U.S. Senator sees impact of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant

PIKETON― State Representative Tim Ryan and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, recently visited Piketon to host a roundtable with community members.

This visit was able to give Manchin a firsthand look at the impact the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant has had on the community.

Ryan and Manchin said they are committed to ensuring transparency at the Department of Energy. They also mentioned their support of the cleanup at the plant site and efforts for a new middle school.

Manchin is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee which oversees the legislative responsibilities for the National Energy Policy which includes nuclear waste among many other things. During this visit he hoped to learn more and get a firsthand look at the impact the PORTS facility has had so that he could better report to his committee. This is not the first time Ryan has brought influential people to the community. Earlier this year he brought U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur to the area to hear community concerns.

Their first stop was at Zahn’s Corner Middle School, which is still boarded up and has not been used for three years. The closing of the school came after a radioactive isotope was detected across the street from the school. Enriched uranium was also found inside the air ducts and ceiling tiles of the school.

Since then middle school students have been split up between the high school and elementary school making things cramped, some classrooms house two teachers at a time. Megan Williams, treasurer for the school district, said the district needs to regain the square footage they lost when they closed down the school and that it should not be the communities duty to raise the money when they did not cause the problem.

"We did not contaminate our school ourselves," said Williams. "Our former superintended would say our students are very bright but they are not enriching uranium in fourth, fifth and sixth grade classrooms at Zahn's Middle school."

The middle school sits less than two miles downwind of the gaseous diffusion plant and many former students have been diagnosed with and died from rare cancers. Pike County as a whole also has one of the highest cancer rates in the state.

During the round table the men also heard from Wayne Smith, a member of the Scioto Valley school board. Smith lost his daughter to cancer when she was just 15 years old. Smith said he tells his story and fights for change in the hope that no other parents have to go through what he went through.

"I wouldn't want anyone's kids to go through what my daughter went through," said Smith. "We've done all we can do, we need help."

Manchin promised to bring this help and said it is the least the government can do after all the county has done for the country. He told participants in the roundtable he would do everything in his power to bring the change that is needed to help the community.

Shelby Reeves is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. You can email her at SReeves@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @Shelby_Reeves_

This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: U.S. Senator sees impact of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant