virginia Endangered Property

The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia announced Charles Washington’s Happy Retreat, the 1780 home of the founder of Charles Town and youngest brother of George Washington, as one of the state’s eight Endangered Properties. Happy Retreat is one of eight Washington Family homes that were built in surrounding Jefferson County.

On hand for the announcement were Nelson Parkinson and Walter Washington, president and vice president, respectively, of the Friends of Happy Retreat, the nonprofit group of citizens whose fundraising work has kept the property under option and off the market for sale and/or development.

“On behalf of the Friends,” said Parkinson, “I want to thank the Alliance for this recognition. It comes at a time when, after four years of fundraising efforts, the additional exposure gives us a much-needed boost. We are eager to bring the history of this home, the founding of Charles Town, and the unique Washington Family heritage in Charles Town and surrounding Jefferson County to a wider audience, including heritage tourists.

“The home of the founder of Charles Town is a valuable state asset that should not only be preserved but also recognized for the potential it offers the state, region, and city as a historical and cultural attraction,” he added. “We see our neighbors in Maryland and Virginia–Loudoun County in particular–reaping the benefits of their heritage. There’s no reason our heritage-rich region can’t be participating in this mushrooming sector of the travel industry.”

Parkinson noted the propitious timing of the Preservation Alliance recognition. “There are a number of significant dates on the near horizon that give the Friends an opportunity to build community enthusiasm and funding support:  2011 and the 225th anniversary of the founding of Charles Town; 2012 and the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam and nearby, Harpers Ferry, Shepherdstown, and the first battle of Winchester; 2013 and the 275th anniversary of Charles Washington’s birth, the founding of West Virginia, and the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Charles Town.”

Charles Washington’s Happy Retreat was selected for recognition by the Preservation Alliance after making formal application to the Endangered Properties program. Also on the 2010 list are Hawks Nest State Park Museum, the Quarrier Diner in Charleston, Riverside African American School in Elkins, Berkeley Springs B&O Depot, Greenbrier County Public Library in Lewisburg, Little Kanawha Valley Bank in Glenville, Church of God and Saints of Christ Tabernacle in Wheeling.

Washington Family in Jefferson County

In the fifth of the series on Monday March 8, local Washington family descendants Walter Washington and Betsy Wells will discuss the pre-eminent role the family played in the early days of the republic in what is now known as Jefferson County, WV, the Washington Homeland.  The presentation is free and open to the public and will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the War Memorial Building, 102 E. German Street, Shepherdstown, WV. It will be preceded at 6 pm by a social hour at the same location for members of the Society and the Men’s Club. Persons interested in joining either of these organizations are welcome to arrive early and complete membership forms.

Walter Washington is a direct descendent of Samuel Washington (1734-1781), brother of President George Washington and Charles Washington. He earned a law degree from American University and is a practicing attorney in Charles Town. He is a member of the Boards of the Jefferson County Historical Society (JCHS) and Virginia University Hospitals and is Secretary of West Virginia University Hospitals East. Walter is the owner of Harewood, Samuel Washington’s home built in 1770 near Charles Town and the only home now owned by a Washington family member.

Register Now For April 24 Audubon Run/Walk Event

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is now accepting registrations for its ninth annual “This Race is for the Birds!” run/walk event, which will be held on Saturday, April 24 on the campus of the National Conservation Training Center near Shepherdstown.

The Society is expanding the event significantly this year. In past years, it was mainly focused on a simple 5K run. This year, it will feature two professionally timed races—one 4.9 miles long and another 7.7 miles long.

In the past, between 75 and 125 runners have turned out for the 5K race. With the new expanded format, the organization is expecting 250 to 300 runners to compete this year.

There will also be a self-timed 2-mile community jog/walk for families and those who prefer a slower pace, and a 1-mile “Fun Run” for children under 10 years of age.

The 4.9- and 7.7-mile races will follow trails that wind through the forests and fields of the 538-acre NCTC campus.

The 2-mile jog/walk will follow a course that will be very user-friendly for families with small children, and strollers will be appropriate and encouraged.

The two races will begin at 9:00 a.m. The jog/walk will begin shortly afterwards and the children’s Fun Run will be held at about 10:00 a.m.

The children’s Fun Run will be free. Fees for the other portions of the event will range from $15 to $25.

All proceeds will be used to support Potomac Valley Audubon’s programs for children, and all fees will be tax deductible.

To register or get more information, go to the race website at www.raceforthebirds.org or call 304-876-6784.

The idea to expand this annual PVAS event came from Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a Harpers Ferry physician and PVAS member who founded and co-directed the very successful “Freedom’s Run” marathon that was launched in the Eastern Panhandle last fall.

Many organizations are sponsoring 5K and 10K races now, and offering somewhat longer distances will allow those who have been participating in those events to push themselves a little and try something different.

Another main goal is to create a family-friendly outdoor experience. This is a major priority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the National Conservation Training Center. “This event is a natural fit for us,” says NCTC Director Jay Slack. “It’s a way to get people outside, away from TV and video games. People who connect with the outdoors are more apt to participate in conservation efforts.”

The co-directors of this year’s PVAS event are James and Suzy Munnis, of Shepherdstown. Both are avid runners and bikers with years of experience and expertise in organizing events of this kind.

Dr. Cucuzzella has also been helping to plan the event, as have Tom Shantz, of Falling Waters, who was also very involved with the Freedom’s Run marathon, and PVAS Board member Carolyn Thomas, of Scrabble.

“We’re so fortunate to have such great partners,” said PVAS Executive Director Kristin Alexander. “With NCTC hosting the event, Jim and Suzy directing it, and so many other veteran runners and Freedom’s Run people involved, we couldn’t ask for a better team to make this year’s event bigger and better than ever before.”

Both NCTC and PVAS are taking steps to reduce the race’s environmental impact. This year’s race t-shirts will contain a blend of organic cotton and a fabric made from recycled soda bottles. PVAS is partnering with Karen Valentine of Go Green Gals to help with recycling, composting and overall waste reduction efforts.

Audubon Egg Hunt Set For March 28

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society will hold its third annual Spring Children’s Egg Hunt the afternoon of Sunday, March 28 at its Yankauer Nature Preserve north of Shepherdstown.

