Sunday, August 29, 1999
Sewer plant fight gives lessons in power
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Oh, the privileges of power.
There are reasons beyond money, vanity, ego, status and accomplishment that make hard-driven people desire a seat at the table where the decisions are made.
Sure, there is a sense of leadership and a keen awareness of the responsibility that comes from being connected to the politicians, the business executives and owners, the big money guys and all the other decision-makers.
But power is also something that big companies, large institutions, governments and individuals can pull out of their pocket and use when it benefits them.
Take the fight over building a sewer plant in western Boone County.
A group of residents, passionate in their fight and far more organized and effective than they were originally given credit for, don't want the plant where it is currently proposed, on a 100-acre farm just outside Belleview Bottoms.
They have met regularly, researched the issues surrounding a sewer plant and its effect on the environment, hired attorneys, filed lawsuits and gone toe-to-toe with sewer district officials, reporters and politicians.
One of the group's more impressive accomplishments has been its ability to influence some elected officials.
At one of the opposition group's first meetings, three state lawmakers — state Sen. Dick Roeding of Lakeside Park and Reps. Charlie Walton of Florence and Paul Marcotte of Union — pledged their help in getting the plant moved.
Will be they be successful? Who knows. Were they playing to the crowd and telling people what they wanted to hear? Maybe a little. But they still showed up and ultimately took some heat from some of the region's big insiders who want the plant built now.
Then there has been the epiphany of Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore.
A grass-roots campaign
Just a few short weeks ago Mr. Moore was sounding as if construction of the plant in Belleview was a done deal.
“We believe the process worked,” he said during the July 20 State of Northern Kentucky address. “At this point, I don't plan to intervene.”
Not long after that comment, the opposition group — livid over what it perceived as Mr. Moore's lack of sensitivity — started going after the first-term judge-executive.
It vowed to find somebody to run against Mr. Moore in three years and began circulating “No more Moore” bumper stickers around the county.
Mr. Moore suddenly decided to “intervene,” and is now leading an effort to see if the plant can be built in Gallatin County.
Critics will say Mr. Moore felt the pressure and reacted to save his hide. But others are impressed by Mr. Moore, saying he is acting as a true public servant.
All in all, the opposition group has run an impressive and somewhat ef fective grass-roots campaign to keep the sewer plant out.
One of its more clever tactics was having a booth on the midway of last month's Boone County Fair. Not only could other residents hear the group's concerns, but they contributed to the cost of paying attorneys fighting the plant by throwing a couple of bucks in a toilet the group placed in the booth.
But even with their research, lobbying, lawsuits and tireless campaign, the residents of Boone County may still get stuck with the plant.
We don't know exactly where the plant will go. But we do know where it won't be built: at the airport and on Ohio River property next to a Cinergy power plant in western Boone County.
Which brings us back to our point about power.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport might make a good site for a sewer plant. The place has a ton of mostly taxpayer-purchased land, is in Boone County — where a sewer plant is needed — and could consider taking one for the team and offering some land for the plant.
Sorry. The airport simply says no, it doesn't want a sewer plant.
Not to be overlooked is the influence of the Kenton County Airport Board, a group of powerful and connected local leaders and business people, some of whom have close ties to Sanitation District No. 1. So forget the airport.
Now, let's look at what happened at Cinergy.
The Cincinnati-based utility company has a massive power plant at East Bend, just downriver from Belleview with lots of available land.
The company was negotiating with the sanitation district last year over the sale of land adjacent to the East Bend plant where the sewer plant would be built.
Residents in and around Rabbit Hash, not too far from the power plant, objected to the sale and the possibility of a sewage treatment plant near their community.
Among those complaining was a Rabbit Hash resident named Bill Burleigh, who runs the E.W. Scripps Co., one of the largest media companies in the country. Its local holdings include WCPO-TV (Channel 9), The Cincinnati Post and The Kentucky Post.
Influence of the powerful
In a letter to Cinergy Chairman James Rogers, Mr. Burleigh foretold a “public relations disaster” if the land was sold for a sewer plant.
Cinergy said Mr. Burleigh's letter carried no more weight than the other letters and petitions opposing the sale that the utility received.
But just a couple of weeks after Mr. Burleigh sent his letter, Cinergy decided not to sell the land.
Meanwhile, the residents of Belleview are out collecting money in a toilet, meeting in hot places, taking time away from their families and jobs and businesses to try to accomplish what other, more powerful entities essentially accomplished in a few phone calls or letters.
The Belleview residents have learned the Golden Rule about power.
Those with the gold make the rules.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net.
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