The Piketon, Ohio Village Council has for now at least called off a plan, vehemently opposed by local union members, to annex 3,500 acres of land at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site.
The council abandoned the proposal after a Monday night meeting where perhaps 200 people showed up, according to coverage in the Scioto Valley Guardian. The group included many members of United Steelworkers Union (USW) Local 689, which represents hundreds of cleanup workers at the DOE site.
The recently-retired local union president Herman Potter spoke against the proposal, which he has been dropped twice before.
In a statement viewed by Exchange Monitor, the Piketon Council called off the annexation proposal and said it was holding an “emergency meeting” Feb. 6 following “threats” and “harassment” of council members.
Current USW Local 689 President Evan Brown wrote to DOE Feb. 4 urging the department to publicly oppose the annexation proposal. Brown said the annexation could endanger ongoing re-industrialization projects, including a potential small modular reactor by Oklo.
“The annexation will create a one percent tax on the workforce that does not live within the city or the proposed annex limits of Piketon,” Brown said. “However, this will indirectly impact the contractors and the Department of Energy.”
DOE did not immediately reply to an Exchange Monitor request for comment on the union’s letter.
Piketon Council member Jennifer Chandler did respond to the Monitor and defended the annexation proposal. Chandler said the proposal was designed to support site redevelopment “by establishing full-time paid fire and emergency services in Piketon and the townships” and extending water and sewer service to the site.
