Published: March 25, 2008 09:23 pm      

Kaine: Region on road to prosperity

WYTHEVILLE, Va. — People from across southwest Virginia took the opportunity Tuesday to question Gov. Timothy M. Kaine about the environment, transportation issues and health insurance when he visited Wytheville for a town meeting.

Gov. Kaine met with the Wytheville-Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce and visited the Gatorade Blue Ridge facility before capping the day with a town meeting at the Wytheville Meeting Center.

More than 100 people took the opportunity to hear the governor describe bills passed during the last session of the Virginia General Assembly and ask him questions.

Several demonstrators with the Sierra Club were waiting outside the center to bring a planned coal fired power plant in Wise County to Kaine’s attention.

“We want the governor to take a stand against that,” said David Muhly of Bland, Va., a regional representative for the Sierra Club.

Several people asked about the same topic during the town meeting.

Kaine said the new plant was being built to have lower emissions of mercury and other toxins, plus it will have the capacity to take advantage of future clean air technology.

Using coal can help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, and alternative energy sources such as wind power and solar energy must be developed more, he added.

“I do not believe the future of the nation will be one where there is no coal,” Kaine said. “We’ve got to invest in cleaner and cleaner technologies while closing down dirty plants.”

Wythe B. “Bucky” Sharitz of the Wythe County Board of Supervisors asking Kaine to address raising money for transportation costs in view of the state Supreme Court’s repeal of abusive driver fees.

The suggestions Sharitz offered included allowing cities and counties to have fuel taxes of up to 2 cents; revenues would be used to fund local road improvements.

Another proposal involves inserting into the Code of Virginia a provision allowing groups of cities or counties to create transportation districts that can raise money by taxes or other valid means, Sharitz said.

Kaine said he was bringing the legislature back into special session this spring and plans to seek ways to make up the $600 million lost when abusive driver fees were repealed.

One member of the audience, Coriza Cross of Rural Retreat, Va., gave Kaine a photograph of her disabled daughter. Cross said that she and 20,000 other people in her profession — home care givers who are subcontractors — cannot afford health insurance.

“We can’t afford it on what we make,” she said. “At least give us a way so we can afford it.”

Kaine said he would speak with the state Department of Health and Human Resources to see what could be done to address the situation.