Kimberly S. Hudson
Site Selection Specialist
Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP)
320 First St., NW, Room 901-5 West
Washington, DC, 20534
Dear Ms. Hudson:
Concerned Letcher Countians is opposed to the construction of FCI/FPC Letcher. We submitted comments during the open comment period regarding the Draft EIS and now do so during the open comment period regarding the FEIS.
As you are aware, the FEIS has few differences from the DEIS except for the multitude of letters in opposition to the prison and the FBOP’s responses to those letters. It is with grave concern for Letcher County that we challenge the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (FBOP) Final Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) as inadequately addressing the needs of Letcher County and the dangers posed by this prison.
While the FBOP’s responses in the FEIS may have attempted to allay concerns about this prison project, nothing in the FEIS convinces this group that the prison is justified, thus, we recommend that the FBOP choose the No Action route for FCI/FPC Letcher and NOT build it.
As a non-profit group of citizens centered in Letcher County, Concerned Letcher Countians (CLC) works to protect the future of the county, particularly for our youth. We want them to have a place to live, thrive, work, enjoy and be safe. We seek a sustainable community that provides education, healthcare, senior care, and environmental growth and protection. None of these goals includes a federal prison. In fact, a prison will adversely affect the future of the county, particularly its youth.
Here are several of the many reasons that CLC opposes this prison:
1 There continues to be NO documented need for another prison building in the FBOP system. The federal prison population has declined by 26% over the last dozen years, and the aging current prisons already have infrastructure that supports them, so a preferable action would be to upgrade rather than build new. FBOP has requested “rescission of new construction funds” (FEIS, page 266) indicating that your agency does not want FCI/FPC Letcher. The FBOP and former acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein retracted the Record of Decision (ROD) in 2019, so FBOP has precedence to withdraw this plan.
2 Understaffing will be a prohibitive factor in this prison plan, as former BOP director, Hugh Hurtwitz laid out in his letter of opposition. Interestingly, the FBOP’s response was that the understaffing was NOT due to “the design and condition” of the buildings at USP McCreary, USP Big Sandy or FCI Manchester because they are “among the more recent facilities” across the country. (FEIS, page 309)
Until FBOP can establish the reason that these three prisons remain understaffed (USP McCreary has 36 vacancies, USP Big Sandy and FCI Manchester each have 27 for a total of 90 vacancies in southeast Kentucky alone), then building a fourth is indefensible. Further, the FEIS states that “problems associated with insufficient staff are well known and would need to be addressed before activation of a new FCI/FPC in Letcher County can occur.” (page 309)
Doesn’t that mean that with the current staffing shortages in those three facilities, building a fourth facility is null and void?
3 Regarding the major flood event that Letcher County suffered on July 28, 2022, and from which we have not fully recovered, the risk exists that it will happen again. The FEIS says that, in that event, plans will be made to store food, water, and supplies on site for the incarcerated and staff who would be stranded there (page 59). But there was no clear plan defined nor one for medical emergencies requiring evacuation that might arise during such an event.
4 The FEIS says that “The Roxana Site is not located in an area that is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change and associated weather or other physical impacts. The project site is not located within the 100- and 500-year flood zones and, therefore, is not vulnerable to hydrologic changes resulting from climate change. Furthermore, the proposed site is located in southeastern Kentucky, well inland from the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and other large water bodies, and therefore is not vulnerable to sea level rise. The impacts on Letcher County from climate change have not been specifically determined, and the actual implications during the lifespan of the proposed FCI/FPC are not fully known.” (FEIS, page 130)
The FEIS admits that the climate crisis risk, including inland flooding in Letcher County and the Roxana community in particular, are not known, yet a Wall Street Journal article of June 2023 is very clear about Letcher County’s large risk of inland flooding. This WSJ article is based on data from the First Street Foundation. The FEIS needs to review that data and then reevaluate this site.
5 Housing is sorely needed in Letcher County, both in flood relief and in addition. Even if, as the FEIS states, that the influx of workers in construction, operation, and permanent operation will be small and not worsen the housing crisis, that is unproven.