Unlike traditional egg hunts, this one combines fun with an educational experience.

The eggs used in the hunt are colored to resemble real eggs of wild birds. Children are challenged to find the naturally camouflaged eggs on the trail and in the process they discover how birds keep their eggs safe from predators.  Other activities this year will include a “penguin egg walk” and an “ostrich egg balance challenge.”

This year’s event will be for children ages 3-6. Eggs for them to collect will be hidden along two separate trails at the preserve.

At the end of the event, collected eggs will be “traded in” for a sweet treat:  decorating an egg shaped cookie to enjoy on the spot or take home and enjoy later along with lemonade.

This will be a family-oriented event and parents should plan to go with their children as they walk on the trail.

The hunt will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Space will be limited and pre-registration with a credit card is required. The fee is $5 per child.

Registration is available at www.potomacaudubon.org using the “Spring Egg Hunt” link.

For more information, contact Ellen Murphy, PVAS’s Youth Education Director, at 304-676-8739 or pvasprograms@comcast.net.

The Yankauer Nature Preserve is located on Whiting’s Neck Road off Scrabble road, about six miles north of Shepherdstown. Directions are on the PVAS website at www.potomacaudubon.org.

Local Audubon Camp Now Taking Registrations

The Audubon Discovery Camp, a nature-oriented summer day camp for children in the Eastern Panhandle and nearby Maryland, is now registering campers for its 2010 season.

The camp, which is entering its eighth year, is sponsored by the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS).

Registration was opened to PVAS members on February 1. The general public may register their children starting February 15.

Those who wish to register are encouraged to do so early—last year’s camp was fully booked by the end of March.

This year’s camp will span nine weeks between May 26 and July 23.

The first two weeks will be devoted to sessions for preschool-age children and an accompanying adult. The third week will be devoted to a session for children entering Kindergarten. The remaining six weeks will include a variety of sessions for children entering grades 1-6 and another set of sessions for children entering grades 5-7.

This year’s camp will also include a special Junior Counselor-In-Training program for teens age 13 and older with leadership skills, to be held the week of June 28-July 2. Those who successfully complete this program will be able to participate in one additional week of camp at no charge by assisting as Junior Counselors.

Most of the camp sessions will be held at the Society’s Yankauer Nature Preserve on Whiting’s Neck, in the northeast corner of Berkeley County.

This year, for the first time PVAS will also be offering two weeks of camp sessions at CraftWorks at Cool Spring Farm, on Lloyd Road in southern Jefferson County. These sessions will be held the weeks of June 21-25 and June 28-July 2.

All of the camp’s sessions are aimed at helping children gain a better understanding and appreciation of the natural world. All of them offer hands-on experiential learning led and supervised by experienced instructors.

Session sizes are kept very small to ensure an excellent instructor/child ratio of 1:10.

The camp director is Ellen Murphy, PVAS’s Director of Youth Education, who has many years of experience in developing, directing, and delivering educational programs for children.

The preschool camp sessions will be led by Suzi Taylor, a former PVAS camp director who also has extensive environmental education experience.

The fee for most camp sessions will be $125 per week. The fee for the preschool sessions will be $50 per week.

Full details about the camp’s sessions can be found on the PVAS website at www.potomacaudubon.org, and easy online registration is also available there.  A valid credit card is required for registration.  For more information or questions about camp sessions, call 304-676-8739.

10th Annual Potter’s Bowl & Auction

Please join Good Shepherd Caregivers for our 10th annual Potter’s Bowl and Auction, Friday, March 5, from 6 – 8 p.m., at the Shepherdstown Fire Hall.

Select a bowl, handcrafted by an area potter and yours to keep.  Fill it with hearty soups donated by local restaurants.  Delicious breads will complement your dinner, and dessert and coffee will be served.

Enjoy wine and cheese while you peruse the many fine items in our silent and live auctions.  You’ll have a chance to bid on some beautiful works of art and craft, including a Lee Teter print, stained glass pieces, pottery, wrought ironwork, basketry, fine woodwork, and more.

All proceeds will further Good Shepherd’s mission of providing free, nonmedical caregiving services to older or disabled Jefferson County residents.

Tickets are $25 (a child’s serving size will be available for $5) and are available at our offices in Shepherdstown and Charles Town.  Tickets will be sold at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.  For tickets or information, please call (304) 876-3325 or (304) 725-2262.

Maggie’s Card Party For Good Shepherd Caregivers

Maggie Drennen will host a bridge, Bunco and mahjong party to benefit Good Shepherd Caregivers on Wednesday, March 17, at Cress Creek Country Club, located on Shepherd Grade Road in Shepherdstown.

The party will begin with coffee and pastries at 10:30 a.m.  Lunch will be served at noon.  Play will continue in the afternoon.  Prizes will be awarded in each game.

Bridge and mahjong tables will be set up in the dining room.  Bunco tables will be in the conference room.  If you have not played Bunco before, come and learn – it’s fun and easy!

Tickets are $25.00 ($12.50 of that is tax-deductible) and can be paid for at the door.  However, advance reservations are required.  For reservations, please call Maggie Drennen at (304) 876-0897 for bridge, Judy Ringer at (304) 876-6740 for mahjong, or Betty Severson at (304) 876-1444 for Bunco.  This is a great way to have fun while supporting Good Shepherd Caregivers’ program of free, nonmedical caregiving services for older or disabled residents of Jefferson County.

Good Shepherd Caregivers Announces Volunteer Training

Good Shepherd Caregivers will hold a volunteer training workshop on Tuesday, March 16, from 10 a.m. to noon, at Zion Episcopal Church Parish House, 221 E. Washington St., Charles Town.

Volunteers with Good Shepherd Caregivers provide non-medical, neighborly assistance to elderly and/or disabled residents of Jefferson County.  Services include transportation to medical appointments, helping with errands, light yard or house work, simple chores, visiting, and reassurance calls.  Volunteers also help at our office.

To register or to learn more, please contact Nancy Marmorella at (304) 725-2262, or nmarmorella@gsivc.org.

