West Virginia school ordered to remain open after effort to close it due to toxic groundwater fears
PADEN CITY, W.Va. — A small West Virginia school will remain open after a judge ruled in favor of residents who opposed a district superintendent’s decision to move classes because of contaminated groundwater beneath the school that is on a national priority list for cleanup.
Wetzel County Judge Richard Wilson on Wednesday ordered that Paden City High School “must immediately reopen and remain open as if it had never been closed,” news organizations reported.
In June, the county’s schools superintendent, Cassandra R. Porter, announced that students, teachers and staff at the school moved to existing schools in nearby New Martinsville, when classes resume in August.
Attorneys representing a group of those students, faculty and staff subsequently filed a petition to block the move. The petition argued that the federal government did not recommend closing the school because there was no health risk and that closing the school would “devastate” the community.
Wilson temporarily blocked Porter’s decision on July 12 pending a July 25 hearing. The judge granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday, reinstating all staff at the Paden City school and returning equipment that had been removed to the school.
“This community inspires us all,” Teresa Toriseva, a lawyer representing the residents, said on her Facebook page after the decision was announced.
In March 2022, federal environmental officials placed Paden City’s groundwater on the list from Superfund cleanup sites. Untreated groundwater contained the solvent tetrachloroethylene in amounts exceeding the federally permitted limit.
Tetrachloroethylene is widely used by dry cleaners. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the contaminated area is around the site of a dry cleaner that closed more than two decades ago in the Ohio River town of about 2,500.
According to the EPA, tetrachloroethylene is a probable carcinogen and may harm the nervous system, liver, kidneys, and reproductive system.
Paden City is located approximately 100 miles southwest of Pittsburgh.