6 The FEIS fails to provide adequate studies of the effects on the local population of this prison. As with the DEIS, this document says, “Given their small population size, detailed demographic statistics for Whitesburg and other communities in Letcher County are unavailable.” (FEIS, page 87)
The FEIS response assumes that the population characteristics of Whitesburg, Jenkins and Fleming are representative of the county as a whole. There are, however, significant differences. Many areas of rural Letcher County have no municipal water or sewer services, therefore they use well water and septic tanks. Their children ride the bus to and from school for markedly longer periods each day, thus they are more likely marginalized than kids in town.
Rural county children, because of the distance to, for example, the consolidated high school, have more limited access to after-school sports and activities, rendering these activities significantly more expensive, if possible at all, for them.
It is inaccurate to extrapolate city data to the rural areas of the county. But the FEIS admits to not having that data even for the three cities in the county.
7 Letcher County and Central Appalachia are in a health manpower shortage for mental health and substance misuse services, and so is the FBOP. To put a prison with a population of 40% with mental illness and more than that with substance use disorder into a county lacking those services for its own population, is ill-advised. The letter to the FBOP regarding the mental health manpower shortage, emailed on April 15, 2024, at 1:36 pm, but there were no responses in the DEIS to this letter.
8 The prison’s sewage treatment plant will endanger the health of the nearby river, the North Fork of the Kentucky, as well as the Kings Creek tributary. Prison wastewater systems have about a 10-year shelf-life and depend on the integrity of the staff running them. This presents a risk to the residents downstream as well as wildlife habitat dependent on the KY River.
9 Economic promises of growth are unfounded. The other 3 nearby federal prisons have continued to see lower employment statistics, further outmigration, continued poverty rankings, and remain “distressed” by Appalachian Regional Commission criteria.
10 Jobs are touted by prison proponents but contradicted in the FEIS. The FEIS says the hires from Letcher County in construction, operation, and permanent workforce will be “small,” and that any help to a particular jurisdiction will be negligible, yet the local population is being fed a steady diet of promises of jobs by this prison.
11 Traffic on those small roads leading to and from the prison, Hwy 588 and 160 will be unmanageable. The FEIS says that those roads will go from less than “50 vehicles” per hour to “276 vehicles total” (FEIS, page 121) from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm hours. This is when kids are on school buses going home. Those roads are small and curvy; they are already dangerous before dumping more than 5 times the amount of traffic during the hour after school lets out. How does FBOP justify this risk to local school children?
The FEIS response to this concern is that the FBOP will coordinate with the KY Dept of Transportation and consider a “dedicated left turn lane,” on Highway 588, but that since local traffic patterns are “relatively low,” that the addition of prison traffic “is not expected to have a significant adverse effect on roadway capacity or traffic safety” (page 245).
This lack of insight is all too common in the FEIS. Highway 588 is a narrow road with essentially one lane but wide enough for oncoming traffic to pass but it requires each vehicle to slow, and in some areas come to a full stop for the other vehicle to pass.
Building a left turn entrance on Highway 588 will not address the extra traffic leading to and from that one tiny area. The bridge across the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Roxana is functionally a one-lane bridge. The discussion of the additional traffic, as worst from the 3:30-4:30 time period, has not been adequately addressed.
The Blackey Bridge where Highway 588 starts is a 90-year-old bridge that is currently closed for repairs. It is also a one-lane bridge. Blackey residents are severely impacted by the closure of this bridge, just as they will be by the congestion of prison traffic. Further, there is the Blackey Head Start preschool in Blackey, beside Highway 588, and that road is one-lane through there, with very small children crossing.
12 Infrastructure deficits exist. On page 244, in response 002-4, the FBOP says that “supporting infrastructure is critically important” in the care of those who are incarcerated, yet the Roxana site could not be more inconvenient for establishing this type of infrastructure. It is mostly wilderness, as it should be for a reclaimed surface mine that has lain dormant for more than twenty years, allowing for regrowth of vegetation. It is almost inaccessible for water lines from below, and for sewage treatment services; case in point, the water problems experienced by the community surrounding USP Big Sandy, also on a former surface mine, has had many water line ruptures in their system. Did FBOP learn nothing from that prison construction and the ongoing water problems for Martin Countians?