Sign Up Now For Beginner Birding Course

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is accepting applications for its 2010 “Birding 101” course for beginning birders, which will be held in April.

This will be the 23nd year the Society has offered this course, and it continues to be very popular.

Space will be limited so those who are interested are encouraged to sign up soon.

The course will be taught by leading local bird experts, including Wil Hershberger and Matt Orsie.

It will utilize both evening classroom sessions and daytime field trips to teach everything from bird identification to birding techniques and resources to field etiquette.

It will focus on bird species that are found in the Eastern Panhandle area.

The evening classroom sessions will start on Thursday, April 1 and be held each of the following three Thursdays (April 8, 15, and 22). All of these sessions will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Conservation Training Center just north of Shepherdstown.

The field trips will be held at various locations around the Panhandle from roughly 7:00 a.m. to 12 noon on the Saturdays following the Thursday evening classroom sessions (April 3, 10, and 17 and 24).

Tuition for the full course package of four classroom sessions and four field trips is $50.

Registration is required. Registration forms and more information are available on the PVAS website at www.potomacaudubon.org or by contacting Kristin Alexander at pvasmail.aol.com or 304-676-3397.

The Potomac Valley Audubon Society is a United Way of the Eastern Panhandle partner agency and a member of the Combined Federal Campaign.

Park Service Study Affirms Location & Size Of Shepherdstown Civil War Battlefield

In an update of the 1993 Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields, the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) has provided information that sites the location of the 1862 Battle of Shepherdstown and provides more information about the actual size of the core of the battlefield. The report concludes that the core of the battlefield, as defined, is 1,534.4 acres; 1,034.64 acres in West Virginia (WV) and 499.76 acres in Maryland (MD). More importantly, the study concludes that the potential National Register boundary amounts to 4,259.32 acres; 2,502.71 acres in WV and 1,756.61 acres in MD. The report notes that four WV battlefields, including the Shepherdstown site, “have the largest percentages of Study Area land to land potentially eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places land. The ABPP (American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service) believes that all of these battlefields should be viewed as higher priorities for preservation.”

Edward Dunleavy, speaking as President of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA) stated that: “this report should finally put to rest the insistence by some that the battle took place only on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac River. Not only was the fighting over a large area of northern Jefferson County, the importance of the battle is not to be underestimated. General Robert E. Lee intended to continue the Maryland Campaign and, on September 19, 1862, after retreating from MD, issued orders to the Army of Northern Virginia to cross the Potomac back into MD at Williamsport. An important reason that Lee changed those orders and retreated south was the Battle of Shepherdstown which convinced Lee that the Union Army of the Potomac was pursuing his troops aggressively. Two days later President Abraham Lincoln was able to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.”

The Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2002 directed “the Secretary of Interior acting through the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the National Park Service, to update the … (CWSAC) Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields.” Funding for the update was provided by Congress in Fiscal Year 2005 and 2007.Early this month the report for WV was released and provided information about each battlefield relative to the size of: 1) the study area; 2) the core area; and 3) the potential National Register boundary area.

“The Study Area represents the historic extent of the battle as it unfolded across the landscape.” It contains the area in which the troops were maneuvered and deployed immediately before, during and after combat. In the case of the Battle of Shepherdstown, the study area totals 4,549.21 acres; 2,792.6 in WV and 1,756.61 in MD. “Historic accounts, terrain analysis and feature identification inform the delineation of the Study Area boundary.”

“The Core Area represents the areas of fighting on the battlefield. Positions that delivered or received fire, and the intervening space and terrain between them, fall within the Core Area.” This is frequently described as “hallowed ground”. “On current WV maps,” Dunleavy stated, “this area is approximately from Teague Run in the west to Rattlesnake Run in the east and as far south as Engle-Moler Road and Aspen Pool Farm. In MD, the area runs from Ferry Hill in the west to about Millers Sawmill Road in the East and approximately 3/8 of a mile north of the Potomac.

SBPA continues to focus on trying to save the “core” of the “core” or about 300 acres. “Our focus is on that area where most of the fighting occurred in WV”, stated Dunleavy, “it remains in relatively pristine condition and would be perfect for a Civil War Battlefield Park, not only preserving ‘hallowed ground’ but encouraging heritage tourism in Jefferson County.

Professional Sportscare & Rehab To Collect Canes, Crutches, Walkers And Wheelchairs For Haiti Earthquake Victims

In response to the need for medical supplies to care for those injured in the Haiti earthquake, Professional SportsCare & Rehab will collect assistive devices, including canes, crutches, walkers and wheelchairs. The devices will then be donated to Project HOPE for immediate distribution in Haiti.

Assistive devices can be brought to any of the eleven Professional SportsCare & Rehab locations now through March 1.

Professional SportsCare & Rehab is working in partnership with Midway Self Storage, who donated a storage unit, and Brown’s Tire Towing & Auto Care Center, who donated a truck to deliver the collected items.  Anyone interested in assisting with the collection or starting their own collection sites can email a request to asstdevices4haiti@yahoo.com.

By Thomas Harding

This month I intend to overwhelm you with data . . . so strap on your seatbelts and let’s go for it.

First, let me introduce a new statistic to my loyal readers: the ratio between homes sold (“solds”) and homes on the market (“inventory”). Let’s call this ratio the sold/inventory ratio.

This ratio is often used by economists to determine the health of the real estate market. As you can see from Graph 1, the sold/inventory ratio was incredibly low in the months leading up to spring 2005. For every three homes on the market, one home sold. Those were pretty good odds for sellers and it made for a strong seller’s market.

Graph 1: Inventory/ Sold ratio in Jefferson County

Then Katrina hit in August 2005 and all hell broke loose in the real estate market. The actual moment can be clearly seen on this graph. The sold/inventory ratio spiked suddenly in August 2005, and kept rising through January 2009, when it reached its height: an incredible 25 homes on the market for every one that sold.

The good news is that the sold/inventory ratio fell in 2009, particularly just before the first-time homebuyers federal tax credit deadline in November. By that time the ratio fell below one home sold for every eight on the market. The ratio rose again in January 2010, but this should not cause great concern because the ratio always increases at this time of year.

