Unsoft's List

s c r e w j o b

The following breaking news article appears in this afternoon's morning paper. They promise more detail tomorrow, and I'll certainly be checking back.

The name of the contractor mentioned in the article sounds kinda familiar, huh? That's because it's the same outfit we've been hearing about in relation to a certain sweetheart deal to construct about ten miles of high-dollar Appalachian Corridor through the southern coalfields.

Nicewonder is an arm of Premium Energy, the coal industry anchor. As a matter of fact, Nicewonder Construction is more than their arm. Other anatomical analogies come to mind. The employees of Nicewonder are actually wearing 2 hardhats - one of them with a battery powered light beaming off the center like some kind of third eye of Appalachian mythology.

The crews proposed to do the work for the WVDOT are simply Premium Energy coal miners, doing what they do - constructing valley fills for fun and profit. They are even going to be paid their typical non-union wages for coalfield labor while they dig up some black gold, the only difference being they will dump the spoil along a proposed roadway alignment instead of focusing on one "intermittent" stream valley.

What's the big difference you ask? Well, for starters, no permit could have been approved for the mining activity without a place to dump fill complete with an approved post mining land use. Bingo. Highway fill = approved post mining land use and old Chuck Hayden rolls over in his grave for the umpteenth time.

Other differences worth mentioning: Several streams get the shaft, "intermittent" or not. Expansion of the plans takes place frequently, but no additional environmental study has been deemed necessary. The coal encountered during project earthwork is a freebie for the contractor (read here, coal baron). The design engineering was handed out wholesale to a "Nicewonder Buddy" (that's 10 miles of corridor design here. Totally unprecedented in a market where transportation consultants go belly-up almost daily for lack of work).

Enough for ya? How bout a little more. Federal and State highway standard specifications for design and construction have been "suspended" in the interest of saving money. Money for who? At who's expense?

Even the alignment and access control of the highway are subject to modification by the coal industry to suit their own wants and needs.

And here's the real biggie. Nicewonder, and by association Premium Energy, are to be paid with money which is to be Federally reimbursed from TEA funds. Is anybody reading? That's Federal and State transportation tax money being handed out wholesale to the coal industry for mining their own coal, all the while shortchanging legitimate engineers and contractors who have every right to opportunities to perform this work through normal competitive bidding and qualification channels. Oh, and there's fucking the environment, but who really counts that anymore?

So, what does this new development bode for us? Evidently, the coal industry isn't satisfied with building highways as a way to launder polluting waste. Now they want to build schools, too. Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with the State's recent takeover of Mingo County Schools? Duh.

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EDIT: Here is the article, published in the Charleston Gazette today (5/3/2005). I can't believe nobody over there feels compelled to direct us toward the larger picture. Local media are assclowns. You can quote me.