13 Use of Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) funds should be used only for water lines to homes in Letcher County affected by strip mining, not to a prison. Using it for this prison is a violation of the guidelines for that money. AMLER funds are for un-reclaimed surface mine land that will then be used for economic and/or community development purposes. This prison does neither, therefore use of AMLER funds for the prison constitutes misuse of the money. The Roxana site HAS previously been reclaimed; thus, it is not un-reclaimed. A prison will not, nor is it designed to be economic development and it certainly is not community development, thus that criterion is violated by use of AMLER funds for the prison.
14 Warehousing incarcerated people in order to count them in the local census is something to be avoided, yet the FEIS continues to tout it as a positive (page 92) and the response to CLC’s complaint is weak and feckless, saying only that the DEIS “provides information about the implications of having AIC housed within Letcher County.” (FEIS page 246)
The FBOP should remove this reference in the FEIS (page 92) because it is an unethical use of tax dollars and a degrading concept of human treatment. This has no place in a compassionate society. It is egregious and strongly alludes to chattel slavery.
15 Some landowners do not want to sell their land to anyone. For some, this is inherited property that has sentimental value, but they have been threatened with eminent domain such that they are afraid to speak out against selling. If the FBOP needs landowners to concede, they may need to try a kinder, gentler approach, showing respect for what local people want, including no prison.
In conclusion, the FBOP should recognize the growing opposition to this prison. There is not “unwavering” support locally or nationally.
Further, the FBOP should stand stronger against pet projects of any one congressperson and instead strive to do what is right for Letcher County and the entire southeastern Kentucky area. How many federal prisons does one congressperson get to procure, especially when it is to the detriment of the region they represent?
Sincerely:
Concerned Letcher Countians
Site Selection Specialist
Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP)
320 First St., NW, Room 901-5 West
Washington, DC, 20534
Dear Ms. Hudson:
Concerned Letcher Countians is opposed to the construction of FCI/FPC Letcher. We submitted comments during the open comment period regarding the Draft EIS and now do so during the open comment period regarding the FEIS.
As you are aware, the FEIS has few differences from the DEIS except for the multitude of letters in opposition to the prison and the FBOP’s responses to those letters. It is with grave concern for Letcher County that we challenge the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (FBOP) Final Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) as inadequately addressing the needs of Letcher County and the dangers posed by this prison.
While the FBOP’s responses in the FEIS may have attempted to allay concerns about this prison project, nothing in the FEIS convinces this group that the prison is justified, thus, we recommend that the FBOP choose the No Action route for FCI/FPC Letcher and NOT build it.
As a non-profit group of citizens centered in Letcher County, Concerned Letcher Countians (CLC) works to protect the future of the county, particularly for our youth. We want them to have a place to live, thrive, work, enjoy and be safe. We seek a sustainable community that provides education, healthcare, senior care, and environmental growth and protection. None of these goals includes a federal prison. In fact, a prison will adversely affect the future of the county, particularly its youth.
Here are several of the many reasons that CLC opposes this prison:
1 There continues to be NO documented need for another prison building in the FBOP system. The federal prison population has declined by 26% over the last dozen years, and the aging current prisons already have infrastructure that supports them, so a preferable action would be to upgrade rather than build new. FBOP has requested “rescission of new construction funds” (FEIS, page 266) indicating that your agency does not want FCI/FPC Letcher. The FBOP and former acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein retracted the Record of Decision (ROD) in 2019, so FBOP has precedence to withdraw this plan.