With the extension of the federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers and a new credit for existing homeowners—properties must be under contract before April 30 and close by 30 June to qualify—combined with the better weather, I anticipate that the sold/ inventory ratio will fall again this spring, creating a chance for a more balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Another piece of good news from the historic data is that the worst is behind us. If we focus only on the number of solds that occurred over the past few years, we can clearly see that the market took a plunge after 2005. We can also see that the real estate market was far better in 2009 than in 2008 (see Graph 2). To me this looks like we are firmly in the upswing of a classic real estate recovery.

Graph 2: Jefferson County “solds” 2003-2008

So how were the sales in January 2010? Again we see more good news: a 50-percent increase in the number of units sold compared to the same period the year before, and a 22-percent drop in the number of days it takes for a house to go under contract.

Pending sales are significantly up, which should result in increased sales in February and March, and there was an increase in the percentage of sold price to list price from 87 percent to 93 percent. All signs of an improving market.

Table 1: Jefferson County real estate information January 2010

The bad news is that at $154,000, the average sold price in Jefferson County is now at its lowest level since January 2002 (see Graph 3). This really is an extraordinarily low figure, considering the average sold price back in January 2006 was $317,000.

Graph 3: Average sale price in Jefferson County

As I have said before, this is not cause for panic. Part of the reason for this dramatic fall in average sold price is that the lower-end home sales continue to dominate the market. But that is not the whole story. Home values have dropped over the past few years, especially because of the downward-price pressure resulting from all the short sales and foreclosures. Even Jefferson County’s typically conservative county assessor has recognized that values have fallen dramatically. She said that home prices in the county came down on average 17 percent in 2009.

So what does this all mean? With the warmer weather soon to be upon us, interest rates continuing at historic low levels, house prices falling, and, for a short time only, the federal government doling out wads of tax credits for home-buyers, the Jefferson County real estate market will be hot and happening in spring 2010.

Thomas Harding is Broker for Greg Didden Associates, Shepherdstown West Virginia: www.Greg Didden.com

I am a grown woman with a respectable culinary background and a sizeable dossier of international travel, yet somehow I had never set foot in France. No Cordon Bleu, no apprenticeship with a tony chef, no youthful grape-picking jobs with open-air lunches of baguette and local fromage. At last, in mid-January, I arrived in la belle France with my companion, clutching my wish-list of modern bistros, and for two weeks we wandered the wintry landscape between Paris, Brussels, and the Loire Valley.

On our whirlwind Paris weekends, we were fortunate to be shepherded by a born-and-bred Parisian who trotted us through the chilly, gray streets to visit centuries of architecture and art, lavish food markets, and flashy boutiques. We joined a queue of exceptionally chic Parisians, some cuddling fluffy miniature dogs, at Pierre Hermé, the finest cutting edge candy store on Earth. Their famous “ macarons,” exquisite little confections that look like tiny, brightly colored hamburgers, have unusual flavor combinations like chestnut and green tea, foie gras, and fruit-and-flower essences. At E1.70 each (about $2.30) the decadence must be savored, leisurely. We ate well almost always, once for a sumptuous price at Fontaine de Mars, the classic bistro where the Obamas dined, scandalously declining President Sarkozy’s dinner invitation to the Elyseé Palace.

Restaurant service in France is “correct” everywhere: in bars, superhighway convenience stores, bistros, countryside inns. One quickly learns that waiters are serious professionals, with rules of deportment, (and, please remember, rules apply to customers, too). Grateful for my mother’s insistence on giving me “White Gloves and Party Manners” when I was 11, I summoned the etiquette of silverware use and bread-buttering rules (always hold your bread on the plate while you butter it; never, never hold it in the air). Wherever we dined, plates were cleared from a table only when everyone had finished, a nicety rarely found in U.S. restaurants.

My favorite cultural lesson came on my last afternoon in Paris at the modish Etamine Café in the Marais neighborhood. I wanted one last cup of the ubiquitous potent coffee, always served in a miniature china cup with a doll-size bar of dark chocolate and sugar cubes wrapped in pretty paper. The young, handsome chef-proprietor emerged, arched an eyebrow and flipped through menus for a good 30 seconds, looking for one in English. Did I speak even a little French, he asked, in French? I was a pathetic American tourist after all. “Little enough,” I said. He proceeded to instruct me on how patrons are to behave upon entering an establishment: sit down, and wait to be waited on. “Yessir,” I saluted, and sat down. “Kindly bring me a coffee.”

The several hundred miles of countryside we traversed in north-central France flow in memory as an undulating stream of vast muted gold and grqy-green agricultural fields and naked vineyards, punctuated by stands of gigantic modern windmills, perfect rows of trees, and every few miles a beige stone village bookended by traffic circles. In the Loire valley, we came upon a town with huge community gardens that unrolled for a good 50 acres along the banks of the Cher River. Most plots had leeks and cabbages in the ground, a reminder of Leeks Vinaigrette, a winter standard on restaurant menus throughout the area. It is delicious, and really very simple to prepare.

Leeks Vinaigrette

Serve this as a first course, followed by a platter of thin-sliced roast meat or poultry, or prosciutto and a tossed green salad and French bread, for a simple meal. If you can find them, use small leeks an inch in diameter.

Makes 3 to 4 servings

2-1/2 to 3 pounds of leeks (about 6 – 12 leeks depending on size)

4 hard-cooked eggs (simmer for 8 – 9 minutes until yolk is set, but still slightly soft in the center)

Mustard Vinaigrette

1 rounded teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot or scallion

1 tablespoon wine vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley

Trim away the tough upper dark green leaves from the leeks and discard. Trim off the roots and a thin slice of the white base. Trim each leaf down to the light green portion. Slice each leek lengthwise down the center, leaving a 2-inch end section to hold the leaves together. Rinse under cold running water to remove all dirt and sand. Tie the leeks together in a bundle with kitchen string. Cook in lightly salted simmering water until just barely tender, about 10 minutes. Drain well. Remove the strings and place the leeks on a serving platter or individual plates.

Peel the eggs and set aside.

Prepare the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, thoroughly mix the mustard, shallot, vinegar and salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil, mixing until the sauce is emulsified. Add all but a tablespoon of parsley. Taste for seasoning.

