The highways between Shepherdstown and ROCKWOOL—woven among farms and Civil War-era battlefields—are dotted with anti-ROCKWOOL bedsheets and billboards.
Top 1% of polluters
Currently under construction, ROCKWOOL’s factory in Ranson, W.Va., is slated to open this summer.
County Commissioner (and dairy farmer) Jane Tabb was impressed after she toured the ROCKWOOL plant in Mississippi. Then she hired an independent expert to review the air quality permits in West Virginia—and found problems.

Citizens treated as ‘outsiders’
JCF president Chrissy Wimer, who attended the meeting, was dismayed. “They openly advertised they chose Jefferson County because of the regulatory environment… We’re a peninsula of low regulation close to major markets where they want to go.”“These industries… tend to pick communities that are either rural, poor, or (both) rural and poor.”
Jefferson County Foundation President Chrissy Wimer, a veterinarian, worries that ROCKWOOL’s air pollution will impact the area’s equine industry.
Turning to Denmark
Tim Ross stands in his “Say No to ROCKWOOL” sweatshirt with his daughter, Maura, at his home overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charles Town, W.Va.
When West Virginians for Sustainable Development filed its complaint, it noted the “many months of pursuing other legal and political mechanisms to stop or otherwise drastically improve the project. At this time, we have exhausted all other meaningful avenues available to us in the United States.”In early 2020, ROCKWOOL and members of West Virginians for Sustainable Development met over three virtual meetings, organized by NCP Denmark. The West Virginians tried to push for greener options in the facility, but ROCKWOOL eventually backed out.Danish environmentalists, at least, understood the concerns. “Pollution from a factory would never end up in front of elementary schools (in Denmark),” says Signe Sand, a Copenhagen-based architect and member of the Green Student Movement. “If what people from West Virginia are saying is right, people would go mad.”A petition by residents of the Soissons region of France, the proposed site for another ROCKWOOL factory, states Denmark doesn’t want more ROCKWOOL factories at home because ROCKWOOL is “recognized around the world as a highly polluting company.”In lieu of continued mediation, NCP Denmark will now issue a (non-binding) ruling on whether ROCKWOOL is violating OECD environmental standards in West Virginia. The Jefferson County residents who filed the complaint expect to hear back by March 31.“All our community wants is not to be ruined.”