Former Labor Secretary Wirtz Backs CVC with Sen. Rockefeller
Willard “Bill” Wirtz, U.S. Secretary of Labor under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and a part-time resident of the Capon Valley in Yellow Spring, has written a moving letter to U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller supporting the Capon Valley Coalition position on TrAIL.
(Mr. Wirtz made a copy of his letter available to us and is allowing us to post it on the CVC Web site.)
Mr. Wirtz developed something of a love affair with the Capon Valley in the 1960s and wrote a delightful history of it under the title, “Capon Valley Sampler: Sketches of Appalachia from George Washington to Caudy Davis.”
Here are some excerpts from his letter:
The company already has one power line across the valley. They are apparently maintaining that “homeland security” requires that they have another and that it not parallel the one they already have. I don’t believe this can be supported. …
I don’t suppose it matters that these two counties are where George Washington did the heart of his surveying. This was in 1750 and the proposed high voltage routes all cut across the lots he laid out. …
I know that I am only saying what hundreds of people here in this valley feel very, very deeply. We seem helpless against a powerful corporation seeking to misuse the power of eminent domain. [Emphasis added.] It becomes a basic issue of democracy’s meaning. …
You have a meeting scheduled with the Capon Valley Coalition. Suffice it perhaps to say that I join fervently in what they will be saying.
ROCKEFELLER MEETING FRIDAY (March 2)
A delegation from the Capon Valley Coalition will meet Friday (March 2) with two members of Sen. Jay Rockefeller’s staff to present copies of our petitions — that’s why it’s important to sign the petition — and to brief them on the vigorous opposition in West Virginia to Allegheny Power’s ill-conceived and unjustified power line.
Watch the Web site for a report on the meeting.