Cut the eggs in halves or quarters and arrange around the leeks. Spoon the sauce over the leeks and eggs, and sprinkle with parsley. Serve at room temperature.

by Jeff Feldman

“How’s the house?”

I am asked this a lot. In winter, this question is often followed with another question, either asked or implied: “Staying warm?”

These might seem unusual questions to ask the average homeowner. But factor in an unusual house—strawbale-insulated with no conventional heating system, and an unusually chilly winter with January and February lows regularly dipping to the single digits—and the curiosity makes sense.

I can’t always tell if people are asking these questions with genuine interest or suspicious skepticism. Sometimes I wonder if their real question is, “Do you roam the house thickly layered in fleece and wool,” or “how many blankets are piled onto your bed?” In other words, “How does your grand experiment in green living hold up against the ravages of winter?”

In some ways the doubts of others do reflect a few of my own. The truth of wintertime comfort in our house of straw is not exactly what I’d like it to be. Straw is a wonderful insulator, but comfortable wintertime warmth requires an even distribution of heat within that well-insulated shell and proper air sealing to prevent heat loss and drafts. The thermal dynamics of our simple strawbale house are more complex than we thought.

Keeping warm in our house is not a factor of indoor air temperature. It has more to do with radiant warmth, the warmth emitted by physical things. Our house uses three complementary sources of radiant heat: the Sun, a wood-fired heater, and an in-floor hydronic heat system.

The Sun makes a world of difference in our home’s overall comfort. We designed the house to maximize passive-solar heat gain. The Sun shines its warming rays on the thermal mass built into the house—concrete floor, clay-plastered walls, and stonework around the wood heater. These capture and hold that warmth, gradually radiating it out once the Sun has moved on. On bright sunny days, even when the mercury barely rises, the house feels warm with little or no additional heat input.

Of course, the Sun does not always shine. On gray winter days we rely more heavily on our masonry heater. It’s essentially a woodstove encased in stonework we light and load twice a day, morning and evening. The fire burns hot and fast, lasting for only an hour and a half or so each burn. The intensity of this hot fire is tempered by the masonry surrounding the firebox: The stonework absorbs much of the heat. Once the fire is out and the chimney damper is pulled closed, the captured heat gently radiates out of the stone over the next 24 or more hours.

The masonry heater occupies center stage in the open floor plan of our home’s main level. Its heat effect reaches everything and everyone within a visual sightline of its warm stone mass. The heater’s stone chimney extends all the way up through our house, creating a column of warmth in the core of our second story. Our second floor is a bit more cut up, though, with bathrooms around corners and out of “view” of the warm chimney. In bathrooms one tends to wear the fewest clothes, and it’s here on chilly mornings that I am reminded we could have planned this arrangement more carefully.

The flooring surface of the main level of our house is concrete. We laid loops of tubing in this floor before pouring, with plans to eventually connect this tubing to a water heating and pumping system for in-floor radiant heat. We thought of this as a future project, a future back-up heating system for when we’d be away several days or if we wearied of processing firewood for the masonry heater. We thought wrong.

Thermal mass like a concrete floor tends to be cold if not warmed by the Sun or by heated water flowing through tubing buried in it. Large cold objects pull heat from anything nearby that generates it. And so our cold concrete floor pulls heat from us. We were reluctant to admit this at first. Kristin and I both wandered around that first winter merely pretending that our straw house was keeping us as warm and cozy as we had dreamed it would. When we finally gave in to the truth, and scrounged the money to have the floor’s mechanical system installed, our comfort level rose. And our electric bill rose right along with it. We accepted the cost of comfort though, and finally, with a heated floor underfoot, the sun beaming through the windows, and a massive stone heater radiating its warmth upon us, we were warm in our strawbale home. Almost.

Despite the high insulation values and various sources of heat working in harmony in the house, we’ve discovered that air leaks are still an issue. The wooden doors we loved for their aesthetic qualities are prone to wintertime shrinkage. Light creeping in along the perimeter of the door is not a welcome sight. The dryer vent behaves like a wind tunnel at times. At places along the edges of walls the interior clay plaster has shrunk, leaving a gap through which cold breezes can sometimes be felt. We still have tightening up to do.

There are simple fixes for all of these issues. And at times I feel a bit hypocritical promoting energy conserving practices that I can be slow to implement myself. Perhaps I’m still too caught up in the lofty notion that keeping warm in a strawbale house should be effortless. As our friend Satch put it, predicting the insulating power of our strawbale walls: “I imagine one day, Jeff, Kristin will say to you, ‘I’m chilly . . . light a candle.’” If only it were that easy!

Jeff Feldman runs GreenPath Consulting, a green building consulting firm. He and his wife Kristin Alexander live in a strawbale home in Berkeley County. Reach Jeff at GreenPathConsulting@gmail.com.

By David and Christian Asam

Christian: When shopping for wine, I always try to buy from a locally owned wine shop. We are lucky to have a few stores in Jefferson County with a nice selection on their shelves. Allow me to send a special congratulations to Grapes & Grains on their new location and expanded selection.

David: Christian is right. The wine selection in town is fantastic, but let’s imagine something odd happened on German Street. Hmm, maybe like a water main break that sends water gushing down the sidewalks, or how about a freakish three-foot snowfall that makes German Street impassable. I know these sound far fetched, but I guess it could happen.

C: So David and I tried to imagine what life would be like without these wonderful wine sources at our fingertips. What if these shops were not there, or were unreachable? What if we, heaven forbid, had to shop for wine at the . . . GROCERY STORE! Oh the horror!

D: Some grocery stores have better wine selections than others. That said, most wine distributor’s catalogs are divided in two parts: wine that’s allowed to be placed on grocery store shelves and wine to be sold only in wine shops and restaurants. So Christian and I went to a local, unnamed grocery store with the area’s smallest selection of wine. A noble attempt to find something quaffable should the afore mentioned emergency ever occur. As Christian’s household is predominantly white wine drinkers, and my house leans red, we tasked ourselves accordingly on the hunt. Drum roll please.

C: Here you go. My top four grocery store whites.

