Our Statement on the Rockwool Open House

We do not want to talk to Rockwool.  We want to speak to our local and state government.

Subsidizing a heavy industrial facility, near our schools no less, is a matter for the people of West Virginia to settle among ourselves.  Rockwool’s size, intensity, smokestacks, traffic, location, and pollution are all completely wrong for Jefferson County. There is nothing Rockwool can say that will change that. We will never agree that’s a good idea no matter how many open houses Rockwool holds.   

This summer we’ve been showing up to meeting after meeting. It is insulting that Rockwool thinks we should take our time to attend yet another event on their turf. If they want to speak with us, they can do so in the many public forums designed for West Virginians where we have been organizing and we know we have a voice.

Rockwool’s event today is designed to waste our time while they move ahead on their high-pollution industrial facility next to an elementary school.  We don’t want to speak to  Rockwool while the bulldozers are still running at Jefferson Orchard.  If Rockwool was serious about public engagement they would not have hidden their plans behind NDAs, code-named votes at the JCC,  and tiny-typed newspaper notices.

Rockwool does not represent us. We only wish to speak to the elected representatives and officials who do.  We want our questions answered by the politicians who brokered this deal, and we are not going to let them hide behind Rockwool’s PR machine.  We are going to stop Rockwool and we are going to hold our government accountable.