Letter to the Editor

Winchester Star
May 22, 2006

In response to the “Are you having a bad ‘air’ day?” article printed on Wednesday, May 17th, I would like to commend the efforts of those who have contributed to the air quality improvement in Winchester and Frederick County.

By taking a proactive approach, Valley AIRNow reached out to businesses in the community and is working to spread the word about air quality challenges through their AIRCorps program. This will heighten air quality awareness among businesses, government agencies and citizens, and will educate them on how they can work to improve it even more.

Frederick County and Winchester officials should recognize these efforts when considering the future industrial development on the horizon. The county should foster the efforts to expand and bring in more “clean air” industry while limiting the growth of heavy polluters.

It would be contradictory for officials to support ValleyAIR now and also approve the rezoning application by O-N Minerals (Chemstone) to expand their strip mining and processing operations on 639 acres of undeveloped rural land in Middletown. A company like O-N Minerals, known for releasing large quantities of particulate matter and harmful toxins into the air, can hinder the overall progress in improving air quality. The magnitude of this expansion, as well as the land use opportunities that would be available in the event of an approval, should have officials concerned about the significant impacts such a large mining operation would have on air quality.

Frederick County and Winchester officials have an opportunity to show that they are serious about clean air and deny requests for massive new operations that have such a negative effect on air quality efforts while promoting the clean industry that’s critical to smart growth.

Sebrina Ruths
Stephens City