Trivento, Torrontes, Argentina, $9.50. First let me say I was amazed to find a Torrontes on the shelves of this store. It is a testament to the burst in popularity of this wine grape. This wine is simple and nice, showing the grape’s typical characteristics of honeysuckle floral tones mixed with melon, and nice acidity on the finish.

Two Ocean, Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa, $9.99. I often find wines from South Africa to be risky, not to mention South African wine sold in a grocery store. But this one is pleasant and clean, with aromas of gooseberry. Nothing noteworthy, but we’re talking emergency wines here!

Bogle Chardonnay, California, $10.50. This wine tastes like, believe or not, Chardonnay. Nothing special and nothing off putting, with plenty of oak. And it will work nicely with your roasted chicken.

Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc, Marlbourgh, New Zealand, $11.50. This is my favorite grocery-store white wine. It still does not compete with the value Sauvignon Blancs from Argentina found in downtown shops, but this wine will keep you smiling until help arrives.

D: Here are my top four grocery store reds.

Chateau St. Jean, Merlot, California, $12. Hey, if their Cabernet can get Wine Spectator’s wine of the year a few years back, why not try their Merlot? Soft and subtle, with juicy dark fruit.

Mondavi, Private Selection Pinot Noir, $11. It’s hard to find a very good inexpensive Pinot Noir, but when given a limited selection, Mondavi’s near 50 years of experience have to count for something. Fresh red berries jump out, but finish quickly.

Ravenswood Vintner’s Blend Zinfandel, $11. Ravenswood may be one of the most recognizable names when it comes to Zin, and the wine’s not bad either. Big rich flavors of red licorice and over-ripe berries pound your palate right from the get-go.

Banfi, Chianti Classico, Riserva, $18. Need a little taste of the old world? Italy’s most well known producer, Banfi, has a little something for everyone. This rustic Sangiovese balances the strong earthy tones with hidden berry fruit. Definitely a food wine, and for the record, a better bottle of $18 Chianti can easily be found elsewhere.

C: We would be remiss not to mention a few of our favorite recent finds to ask for at the wine shops. These wines promise to bring lots of pleasure.

Whites: Huber Gruner Veltliner, Urban Torrontes, Tilia Chardonnay, Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc.

Reds: Jim Jim Shiraz, Cono Sur Pinot Noir, Gougenheim Malbec, Dante Reserve Cabernet.

Christian and David Asam manage the 650 selection wine list and cellar at the Bavarian Inn in Shepherdstown. You can email your grape debate questions to David@bavarianinnwv.com or Christian@bavarianinnwv.com.

by Claire Stuart

“I grew up doing needlework—sewing, needlepoint, crewel embroidery,” says basketmaker Anne Bowers. “I was always doing crafts.”

Bowers has lived in the Panhandle all of her life, growing up in Shepherdstown, and later living in Martinsburg, then moving back to Jefferson County when she married.

Her airy studio in her old farmhouse in Middleway is filled with basketry material and baskets in all sizes, shapes, and colors. Some have the expected shapes of Easter baskets and market baskets, while others are intricately fashioned in the shape of seashells. Tiny, delicate baskets are nearly as small as thimbles.

Bowers’ initiation to basketry came about 28 years ago when she worked in a Shepherdstown shop called The Needle Shop, and the owner decided to put in basketry supplies.

“I didn’t think they would sell,” Bowers recalled, “because I didn’t like the feel of the material on my hands. Then I made my first basket, and I loved it!”

She became interested in baskets, and started reading about their history. Her employer paid for her first basketry class, and she has occasionally taken some one-day classes but is primarily self-taught. She never apprenticed, and she is glad, she says, because “I was given the opportunity to create my own style.”

In her artist’s statement, Bowers says, “Baskets have the ability to bridge the gap between a beautiful work of art and the functional woven vessel.”

Bowers began as a production basketmaker, making and selling baskets. She started teaching basketry in the 1990s at the request of people she met at craft shows. Eventually she transitioned into teaching full-time. She also sells a few basketry tools and writes patterns on how to make specific kinds of baskets.

Currently Bowers makes baskets only for exhibits and the Over The Mountain Studio Tour—probably a few hundred baskets a year. “I keep maybe one basket a year that I make,” she said. “There are not many that I feel strongly about.”

She used to do primarily functional baskets, working with all-natural material and no dyes. Now she finds it more rewarding to work with color and varieties of shapes. “I love to do artsy stuff,” she said.

Most basketry material is called reed, a rattan in the palm family, Bowers explained. However, she also enjoys gathering natural local material, including sedge, cedar bark, willow, and honeysuckle, as well as daylily and iris leaves. She likes to weave periwinkle stems into very fine baskets because the stems are consistent in size and dry to an attractive green.

“Basketmakers use all sorts of materials,” she said. She has used philodendron sheaths, sea grass, coconut palm fiber, raffia, and even shredded watercolor paper. She exhibited a basket someone else had made out of sea kelp with its little balloon-like bladders and an African-made basket woven of telephone wire.

Bowers loves to work with found material like antlers, bones, shells, bottles, and pumpkin stems, and she weaves them into her baskets. She adds whimsy to some baskets by weaving in kitchen utensils. She displayed baskets made with an egg beater, a rolling pin and a strainer. A basket with a funnel top made a unique birdhouse.

Teaching takes Bowers up and down the East Coast, from New York to the Carolinas and as far west as Michigan and Missouri.

She explained that basketry has become more organized over the last 20 years or so, and there are many state basketmakers’ guilds. They hold conventions attended by hundreds of people and offer four- and five-day classes.

“People who take basketry classes are tired of the throw-away society,” she says. “They want to have a connection to things made by hand. They love to make a functional thing with their own hands.”

Once a year, Bowers goes to Winterthur, the old DuPont family estate in Delaware now connected with the University of Delaware, where she works with a teacher of object conservation.

There she lectures and demonstrates the basket construction, including tension, dyes, and materials. “We look at historic baskets in the collection and some currently under conservation,” she said, “and we give students the opportunity to actually make a little something themselves,” she said.

She describes her work at Winterthur as, “one of the most rewarding things I do all year long. The conservation students look at what I’m sharing from a different perspective than my regular students. My regular students are interested in the baskets they are going to make. Conservator students are interested in details about the types of materials, construction methods, and history.”

