In Berkeley Springs last night, the Town of Bath Council passed a resolution to spend up to $200,000 on a parcel of land that contains “a secondary water source.”
That would be in addition to $200,000 from Morgan County and $800,000 from the State of West Virginia.
Total value of the deal – $1.2 million. Which is the sale price for 147 acres on Sir John’s Run Road. With a large pond in the middle of it.
Is that it? And for what purpose?
It was all too secretive at the Town meeting last night. The members of the council raised more questions than they answered.
The Mayor of the Town, Greg Schene, told the meeting that “this is a pretty significant amount of funding to find and secure a generational water source.”
“Are you talking about a well?” one citizen asked.
“No not a well,” the Mayor said.
“Where is the water coming from?” the citizen asked.
“Well, when we decide a location, we will share that information,” the Mayor said.
“Why do we need another source of water?” another citizen asked.
“Our current customer base is just under 1,500 customers,” said Town Council member and chair of the Water Committee Mary Lynn Hickey. “Our water availability inventory is pretty much maxed out. And the county has all of these plans for development – Dan Ryan – we gave them water availability for 200 homes. (That’s the Dan Ryan development planned for more than 100 acress across from the Sheetz on Route 13. Why exactly did they approve that water availability if the town was “maxed out” as Hickey put it?)
“The secondary water source will largely service the county and all of their development goals,” Hickey said. “Our current customers would remain on the town’s water supply. The secondary source would not be mixed with the Town’s water.”
“Then why should the town own the new parcel with the secondary water source if the water is for the county?” another aggravated citizen asked.
“Why not?” responded Town Council member Susan Webster.
“If it’s for the county, why should the town own it?” the citizen asked. “If the secondary water source is for the county, why should the town own the parcel?”
“The secondary water source over time could become the primary water source,” Mayor Schene said.
“We waited for the county for six years,” an exasperated Hickey said. “But we found it.”
But it’s if the water is for the county and not for the town, why is the town involved at all?
No good answer.
The whole conversation was wrapped in secrecy. Can’t say where the parcel is. Can’t say what the yield of water is. Can’t say what it’s for. Can’t explain why the town owns it when the water is for the county.
Which raises the question: Is the town doing the dirty work for the corporate powers that be at the state level – the powers who are trying to place massive data centers around the state? Is a data center coming to Morgan County? And is the secondary water source for the data center, not for the citizens of Morgan County, but for some far away big tech monolith?
Just asking.
After all, it was Governor Patrick Morrisey who rammed through HB 2014 in 2025 which shielded developers from having to share their data center plans with local communities and stripped those communities of any say over whether those data centers get placed in their communities. And the developers enter into non-disclosure agreements with local elected offcials.
The secrecy of data centers has become a hot political issue in West Virginia, including right here in Morgan County, where Elizabeth Ferris has made it a centerpiece of her campaign for State Senator. She’s running against Senator Darren Thorne, who voted for the Morrisey bill that fast-tracked data center development in the state.
