During this morning’s meeting of the Vigo County Commissioners several residents effected by a local carbon sequestration project voiced their concerns. Chris Switzer, however, was not in attendance.

The commissioners had informed local media outlets that they received a draft of a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) from Wabash Valley Resources and would be meeting privately with the company on Monday afternoon.

That agreement listed several items including a $3 million dollar endowment to the Wabash Valley Community Foundation, a $5 million dollar commitment to road improvements around the project, and a $500,000 investment in emergency response training.

Local members of Concerned Citizens against Wabash Valley Resources took issue with the lack of public input regarding the agreement, and the agreement’s statement that, “WVR recognizes the communities past and continuing support for the project.”

At one point, comments got so heated that Tammy Allen, administrative assistant for the commissioners, yelled at the crowd that they should not be speaking to the commissioners, “like they are dogs.”

In a more civil period of the meeting Commissioner Mark Clinkenbeard had an extended back and forth with local resident John Ford about whether there was anything the commissioners could do to help stop the project.

After a brief consultation with their attorney, Terry Modesitt, both Morris and Clinkenbeard expressed that there was nothing they could do to stop the project, but they were focused on making it as safe as possible.

After approximately an hour of public comment Brendan Kearns, executive director of the Vigo County Soil and Water Conservation District spoke in his official capacity and expressed that he personally opposed the project but did not believe it posed an imminent threat to communities soil and water quality.

Commissioner have requested that anyone with concerns about the project reach out to them through email at wvr@vigocounty.in.gov or reach out to WVR directly through their website.