2 Understaffing will be a prohibitive factor in this prison plan, as former BOP director, Hugh Hurtwitz laid out in his letter of opposition. Interestingly, the FBOP’s response was that the understaffing was NOT due to “the design and condition” of the buildings at USP McCreary, USP Big Sandy or FCI Manchester because they are “among the more recent facilities” across the country. (FEIS, page 309)
Until FBOP can establish the reason that these three prisons remain understaffed (USP McCreary has 36 vacancies, USP Big Sandy and FCI Manchester each have 27 for a total of 90 vacancies in southeast Kentucky alone), then building a fourth is indefensible. Further, the FEIS states that “problems associated with insufficient staff are well known and would need to be addressed before activation of a new FCI/FPC in Letcher County can occur.” (page 309)
Doesn’t that mean that with the current staffing shortages in those three facilities, building a fourth facility is null and void?
3 Regarding the major flood event that Letcher County suffered on July 28, 2022, and from which we have not fully recovered, the risk exists that it will happen again. The FEIS says that, in that event, plans will be made to store food, water, and supplies on site for the incarcerated and staff who would be stranded there (page 59). But there was no clear plan defined nor one for medical emergencies requiring evacuation that might arise during such an event.
4 The FEIS says that “The Roxana Site is not located in an area that is considered particularly vulnerable to climate change and associated weather or other physical impacts. The project site is not located within the 100- and 500-year flood zones and, therefore, is not vulnerable to hydrologic changes resulting from climate change. Furthermore, the proposed site is located in southeastern Kentucky, well inland from the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines and other large water bodies, and therefore is not vulnerable to sea level rise. The impacts on Letcher County from climate change have not been specifically determined, and the actual implications during the lifespan of the proposed FCI/FPC are not fully known.” (FEIS, page 130)
The FEIS admits that the climate crisis risk, including inland flooding in Letcher County and the Roxana community in particular, are not known, yet a Wall Street Journal article of June 2023 is very clear about Letcher County’s large risk of inland flooding. This WSJ article is based on data from the First Street Foundation. The FEIS needs to review that data and then reevaluate this site.
5 Housing is sorely needed in Letcher County, both in flood relief and in addition. Even if, as the FEIS states, that the influx of workers in construction, operation, and permanent operation will be small and not worsen the housing crisis, that is unproven.
6 The FEIS fails to provide adequate studies of the effects on the local population of this prison. As with the DEIS, this document says, “Given their small population size, detailed demographic statistics for Whitesburg and other communities in Letcher County are unavailable.” (FEIS, page 87)
The FEIS response assumes that the population characteristics of Whitesburg, Jenkins and Fleming are representative of the county as a whole. There are, however, significant differences. Many areas of rural Letcher County have no municipal water or sewer services, therefore they use well water and septic tanks. Their children ride the bus to and from school for markedly longer periods each day, thus they are more likely marginalized than kids in town.
Rural county children, because of the distance to, for example, the consolidated high school, have more limited access to after-school sports and activities, rendering these activities significantly more expensive, if possible at all, for them.
It is inaccurate to extrapolate city data to the rural areas of the county. But the FEIS admits to not having that data even for the three cities in the county.
7 Letcher County and Central Appalachia are in a health manpower shortage for mental health and substance misuse services, and so is the FBOP. To put a prison with a population of 40% with mental illness and more than that with substance use disorder into a county lacking those services for its own population, is ill-advised. The letter to the FBOP regarding the mental health manpower shortage, emailed on April 15, 2024, at 1:36 pm, but there were no responses in the DEIS to this letter.
8 The prison’s sewage treatment plant will endanger the health of the nearby river, the North Fork of the Kentucky, as well as the Kings Creek tributary. Prison wastewater systems have about a 10-year shelf-life and depend on the integrity of the staff running them. This presents a risk to the residents downstream as well as wildlife habitat dependent on the KY River.
9 Economic promises of growth are unfounded. The other 3 nearby federal prisons have continued to see lower employment statistics, further outmigration, continued poverty rankings, and remain “distressed” by Appalachian Regional Commission criteria.
10 Jobs are touted by prison proponents but contradicted in the FEIS. The FEIS says the hires from Letcher County in construction, operation, and permanent workforce will be “small,” and that any help to a particular jurisdiction will be negligible, yet the local population is being fed a steady diet of promises of jobs by this prison.
