The public hearing for the water bottling plant proposed for Middleway, originally scheduled for Feb. 11, was postponed due to bad weather. The hearing, to be held by the Jefferson County Planning Commission, will now take place on March 11 at 7 p.m. in Washington High School.

I hope that all the folks who had originally planned to attend the February meeting will be there on the new date. It’s critical.

To recap, Sidewinder LLC, a California company, proposes to take about 1.7 million gallons of Jefferson County’s groundwater per day to sell as bottled water, under the name Mountain Pure. I strongly oppose this proposal.

We have no idea how much water is in our aquifer. Until we find out, I think we have no business even considering such a proposal.

And, if approved, this proposal would lead to a great number of heavy trucks traversing the historic village of Middleway every day. Middleway’s streets are quite narrow, and the traffic would be unbearable. Also, the buildings in that village — many over 150 years old — might not be able to take the pounding from heavy vehicles passing in close proximity.

I’ve been in Charleston for the last several weeks. The State Legislature’s in session, and the last things on its mind are historic preservation and environmental protection. Jefferson County is on its own, when it comes to Sidewinder.

There is a rumor circulating that Governor Patrick Morrisey supports Sidewinder’s proposal for the bottling plant. I have attempted to determine the accuracy of that rumor, but have been unable to do so.

I hope the governor, one of Jefferson County’s own (the first governor in the history of our state elected from the eastern three counties), does not support this nonsensical idea. Were he to ask me for advice, I would counsel him that he would court political disaster by supporting Sidewinder on this. Indeed, I would advise him to publicly oppose the bottling plant.

The opposition to Sidewinder’s idea for Middleway among the public is broad and deep. I think it’s greater even than the opposition to Rockwool in 2018. And those who were around Jefferson County then, know how intense was the opposition to Rockwool.

In my conversations with people, some despair that Sidewinder cannot be defeated. I think this is at least partly because Rockwool was approved, despite strong opposition from the public. But the citizens of our county have a greater say in what happens with Sidewinder than they did with Rockwool. Sidewinder’s proposal is in an unincorporated area, therefore subject to the Jefferson County Planning Commission. By contrast, the Rockwool plant was within the city limits of Ranson, and was subject to Ranson planning.

The members of the Jefferson County Planning Commission are appointed by the Jefferson County Commission, elected by all the voters of the county. Ranson’s planners are appointed by the Ranson City Council, elected by only the voters of Ranson.

I hope Jefferson Countians show up en masse on March 11, in opposition to the Sidewinder bottling plant. I shall be there.

John Doyle is a 26-year former member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. He can be reached at rjohndoyle@comcast.net.