 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston auction will be Friday, May 8, starting at 5:30 P. M. at the Creston Community Building. This will be the second auction for auctioneers Weaver & Hardway at Creston. A big crowd was on hand for their initial sale.
Euell Russell is a patient in the Roane General Hospital suffering from pneumonia fever.
Century Aluminum whose plant at Ravenswood has now been closed for 6 years is trying to reopen but there are problems with cheap aluminum from China [dumping as it is called] and power rates because of EPA problems. Formerly several area folks worked at the facility.
Local hospitals continue to strive to remain in business which is now a major problem as it has been made clear that part of the plan for Obamacare was to eradicate small rural hospitals. The same is true with the Dodd Frank banking "reform" which is to rid the nation of small neighborhood banks so that only "those too large to fail" will remain and then they can be "federalized" thus giving the ruling class complete financial control over the peasants.
Adam & Anna Yates were riding elephants through the jungles of Siam.
Work is taking place at the former Ray Resources facility (now the local headquarters for Mountaineer Gas utility). Some feel that the work is related in some way with the mystery pipeline that Columbia Gas Transmission (Nisource) has in store for at least Wirt & Roane Counties. Farm & Dairy noted that the Ohio Farm Bureau held a meeting for landowners who who are facing the Utopia & Nexus pipelines. Quoting from the article, "The purpose of the meeting was to help landowners get ready so they make the right decisions when approached with a lease agreement [for the pipeline]. . . . Farmers need to make their leases specific to the land being affected and to consider all of the many ways that a pipeline can impact their land.
In most cases the land in the lease will be out of crop production for at least two years which means farmers may have additional expenses related to renting more land, buying additional crops and traveling to fields that are further away from the home farm.
One of the first things to ask about the pipeline itself is about the material that will be flowing through it. If a lease is not limited to natural gas it could later transport other materials ranging from oil to even sludge. [The Darenco pipeline that went through Wirt some years ago allowed for coal slurry.]
Landowners should ask about the size of the pipe . . . and seek competent legal advice. It was noted ht signing a pipeline lease is like buying a used car -- you just don't buy into it at the price offered and monetary compensation is not the only factor to be considered.
From the news it would appear that riots in the major cities will be the norm at least until November 2016 as any excuse for demonstrations, etc. should do. As noted in the Ferguson saga professional organizers were present and matters were coordinated nationwide. Baltimore has been given huge sums of federal dollars with, obviously, little to show. Something over a century ago Booker T. Washington, who got his start in West Virginia, said, "Among a large class, there seemed to be a dependence upon the government for every conceivable thing. The members of this class had little ambition to create a position for themselves but wanted the federal government to create one for them."
Some of the folks in Gilmer County noted that if one sprays tent caterpillars with hornet and wasp spray at night will kill all of the obnoxious pests.
Sen. Toomey from Pennsylvania and DiFi (sen. Feinstein of California) have introduced legislation in the congress to repeal the ethanol mandate. Presently 40% of the corn crop goes to fuel ethanol. While the price has been good for some corn growers and the biggies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) it almost closed the poultry farms in W. Va. which are now much more important as the bird flu is hitting chicken houses in the midwest. One of the current problems is the blend wall which means that as gasolene consumption declines (as it has due to the failing economy the RFS (Renewable Fuel Standard) mandate exceeds the limit at which ethanol can be blended into the fuel supply.
Talk continues about the deep Rogersville shale that is found in the Rome Trough which underlies most of Western (and some central) West Virginia. The original well drilled some years back and never fracted has now produced over one billion cubic feet of natural gas. In Kentucky the field is much shallower and is said to produce oil and condensate in copious amounts. The maps shown show the filed ending with Calhoun and Wirt Counties but the map also notes that there have been no deep tests in Tyler, Wetzel, Pleasants, etc. counties.
Several folks are working on suggestions to modify the forced pooling bill that the big companies have been shoving. Some of the promoters agreed to sit down and talk with those who noted severe problems with the bill but, apparently, they are 'too busy'. It has been noted that, just as Nancy Pelosi stated, "you will find out what it means after it is passed."
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil is $58.15 with mountain high test (condensate) fetching $34.15, Marcellus & Utica light $52.15 and medium $58.15/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
