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‘Devastating Blow to Blowing Rock’s Future?’ Chamber Concerned About the ‘Kill Bill’ Currently in the House

By Jesse Wood

June 22, 2012. The Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce released a statement this morning regarding House Bill 1227, also known as the “Kill Bill,” which would disapprove the state water reclassification of the Brownwood area of the South Fork of the New River. Without this reclassification, the Town of Boone’s seven-year project regarding the 4 million-gallon-per-day water intake facility would be put to a halt. 

The Blowing Rock Chamber has supported this project for the past two years and worries about ramifications this bill may pose on the Boone-Blowing Rock Interconnect project, which would give Blowing Rock access to Boone’s water supply during droughts when Blowing Rock’s reservoir is low, according to the Chamber’s statement. The interconnect was completed on agreements between the Town of Boone, ASU and the Town of Blowing Rock that all three systems would be connected. Also, Ashe County Commissioners approved of the raw water intake facility.

Aside from ramifications this poses on the interconnect, the Blowing Rock Chamber is also concerned about a planned pipeline that would bring emergency water from the New River. The pipeline would draw raw water from Todd to Boone, which would treat the water at its facility and sell it as “finished water” to Blowing Rock.

“Without this intake, Boone will not be able to meet their needs and provide for our emergency water needs
which will prevent us from growing residentially or commercially. This could present a devastating blow to our
economic development,” according to the Blowing Rock Chamber’s statement.

The statement concluded with urges for citizens to contact the Speaker of the House Thom Tillis, Representative Jonathan Jordan and Senator Phil Berger to slow down House Bill 1227.

“I encourage each of you to read the bill (attached) and either contact Representative Jonathan Jordan directly
jonathan.jordan@ncleg.net or Jonathan@JordanJordanLaw.com or call Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis’s office
at 919-733-3451 or Senator Phil Berger’s office at 919-733-5708 and ask them to slow down the movement of this
bill. This could be a devastating blow to Blowing Rock’s future.”

Read full statement: 

“Representative Jonathan Jordan has proposed HB 1227 http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/
PDF/H1227v0.pdf which will essentially stop Boone’s intake project on the New River in Todd. As you may
recall, our chamber sent letters of support of this project about two years ago. The Boone Blowing Rock interconnect
project was completed last year to give Blowing Rock access to the Boone water supply during drought
times when our reservoir is low. This project was paid for with local tax money and grants. This project was
completed based on agreements between ASU and Boone that all three systems would be connected and that
Boone, at their expense of $25M, would put an intake in the New River near Todd for additional water demands.
This was all agreed to by the Ashe County Commission as well. Boone would also construct a pipeline from
Todd to bring raw water back to Boone to be treated at their facility and then sold as finished water to Blowing
Rock. Without this intake, Boone will not be able to meet their needs and provide for our emergency water needs
which will prevent us from growing residentially or commercially. This could present a devastating blow to our
economic development.
I encourage each of you to read the bill (attached) and either contact Representative Jonathan Jordan directly
jonathan.jordan@ncleg.net or Jonathan@JordanJordanLaw.com or call Speaker of the House, Thom Tillis’s office
at 919-733-3451 or Senator Phil Berger’s office at 919-733-5708 and ask them to slow down the movement of this
bill. This could be a devastating blow to Blowing Rock’s future.”


Read more regarding this issue:

https://www.hcpress.com/news/boones-water-intake-facility-threatened-by-rep-jordans-kill-bill-which-passed-1st-reading-in-house.html

https://www.hcpress.com/news/rep-jordans-kill-bill-could-block-boones-4-million-gallon-a-day-water-intake-project-on-the-new-river.html