Sierra Club stops museum construction! Hearing on September 6!

A Kentucky chapter of the U.S. environmental group The Sierra Club has called for a public hearing—to be held Thursday September 6—regarding a key construction element of the future Creation Museum of Answers in Genesis near the Cincinnati Airport, which could delay the building project for a year or more.

The Club’s action comes in the wake of: 1) the State of Kentucky’s announcement that it is approving the permit application by AiG to build a “wastewater treatment facility” for the museum and new headquarters, which includes new and very costly additional requirements by the state due to a new environmental classification, and 2) previous heated opposition from humanists in the region to the museum project going back 5 years.

The hearing has delayed the progress of the Biblical “walk-through-history” museum for several months; furthermore, The Sierra Club’s legal-action strategy might be to delay construction for a year or more in various court systems.

BACKGROUND

The Sierra Club request for a hearing fell on the heels of a poorly researched article that appeared in The Kentucky Post newspaper by a reporter who had already determined in her mind—before she ever talked to AiG—that our wastewater treatment plant might pollute a nearby creek.

AiG’s team of professional engineers and architects, however, has met or exceeded every requirement set by the governing authorities of the county and state. Our treated water will not affect the high quality of the downstream tributary. The state has held AiG’s proposed system to the highest standards that can be applied to a private treatment facility, and has already issued a draft of a permit approval for the system, but is obligated to hold a public hearing if requested (Click here for a detailed rebuttal of the highly biased Post article.

WHY THE OPPOSITION?

It is not clear whether The Sierra Club’s opposition is due to legitimate environmental concerns or to its pro-evolution bias. In its statement of beliefs posted on its Web site, The Sierra Club declares that “humans have evolved as an interdependent part of nature,” and “genetic diversity is the product of evolution acting on wildness, and is important because it is biological capital for future evolution.”

As a result of the Club’s action to question the state’s approval of AiG’s application, officials in Boone County cannot issue the final construction permit for the museum project until it receives the official wastewater permit approval from the state. This means that AiG cannot start any construction whatsoever until the draft approval is finalized, which could take over a year to obtain. All that can be done for the moment on the 47-acre property would be to finish the grading and partial excavating.

To keep up-to-date on AiG’s faith-defending museum, and also to read about the prior opposition to the project by humanists and others in the area, go to www.creationmuseum.org. To find out about AiG’s prayer needs, sign up for our Prayernet and don’t forget to pray for us on September 6. Thank you!