Morgaantown Dominion Post
25 October 2005
By Eric Bowen
What's good for the environment is good for the economy, environmental experts said Monday.
A group of environmental activists, engineers and researchers attended a conference entitled "Revitalizing Communities through Integrated Restoration" at the Radisson Hotel in Morgantown.
Keynote speaker Storm Cunningham, executive director of the Revitalization Institute in Alexandra, Va., said that communities across the world are moving toward development that restores the environment, rather than damages it.
Putting money into the environment provides jobs and boosts an area's quality of life, which further attracts businesses and workers.
"West Virginia could be a Silicon Valley of restorative industries," Cunningham said.
The conference was put on by WVU's Environmental Research Center and the Canaan Valley Institute, a nonprofit group that promotes sustainable communities and is based in Thomas.
Jennifer Newland, director of stakeholder services for the institute, said that the conference was designed to find ways to promote environmental restoration and make it profitable.
Conference sessions include how to pay for restoration and make different projects work together to improve the environment.
Newland said her organization has been helping communities, such as Tucker County, clean up their own environment.
She said projects demonstrate local people's willingness to improve their own area and can contribute to tourism and business development.
"Places that have a high quality of life and environmental conditions are the ones that are growing," Newland said. "We'd like for the restoration of the environment ... to be seen as an important investment for local, state and federal government."
Speaker Keith Bowers, president of the restoration firm Biohabitats, said that for restoration to be viable, it has to be good business.
Restoration projects require skilled employees, Bowers said, and those workers demand a living wage.
He said his company initially found it difficult to get financing and contracts, but business has been picking up as more governments and individuals focus on restoring habitats.
"Ecological restoration is a business," Bowers said. "Businesses like mine have to survive by making a profit."
Evan Hansen, president of the board for Friends of Deckers Creek, said he appreciated the goals of the conference.
Hansen said his own group has been trying to tout the economic benefits of cleaning up Deckers Creek.
A recent study commissioned by the group showed that the environmental cleanup of the creek would generate about $14 million in economic benefit, he said. The activity would come both from paying for the cleanup and the tourism benefit from a clean waterway.
Hansen said the organization's primary aim is to clean up acid mine drainage from the Richard Mine. Once that main pollutant is cleaned up, he said the group would concentrate more on other contaminants, such as bacteria.
"Turning Deckers Creek from a liability into an asset is one thing," Hansen said. "But once you turn it into an asset, you get continuing benefits every year."