The Charles Town Utility Board (CTUB) has scheduled a special meeting on Monday, September 14 at 4 pm to discuss its concerns and questions surrounding the West Virginia Department of Environment (WV DEP) permit issued for the Sidewinder Raw Water Line in May 2026. [view agenda]
Community Objections
After The Observer first reported on this permit last week, several community members spoke out about their concerns during the Charles Town City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 8. Later in that meeting, CTUB General Manager Paul Mantello briefed the City Council on this permit and other CTUB issues, saying that he would be recommending that CTUB restart the WV DEP application process for this project from the beginning.
During the regularly scheduled CTUB meeting on Wednesday, September 9, approximately 30 residents attended and 12 gave public comments about their concerns with this permit and the “irregular process” by which it was issued.
Later in the meeting, Mantello briefed the CTUB board in more detail about his preliminary investigation into how the permit was issued. The board members went into executive session to receive legal advice on this topic and then voted to schedule the special meeting to consider CTUB’s next steps, which could include hiring an outside attorney or consultant to conduct an independent investigation.
Timeline of Activities
According to the activity log visible in the WV DEP permit tracking system, the permit application was initially uploaded into the system by Integrity Federal Services (IFS) between November 24 and December 3, 2025, but not initiated for the WV DEP’s review until March 17, 2026. The application was signed by former CTUB General Manager Kristen Stolipher, who left CTUB in February 2026.
On April 23, 2026, the WV DEP requested corrections to the Stormwater Protection Plan (SWPPP) document included in the permit application. According to the activity log, IFS resubmitted the SWPPP on May 22, 2026.
Current Permit Not Valid
On September 8, The Observer spoke with a WV DEP official who acknowledged the application had deficiencies, but was unable to provide any specific explanation about why the permit reviewer missed these deficiencies.
To date, three significant deficiencies have been identified:
- The Stormwater Protection Plan (SWPPP) document included with the permit application is unsigned. It is unclear why IFS did not contact CTUB in May 2026 (when it resubmitted the SWPPP with a blank signature page) to obtain a signature for the updated document. According to the WV DEP representative, the permit is not valid without this signature.
- The “Erosion and Sediment Control” (ESC) plan in the SWPPP has inconsistent revision dates and is missing required signatures. The ESC plan is 15 sheets of drawings prepared by an engineer. The first sheet, which is stamped, signed and dated by a licensed engineer, indicates a revision date of November 13, 2025 for the detail sheets in the plan. The detail sheets themselves show an August 2023 revision date and are marked as “advanced copy not for construction” with no engineer’s signature. According to professional engineers consulted by The Observer, it is highly irregular to have a mix of signed and unsigned sheets in a document submitted for this type of application.
- There is no “Karst Mitigation Plan” included in the application. This mitigation plan is required by WV DEP for projects in karst topography. The project clearly runs through karst topography, according to WV DEP’s interactive maps. According to the WV DEP official, the permit reviewer relies on the coordinates provided with the application to determine whether a “Karst Mitigation Plan” is required, but the project GPS coordinates included in the application are not correct One of the GPS points provided in the application (marked by the red dot in this linked image) is actually located outside of Jefferson County.
>>>Read more of The Observer’s coverage of the Sidewinder project…
Published in the Observer Weekly 2026 Sep 10. Updated 2026 Sep 11 (links to images of WV DEP documents, CTUB Sep 14 agenda).
By Steve Pearson