By: Lydia Crawley
On Friday, October 2, it was announced by Friends of the Blackwater that the long awaited Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Parsons – Davis Section of Corridor H / Route 48 has been delayed from October 5 to November 5.
“Go North is anxiously awaiting this document to see whether the West Virginia Division of Highways seriously studied both proposed alignments, as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), or whether the analysis favors WVDOH’s preferred ROPA alignment,” Friends of the Blackwater announced.
Once the SDEIS is released, a public comment period will begin, along with an opportunity for the public to review and give their opinions on the study. The document, when released, will provide additional details on the environmental analysis of the proposed routes for the section of Corridor H between the municipalities of Parsons and Davis.
Friends of the Blackwater and Go North have long advocated for a northern alternative route to the long established ROPA route for the new highway, with the ROPA route being the preferred route since 2007. An alternative northern route was developed by WVDOH called the “Blackwater Avoidance Alternative 2 or BAA2.”
The Parsons – Davis section of Corridor H has long been the subject of environmental contention, with the section wrapped up in legal debates for decades over the proposed route. The release of the SDEIS report may be the beginning of one more legal contention, depending on what the report contains, with several environmental advocacy groups eyeing the report’s contents.
Advocacy groups such as Friends of the Blackwater and Go North will be watching the document closely, Friends of the Blackwater said.