11 Traffic on those small roads leading to and from the prison, Hwy 588 and 160 will be unmanageable. The FEIS says that those roads will go from less than “50 vehicles” per hour to “276 vehicles total” (FEIS, page 121) from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm hours. This is when kids are on school buses going home. Those roads are small and curvy; they are already dangerous before dumping more than 5 times the amount of traffic during the hour after school lets out. How does FBOP justify this risk to local school children?
The FEIS response to this concern is that the FBOP will coordinate with the KY Dept of Transportation and consider a “dedicated left turn lane,” on Highway 588, but that since local traffic patterns are “relatively low,” that the addition of prison traffic “is not expected to have a significant adverse effect on roadway capacity or traffic safety” (page 245).
This lack of insight is all too common in the FEIS. Highway 588 is a narrow road with essentially one lane but wide enough for oncoming traffic to pass but it requires each vehicle to slow, and in some areas come to a full stop for the other vehicle to pass.
Building a left turn entrance on Highway 588 will not address the extra traffic leading to and from that one tiny area. The bridge across the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Roxana is functionally a one-lane bridge. The discussion of the additional traffic, as worst from the 3:30-4:30 time period, has not been adequately addressed.
The Blackey Bridge where Highway 588 starts is a 90-year-old bridge that is currently closed for repairs. It is also a one-lane bridge. Blackey residents are severely impacted by the closure of this bridge, just as they will be by the congestion of prison traffic. Further, there is the Blackey Head Start preschool in Blackey, beside Highway 588, and that road is one-lane through there, with very small children crossing.
12 Infrastructure deficits exist. On page 244, in response 002-4, the FBOP says that “supporting infrastructure is critically important” in the care of those who are incarcerated, yet the Roxana site could not be more inconvenient for establishing this type of infrastructure. It is mostly wilderness, as it should be for a reclaimed surface mine that has lain dormant for more than twenty years, allowing for regrowth of vegetation. It is almost inaccessible for water lines from below, and for sewage treatment services; case in point, the water problems experienced by the community surrounding USP Big Sandy, also on a former surface mine, has had many water line ruptures in their system. Did FBOP learn nothing from that prison construction and the ongoing water problems for Martin Countians?
13 Use of Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) funds should be used only for water lines to homes in Letcher County affected by strip mining, not to a prison. Using it for this prison is a violation of the guidelines for that money. AMLER funds are for un-reclaimed surface mine land that will then be used for economic and/or community development purposes. This prison does neither, therefore use of AMLER funds for the prison constitutes misuse of the money. The Roxana site HAS previously been reclaimed; thus, it is not un-reclaimed. A prison will not, nor is it designed to be economic development and it certainly is not community development, thus that criterion is violated by use of AMLER funds for the prison.
14 Warehousing incarcerated people in order to count them in the local census is something to be avoided, yet the FEIS continues to tout it as a positive (page 92) and the response to CLC’s complaint is weak and feckless, saying only that the DEIS “provides information about the implications of having AIC housed within Letcher County.” (FEIS page 246)
The FBOP should remove this reference in the FEIS (page 92) because it is an unethical use of tax dollars and a degrading concept of human treatment. This has no place in a compassionate society. It is egregious and strongly alludes to chattel slavery.
15 Some landowners do not want to sell their land to anyone. For some, this is inherited property that has sentimental value, but they have been threatened with eminent domain such that they are afraid to speak out against selling. If the FBOP needs landowners to concede, they may need to try a kinder, gentler approach, showing respect for what local people want, including no prison.
In conclusion, the FBOP should recognize the growing opposition to this prison. There is not “unwavering” support locally or nationally.
Further, the FBOP should stand stronger against pet projects of any one congressperson and instead strive to do what is right for Letcher County and the entire southeastern Kentucky area. How many federal prisons does one congressperson get to procure, especially when it is to the detriment of the region they represent?
Sincerely:
Concerned Letcher Countians