Organizers opposing a controversial “advanced recycling” facility planned for eastern Kanawha County will host a community meeting about the project this week.

A forum about the proposed Clean Seas-West Virginia plant is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the Belle Town Hall gym, 1100 E Dupont Avenue in Belle. 

The plant — which would be located at the old 84 Lumber building near Belle — would burn plastic feedstock to create pyrolysis oil, synthetic gas and solid residue to be used and sold for petrochemical manufacturing purposes. 

While the company has marketed the process as a “clean” and a “sustainable energy solution” for the world’s ongoing plastics crisis, experts and organizers have said the technology is a rebranding of plastic incineration, which has been shown to harm the environment and public health while contributing to climate change. 

Organizers have invited dozens of federal, state and local elected officials as well as company representatives to the meeting, said Eric Caruthers, a Belle resident who has led opposition efforts to the facility.

A large meeting about the plant last April had a large turnout and sparked interest in taking further action against the facility, Caruthers said. He said organizers wanted to host a second large forum to make sure residents know that since the state issued the facility an air quality permit, the company is free to finish construction and start operations. 

“We wanted to open up the forum just to make sure that everyone is aware of what’s happening,” Caruthers said. “We sent out personal invitations to 168 elected officials and community leaders to bring them into the conversation, and I think the goal is to get more people aware of what’s happening, and also maybe motivate some more people to join in with our efforts as we go as we move forward.”

Eastern Kanawha County residents have raised concerns about the emissions the plant could cause, and its proximity to nearby Riverside High School, Midland Trail Elementary School and residential neighborhoods.

“The most concerning thing for me is having this facility right beside where my nephew goes to high school,” Caruthers said. “He’s on the track team. He’s in the band, so he’s going to be running right beside this in track season. And he actually got up and spoke at the DEP meeting too. He was quite the hit.”

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection last month issued a finalized air quality permit to Clean-Seas West Virginia, allowing the company to move forward with plans for the plant, despite opposition from residents there. 

Despite the permit, Caruthers said organizers are still working to oppose the plant. They’re partnering with Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services to appeal the permit, he said. 

Organizers collected nearly 1,000 signatures from residents opposed to the plant, asking Kanawha County commissioners to hear their concerns. Kanawha County officials say a policy implemented 40 years ago prevents the agency from enforcing zoning in unincorporated areas, including most of eastern Kanawha County.

Caruthers said organizers want to revisit the issue with the commission. He said no one has been able to find the actual law that prevents the county from enforcing zoning. 

“And so we are planning — I’m not sure when, but we are planning to go back to the commission and say, ‘Hey, you said that there was a law in place preventing you from taking action on our behalf, but no one can find it. So, what were you talking about?’”

They also hope that towns and officials in the area also join efforts to oppose the facility. The town of East Bank has already done so, he said. 

“We are campaigning around to the local area municipalities, requesting that they issue resolutions, so that as a Kanawha Valley, we can all stand together and tell this company that we don’t want them here,” Caruthers said. 

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