Morgantown Dominion Post
9 April 2006
Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va., a longtime advocate of expanded use of the Monongahela River, will be the luncheon guest speaker Monday for the first Mon River Summit.
"Morgantown and other municipalities along the Upper Mon from southwestern Pennsylvania to Marion County are re-visiting the river as a focal point for commerce, recreation and community development," said Brad Allamong, president of the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce.
Allamong is chairman of the daylong event, set for the Radisson, on the Mon in Morgantown's Wharf District. The program was organized by Vision 2020's Monongahela River Recreation and Commerce Committee.
Registration starts at 8 a.m., with keynote speaker Patrick Donovan, acting director of the West Virginia Port Authority, at 9:15 a.m. A 10:15 a.m. panel will focus on "The State of the River." Another panel, at 1:45 p.m., will discuss success stories.
Lunch, with Mollohan as speaker, will run from 12:15-1:30 p.m.
Breakout sessions will be at 11:15 a.m. and 3 p.m. The morning session will focus on problems and issues, the afternoon on solutions and opportunities. Subgroups will be Water and Shoreside Recreation, Riverside Construction, and River Commerce. The event ends at 4:30 p.m.
"Our West Virginia rivers are among our greatest natural resources, ranking right alongside our vast coal and timber reserves. And as with those resources, we have not always been strategic in the use of our waterways," Mollohan said in a statement.
"Fortunately, that is changing," he added. "The development activities in Morgantown are an excellent example of how we can utilize our riverfront for economic and recreational purposes."
The Monongahela River, which flows northward, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District.
There will be five Corps staffers at the summit. Fred Pozzuto, project manager in the regulatory branch, said Lt. Col. Peter A. Steinig, deputy district engineer, will attend, along with Curtis N. Meeder, chief of the planning and environmental branch; Robert Bonazza, assistant manager of the locks and dams branch, and Morgantown Lockmaster Harry Durinzi.
Don Strimbeck, secretary of the Upper Monongahela River Association, has been keeping track of who is coming.
Among them, he said, are Jim McCarville, executive director of Port of Pittsburgh; J. D. Fogarty, the port's development director; Brian Blankenship, vice president of sales, Greer Limestone Co., and Al McDonald, Allegheny Energy, regional director, Fort Martin-Albright Region.
Registration and info: http://Mon RiverSummit.org or call the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce at 292-3311.