Bowers’ work has appeared in juried shows, galleries, and exhibits across the East and has won many awards. Last year she was featured in Basket Bits magazine, with one of her baskets on the cover. This February, she taught classes on the first-ever “Basketry Cruise” on a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean.

Says Bowers, “There’s lots of joy in basket making.”

Someone at work told me about the music service Pandora a year ago, but I hadn’t bothered to check it out until I recently loaded the Pandora App on my iPhone and turned it on during a long drive. There are many music “services” on the Internet, some of them available on individual artists’ websites. Generally, they work by streaming an artist-focused “radio station” feed that you can listen to on your computer or through your phone or handheld music player. What makes Pandora different is its musical variety and relationship with the Musical Genome Project. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Genome_Project).

Here’s how it works: You sign up for a free account. Then the system asks you to create a radio station based on a favorite artist. I set up a David Grisman Quintet station, and Pandora served up “Why Did the Mouse Marry the Elephant” from the album Dawgnation. Good music. Next, the system gave me a tune from an Edgar Meyer, “Bela Fleck,” and Mike Marshal album called Uncommon Ritual. Good call, and great music.

The Musical Genome Project mapped the Grisman tune using over 400 musical attributes, then the algorithm analyzed and linked it to the next album—and assumed the similarities would appeal to my musical tastes.

Most of the time this works, but not always. The next piece was unexpected, an acoustic guitar piece by artist John Zorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_zorn) from his album Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking. This one was a little too “smooth jazz” for me, so I quickly clicked the next button. The band Nickel Creek came on with a great up-tempo acoustic ensemble piece called “In the House of Tom Bombadil.”

You get the idea. Here’s the cool thing: you can create a station for just about any group you can think of. I’ve got a few dozen set up now, from the Grisman Channel to Jean Luc Ponty to a channel for the old Canterbury Scene band Hatfield and the North. In all, there’s a lot of music to choose from, and infinite combinations as the system chooses music that it thinks you will like.

There are some drawbacks. In the free mode, you are limited to a certain number of hours each month, and you are forced to sit through video and banner ads. You lose the ads and get unlimited time if you buy a paid subscription to the service. Classical music fans will be disappointed at the minimal and narrow amount of content.

With the amount of music I have on my hard drives, I don’t think I’ll have Pandora playing a lot at my house, but it is a worthwhile musical outlet that I will tap occasionally, especially when I want to discover new music. For info, go to www.pandora.com and try it out.

Machine Made

A Pat Metheny album (www.patmetheny.com) is getting some buzz because of the unique composition of its band—custom-made musical robots instead of actual musicians. On Orchestrion, Metheny controls a variety of mechanical drums, pianos, vibraphones, and even tuned glass bottles from his guitar, creating an interesting ensemble sound. You have to wonder why Metheny would want to interact with musical “robots.” For the creative challenge, maybe, but also for the similarities to the work of Conlon Nancarrow, who created player-piano compositions far too complex and difficult for a human to play. Then there’s the amazing synclavier work of Frank Zappa, a composer that I wouldn’t readily affiliate with Pat Metheny. There are sections of the album that the Musical Genome Project would connect with Zappa’s Civilization Phase III or Jazz From Hell, and I can hear those Zappaesque passages in Metheny’s Orchestrion compositions. Once again, Metheny has redefined his music.

But the question remains: Could you sit through a two-hour concert watching a guy with a guitar play a bunch of machines? I was not sure that I could.

Metheny will perform with his Orchestrion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestrion) in May at the Strathmore in Bethesda. There are recordings of his current European tour on the Web now. The Stockholm concert I got my hands on sounds fantastic, well worth the price of a ticket. We were able to get front row seats for the Strathmore show. I’ll let you know how it goes.

by Glenn Scherer

The rush to tap vast natural gas reserves trapped in the Marcellus Shale bedrock underlying rural West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio has led to a heated regional debate concerning the safety of a controversial drilling process known as “fracking,” or natural gas hydraulic fracturing. Legislation introduced in the West Virginia House by Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, would begin to regulate the large volume of water withdrawn for drilling and fracturing. It would also require drilling companies to identify the contents of potentially polluting frac fluids, and set up a system for tracking the disposal of those fluids.

Fracking, combined with horizontal drilling, is a process by which millions of gallons of water, mixed with a brew of chemicals and sand, are pumped thousands of feet underground, then forced sideways for as much as a mile, shattering bedrock strata, and thereby releasing natural gas impounded there. High-end estimates say that there may be more than 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas locked up in the Marcellus Shale, enough to supply the entire United States for two years. The value of the gas could be as high as $1 trillion.

Fracking in shale, say public health advocates, differs from traditional petroleum fracking. The oil industry has been using freshwater for decades offshore without concerns of chemical contamination of groundwater.

At issue are safety claims made by the drilling industry, as compared to a growing number of citizen complaints about polluted air, poisoned drinking water, dead livestock, and an industrial infrastructure inappropriate to rural and suburban landscapes. Fracking damage has been reported in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

In September 2009, for example, in Dimmick, Pennsylvania an 8,000-gallon gas drilling wastewater spill involving toxic frack chemicals caused a major fish kill in Stephens Creek. Also in Dimmick last year, a home drinking water well exploded after it was contaminated by methane from a fracking operation. In 2007, a home blew up near Cleveland, Ohio, when it was infiltrated by methane from a fracked natural gas well.

A catastrophic fish kill that wiped out all life on a 30-mile stretch of pristine Dunkard Creek on the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border has also raised questions about fracking safety. Though officials are still uncertain as to the disaster’s cause, one source under investigation is the improper disposal of contaminated frack wastewater.

Other U.S. communities have reported fracking problems. Last year, the air above the little town of DISH Texas (pop. 181) turned so foul that officials used one sixth of the annual municipal budget to fund an air quality study. Findings showed that local air seriously violated state carcinogenic and neurotoxin safety standards. Fumes are reportedly rising from natural gas wells, compressors, condensate tanks and pipelines – part of massive fracking operations there, says the Denton Record-Chronicle.

