Giving Special Thanks to You – for Helping to Protect This Special Place
At this time of year, it is good to look back and reflect on all the great volunteer work that happens in Craig County.
Preserve Craig gives special thanks to all the volunteers who help to sustain the quality of life we value here in our special mountains. And a salute of appreciation to the many folks who make tax deductible contributions to support our community efforts.
And a Special Thanks to Sam & Pam Easterling
I especially want to thank Sam Easterling, the retiring co-chair of Preserve Craig, for his work and wise counsel over the last nearly five years. He and his wife Pam provided critical leadership guiding our efforts to protect Craig County. Congratulations are also in order, as Sam has been appointed the Dean of the School of Engineering at Iowa State. We’ll miss him while he is on assignment there.
Thank you, Sam. Preserve Craig will hold a meeting in mid-January to elect new officers. At that meeting we also plan to hear from Andrew Downs, the Senior Regional Director of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, about the opportunity to develop a Cultural Heritage Area.
Reflecting on Our Purpose
In 1991, Craig County was threatened with the prospect of a massive 765Kv powerline traversing our farm lands and forests. Preserve Craig, Inc. was formed that year in response to this threat and successfully stopped this project. It took 12 years. The 2002 final Record of Decision concluded that Craig County was too special of a place culturally and environmentally for a utility corridor.
Flash forward 17 years to Thanksgiving 2019. Preserve Craig is working to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline project from harming our waters and people because we have much to give thanks for and we are committed to protecting the special environment and culture of Craig County and our mountains.
But why are we continuing to oppose this project? Because the worst damage is yet to come, if we don’t stop it. And because this project is just plain wrong in so many ways. Taking land from our citizens by granting eminent domain authority to an out-of-state company for their private gain is just plain wrong. Now that company has announced plans to sell off the project, even while their stockholders are filing lawsuits against the company.
Every citizen of Craig County deserves clean water and a healthy environment in which to live for generations to come. And we need your support to continue this effort.
We will continue to present the facts, that this project was ill-conceived, unbuildable, unsafe, is not in the public interest and does not deserve the right to take private property. Preserve Craig is committed to this fight and protecting our home, just as it was with the 765Kv powerline.
As a nonprofit organization, we continue to be funded through donations and fundraisers. Our need for financial support is ongoing so long as we have environmental attorneys filing legal briefs on our behalf. Please help us fight corporate greed at the expense of our drinking water and environment with your tax-deductible gift today! Donations can now be made online via our website or by mail.
Protect Our Community
Please donate to protect this special place. Preserve Craig, Inc. is a 501C3 nonprofit volunteer public charity formed in 1991 to protect our natural, historical, and cultural resources. Tax-deductible donations can be made online at www.preservecraig.org or by mail to: Preserve Craig, Inc., PO Box 730, New Castle, VA. 24127. Email: preservecraig@gmail.com