Mona Ridder
Cumberland Times-News
February 16, 2008 08:30 pm
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REAP stands for Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan.
The plan is intended to help clean up existing problems with the state’s environmental resources and prevent the need for future cleanup.
The program is part of the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Grants from the program provide funding for specific projects that will further the end of a cleaner environment in communities and counties throughout the state.
The program includes a recycling section and grants are available to provide support for public education on recycling and recycling market development as well as planning and implementing recycling programs.
The maximum funding available for a public entity such as a county is $200,000 and for a private entity $50,000. Grant applications must be received by the last business day in July.
Litter control grants are also available to municipalities and counties for cleanup projects. This is a matching grant and the maximum grant is $3,000. Applications for these funds must be postmarked no later than May 31 for consideration.
The Mineral County Pride Builders, a group of county residents formed to assess the needs in the county for various programs, including cleanup and recycling, came into being at the behest of County Commissioner Wayne Spiggle.
The grant for which the county applied would have provided funding to do planning a more comprehensive program that would include recycling.
Spiggle said that since they were turned down for the grant “we have to start from scratch.”
To the end, members of the Pride Builders met last Monday to focus on developing an informational tool to let people know what recycling opportunities currently exist in the county and secondly brainstorm about how to development a more comprehensive program, perhaps in conjunction with one or more of the surrounding West Virginia counties.
Residents of Hampshire County have expressed the most interest in a more formalized recycling program. But, residents of Hardy County have also expressed an interest. Because of their locations as border counties, many of those who live in Hardy and Hampshire counties are already taking advantage of available programs in Virginia. Similarly, there are residents of Mineral County who are taking advantage of programs in Western Maryland.
Spiggle said that while members of the Region 8 Solid Waste Authority, which includes these three counties as well as Grant and Pendleton counties, have expressed interest in assisting in establishing a recycling program, the agency is currently in the process of finding a new executive director to fill the position of retiring Jay Jensen.
Jensen has been director for more than 30 years.
Spiggle also pointed out that a fee of about $1 for each ton of garbage that goes into the landfill is taken from local garbage collection bills and sent to the state for recycling efforts.
“Unless we develop projects that merit funding from REAP, we will continue to subsidize the efforts of other counties,” he said.
He went to say that the only way for the local county/counties to get their fair share is to come up with a plan that is acceptable to the state for funding.
Spiggle, with support from the other two county commissioners Janice LaRue and Cindy Pyles, was also the impetus behind the formation of the Clean Up Mineral County Committee. That committee has developed a Safe Building Ordinance that will be considered by the commissioners for adoption after the prosecuting attorney has reviewed it and it has been available for public comment.
The first reading of the ordinance was to be held Wednesday. The second reading is slated for Feb. 25 with the commissioners to consider adoption at a third meeting not yet scheduled.
The only landfill in the region is located in Tucker County with transfer stations located in Hampshire and Grant counties and it has a projected lifespan of only a few more years at the current rate of collection.
It is time for each of us as individuals to consider our responsibility as part of the waste stream.
Contact Mona Ridder at mridder@times-news.com.
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