In Louisiana, also last year, 16 cattle died after “apparently drinking from mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas drilling rig,” according to the Shreveport Times. In 2008, in Hill County, Texas, three landowners found their pristine drinking water wells polluted with sulfates and toluene—a gasoline additive and solvent toxic to humans and animals. All three properties are adjacent to fracking wells, reports the Fort Worth Weekly.

The potential for harm from fracking is not yet known. The concern is that frack water, polluted with toxins, is left underground and could over the years rise through strata to contaminate groundwater. The problem, environmental advocates say, is that neither industry nor government has done any long-term studies. What is known is that aquifers once polluted are nearly impossible to clean up.

Other worries center around the millions of gallons of flowback water that do return to the surface at each well, which must be treated as hazardous waste because it contains toxic fracking chemicals, plus toxins leached from bedrock such as benzene and radioactive materials. Open pits, used to store wastewater, can leak into groundwater and also cause air pollution. Toxic wastewater either must be trucked to already overtaxed waste treatment plants for cleanup, or injected back underground.

Finally, there are concerns about the pressures that the fracking infrastructure places on communities. The tens of thousands of new fracking wells planned for the Marcellus Shale will need acres each for well pads, plus land for noisy air-polluting compressors, wastewater tanks and pits, and miles of pipeline (which may leak) and new roads. Rural homeowners who abut drilling sites compare the foul air and constant roar of compressors to living in an industrial zone.

Oil and Gas Accountability Project Director Gwen Lachelt thinks the industry isn’t looking hard enough for solutions, and notes for example that offshore fracking wells, and coalbed methane wells in Alabama are required to use “freshwater frack” when drilling, a process that is free of toxic chemicals. “So why doesn’t industry use freshwater frack in shale drilling?” she asks. “The industry has armies of engineers and scientists. I have all the faith in the world in them that they can develop fracturing fluids that are not harmful to public health and wildlife.”

Fracking worries have resulted in a push in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio to strengthen state safeguards regarding fracking operations. In Pennsylvania, a statewide debate is ongoing whether to allow further expansion of natural gas drilling on state forestlands.

The West Virginia bill, should it become law, would give public-health advocates what they’ve been asking for, and what industry has been so far unwilling to provide: a table of contents about what is in the fracking fluids. The Bush administration had exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, allowing industry to guard fracking fluids as trade secrets. Without a list of those chemicals, states and citizens cannot know what toxins to test for in potentially contaminated drinking water. This so-called Halliburton Loophole especially benefited Dick Cheney’s former employer Halliburton, inventor of the fracking process.

Some in Congress want to pass the FRAC Act (the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Bill; S.1215, and H.R. 2766), requiring drilling companies to make fracking chemicals public, and allowing EPA to set fracking minimum standards for states to enforce. The economic downturn has dimmed likelihood of FRAC Act passage this year.

Still, many in the natural gas industry resist revealing secret frack chemicals. “It is much like asking Coca-Cola to disclose the formula of Coke,” said Ron Heyden, a Halliburton executive, in testimony before the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2008.

Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson speaking at a January 2010 congressional hearing concerning the $41 billion merger of Exxon with XTO Energy (one of the world’s biggest natural gas drilling companies), said he could support revealing toxic frack mixes. He added that, by combining the hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling processes “we can now find and produce unconventional natural gas supplies miles below the surface in a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible manner.” Exxon has threatened to nix its XTO acquisition if Congress makes fracking “illegal or commercially impractical.”

At press time, Del. Manchin’s bill was moving toward a vote in the House. Senate passage remains uncertain.

© 2010 www.blueridgepress.com

In November’s general election, West Virginia voters will decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to allow lawmakers to change the tax code. At issue is whether commercial and industrial machinery, equipment, and inventory can be exempted from real property tax, also known as ad valorem taxation. Currently, businesses pay yearly taxes akin to personal property taxes on all equipment and inventory. The proposed amendment, H.J.R. 101, would allow counties to choose whether to offer the tax benefit.

The current tax creates a disincentive for business to invest in new equipment. Tax research groups have cited property taxes on business inventory and equipment as the biggest obstacle to attracting new companies to West Virginia. Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow has called the taxes on inventory and equipment “the number one handicap” to economic growth in the state.

In West Virginia it takes a constitutional amendment to change tax policy. With the proposed amendment, Delegates want to turn tax policy over to the legislature. This would provide greater flexibility to the overall tax system, and streamline efforts to have  West Virginia compete with tax incentives offered by neighboring states.  Passing H.J.R. 101 would give the legislature the leeway it wants concerning property taxes on businesses. 

Property taxes, including property taxes on businesses, are a major source of revenue for counties and their boards of education—money that some counties cannot afford to lose and still remain solvent. And some estimates claim that county governments would bear about 60 percent of the cost of eliminating the taxes entirely.

Financial relief for counties that would be adversely affected by these exemptions could be offered by the West Virginia Development Office. Ironically, the development office now spends significant state tax dollars to help circumvent the current arcane system: It buys new equipment, then leases it back to companies for a nominal amount. According to Berkeley County Delegate Walter Duke, the need for this kind of state spending will be eliminated by the new amendment, and there are discussions underway to allow diverting those funds to counties that rely heavily on the current taxes to balance their budgets.

Proponents also believe that lost revenue would be replaced by attracting new businesses. They say the proposed amendment will make West Virginia an attractive place for new businesses and encourage existing businesses to stay and reinvest in new equipment. “This bill is essentially a jobs bill,” said Duke. “Other states don’t tax machinery and equipment. If you have a business with older equipment that is not as productive as equipment in other operations outside the state, you are forced to look for environments friendlier to business in order to stay competitive. This amendment will allow our businesses the opportunity to improve without relocating, essentially saving and creating jobs,” said Duke.

“We are in favor of any effort to keep us competitive with other states by attracting and keeping businesses here in West Virginia, especially in this current economic climate—tax break or otherwise,” said Heather Morgan, executive director of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.

If ratified in the upcoming general election, H.J.R. 101 would return to the legislature where the process of amending the current tax code would begin.

Text of the proposed resolution can be viewed at www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Text_HTML/2010_SESSIONS/RS/BILLS/HJR101%20SUB.htm