Groundbreaking ceremonies will take place Saturday for Canaan Valley Institute's new $8 million Research and Education Center, which will use new green technology to make it completely self-sustaining, from power production to wastewater treatment.

The 25,000-square-foot building will serve as the headquarters for the institute's efforts to restore watersheds in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, western Virginia and western Maryland. It will also house classrooms and laboratories for CVI's education, research and public outreach programs.

No power, water or sewer lines will be needed for the new building that will take shape off W.Va. 93 two miles east of Davis on a 3,223-acre tract of land bought from Allegheny Energy in 2002.

Instead, power will come from natural gas-fueled micro turbines. Water will come from wells and rainwater cisterns. Wastewater will be treated on-site through a "living machine" system in which aquatic and wetland plants, animals, fish and bacteria filter and recycle contaminants. Exhaust heat from the micro turbines will be used to heat and cool the structure.

"It will even have an experimental mulching toilet system," said CVI spokeswoman Vicki Fenwick-Judy.

The 35 employees working at CVI's current headquarters in Thomas will move to the new structure when construction is complete in late 2009, according to Fenwick-Judy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is providing funding for the new structure. NOAA also paid $6.9 million for the acquisition of the five-square-mile tract of rugged, open land CVI bought from Allegheny Energy six years ago.

CVI maintains a system of trails and angler parking areas on its land, and encourages public access to the property, which is bordered by W.Va. 39, the town of Davis and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

A new trail system will be developed in the vicinity of the new building, Fenwick-Judy said.

The National Youth Science Foundation plans to build a year-round educational facility along the Blackwater River within the CVI tract to accommodate an expanded motivational science education program. The foundation's annual National Youth Science Program, currently held at Camp Pocahontas near Bartow, would eventually be moved to the Canaan Valley site.

During Saturday's 11 a.m. groundbreaking program, speakers will include Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va.; CVI board president Karen Bonner; Ron Pearson, chairman of the National Youth Science Foundation board; Cameron Hackney, dean of WVU's Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, and Jim Alford, president of the Horseshoe Run Watershed Association.

Canaan Valley Institute was one of several nonprofit organizations in Mollohan's district involved in a 2006 federal investigation of congressional funding earmarks. Since it was founded in 1995, CVI has received more than $30 million earmarked by Mollohan.

To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer, use e-mail or call 348-5169.

The 25,000-square-foot building will serve as the headquarters for the institute's efforts to restore watersheds in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, western Virginia and western Maryland. It will also house classrooms and laboratories for CVI's education, research and public outreach programs.

No power, water or sewer lines will be needed for the new building that will take shape off W.Va. 93 two miles east of Davis on a 3,223-acre tract of land bought from Allegheny Energy in 2002.

Instead, power will come from natural gas-fueled micro turbines. Water will come from wells and rainwater cisterns. Wastewater will be treated on-site through a "living machine" system in which aquatic and wetland plants, animals, fish and bacteria filter and recycle contaminants. Exhaust heat from the micro turbines will be used to heat and cool the structure.

"It will even have an experimental mulching toilet system," said CVI spokeswoman Vicki Fenwick-Judy.

The 35 employees working at CVI's current headquarters in Thomas will move to the new structure when construction is complete in late 2009, according to Fenwick-Judy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is providing funding for the new structure. NOAA also paid $6.9 million for the acquisition of the five-square-mile tract of rugged, open land CVI bought from Allegheny Energy six years ago.

CVI maintains a system of trails and angler parking areas on its land, and encourages public access to the property, which is bordered by W.Va. 39, the town of Davis and the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

A new trail system will be developed in the vicinity of the new building, Fenwick-Judy said.

The National Youth Science Foundation plans to build a year-round educational facility along the Blackwater River within the CVI tract to accommodate an expanded motivational science education program. The foundation's annual National Youth Science Program, currently held at Camp Pocahontas near Bartow, would eventually be moved to the Canaan Valley site.

During Saturday's 11 a.m. groundbreaking program, speakers will include Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, D-W.Va.; CVI board president Karen Bonner; Ron Pearson, chairman of the National Youth Science Foundation board; Cameron Hackney, dean of WVU's Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, and Jim Alford, president of the Horseshoe Run Watershed Association.

Canaan Valley Institute was one of several nonprofit organizations in Mollohan's district involved in a 2006 federal investigation of congressional funding earmarks. Since it was founded in 1995, CVI has received more than $30 million earmarked by Mollohan.

To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer, use e-mail or call 348-5169.