The Truth About Barboursville and the Strip Mine

In the early 2000s, thirty-seven residents of Barboursville — “been heres”, “come heres”, and all  walks of life — filed a lawsuit against Orange County in the Supreme Court of Virginia and won. In a unanimous decision, seven (7) Supreme Court Justices ruled that the Orange County Board of Supervisors illegally approved a Special Use Permit against its own zoning ordinance.

Proposed Barboursville Site – more than 50 families and homes directly impacted.

At issue was the expansion of a mining operation from Somerset into the heart of Barboursville — next to many homes, businesses, and in plain view from Route 33. The proposal would put heavy mining equipment running for decades as close as 75 feet from Careytown homes.

The tandem axle dump truck route - about 3-1/2 miles. 32,000 trips per year is a truck trip every five minutes, Monday - Friday 8am - 5pm.

And it included a hauling operation that would send 32,000 dump truck trips per year on the narrow Route 738 (Old Barboursville Rd), across double railroad tracks, and down Route 20 to Somerset (about 3.5 miles) — creating safety hazards, destroying property values, and leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for road repairs.

Rt 738 (Old Barboursville Rd.) is too narrow for 32,000 Dump Truck Trips/Year.

Locals called it “General Shale” or “Webster,” but behind the “local name” was Wienerberger AG — a multi-billion-dollar, foreign-owned corporation based in Austria that showed no concern for Barboursville, its residents, or their own local Somerset employees.

Aerial view of the Somerset Mine - this is what was being proposed in Barboursville.

To save the 47 local jobs and the $72K/year in County revenue, the people of Barboursville tried to find common ground with the mining company. Some proposed:

• Finish the mining/hauling operation within 10-15 years instead of dragging it out for decades – in some case’s the rest of people’s lives – and reclaim the land into something useful like a water reservoir.

• Trade land acre-for-acre with an adjacent and willing property owner in Somerset so mining could continue.

Wienerberger would not negotiate. Wienerberger was offered options to save the local jobs but instead they abandoned Orange County and their workers-while they still had material in the ground that they could mine.

While opinions differ, when Wienerberger abandoned Orange County it opened the door for other kinds of growth in both Barboursville and Somerset. Local small business growth rather than sending profits to foreign lands - growth with less impact and more local jobs and revenue, far more than the mine would have ever produced.

Visitors spend millions on small businesses, generate millions in revenue, and require little services  in return.

Funding: Friends of Barboursville (FoB) was an independent 501(c)(3) made up of a dedicated group of at least 75 citizens - of all walks of life - from the Barboursville area. FoB raised money the old-fashioned way - one bake sale; one community yard sale; one silent auction; one dollar; and one check at a time. And they came together in a way that’s often missing in today’s world.

Status of Properties: Both the Somerset and Barboursville properties are presently owned by private commercial entities. The Barboursville site is under a Mineral Reserve Easement through the Commonwealth of Virginia as well as a Conservation Easement through the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.