21 January 2005

An open letter to DelegateHarold K. Michael:

Congratulations on your reelection. We in Pendleton County are deeply appreciative of the many ways you have been able to leverage your position and seniority on the House Finance Committee to help us secure additional monies for badly needed projects and programs. The school system is particularly indebted to you.

Pendleton County needs your help again, only this time it doesn’t have a price tag.We need your help in preventing so-called “wind farms” from setting up shop and destroying the most important economic resource Pendleton County has – the incomparable landscape that forms the base for our tourism businesses and the vacation-home/second-home real estate market.

Proponents of wind farms have touted them as “clean and green” energy sources, when, in fact, they are unreliable and inefficient producers of energy, requiring all kinds of Federal and State tax breaks along with legislatively mandated artificial markets to give them any viability.

They have been successful in the promotion of wind farms because money talks louder than facts, and the disillusionment with wind turbines that is now occurring in the European countries that were the early adopters of this technology has no voice to compete with the well-financed claims of “improved performance” by the foreign manufacturers of these turbines. They are intent on selling their wares to US wind development companies that are conveniently armed with tax breaks and guaranteed market share.

You can help your many friends and supporters in Pendleton County by sponsoring legislation to accomplish the following:

Level the playing field so that wind electric generation plants pay the WV Business & Occupation Tax on the same basis as do other energy producers and not on the scrap value basis of the equipment Allow county assessors the authority to assess wind electric generation plants on a 20-year useful life depreciation schedule without regard to the accelerated depreciation allowed on Federal tax returns Go on record that the Finance Committee does not look favorably upon legislation that creates special financial incentives for private wind developers to operate in West Virginia.

I have heard from some that you may favor wind plants in West Virginia, and my response has been that Harold Michael is too good a friend of Pendleton County to support any project that would destroy the major asset our county has – its spectacular scenery.

Maybe a wind plant fits the bleak landscape of Mt. Storm, but it surely doesn’t have a place in Pendleton County. I would be pleased to meet with you or your staff to explain how industrial wind plants are not an economically or ecologically justifiable solution to atmospheric carbon-loading issues but just a cleverly disguised tax-dodge.

February 6, 2005

Dear Mr. Hooton:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding renewable energy sources. I have supported wind power and other renewable energy sources because they may be positive alternatives to the use of fossil fuel energy sources. The United States Congress itself has considered and enacted "green power" legislation which encourages investment in renewable energy sources such as wind generated electricity. I am not aware of any legislation currently pending in the House of Delegates on the subject of wind power. I will keep your concerns in mind during any deliberation of those issues.

As always, please don't hesitate to contact me about any matter in which I can be of service to you.

16 February 2005

Dear Delegate Michael,

Thank you for your response to my letter of Jan. 21 on the issue of renewable energy. As do you, I support renewable energy, but I support home-based wind power inputs that require no infrastructure, no transmission lines, no condemnation of private property and have the added advantage of making home owners aware of their energy usage and the value of energy conservation. Because your response did not directly address the issues I raised, I suspect that you may favor industrial scale wind power of the type Jim Cookman has proposed for Pendleton County.

The fact that the US Congress has seen fit to extend tax credits in support of the wind industry could as easily be construed as evidence of influence peddling by its promoters as it could the rational decision of a deliberative legislature. I hope that you will continue to be open-minded on this topic and to listen to your constituents. Property owners in all of Pendleton County will incur a loss in property value and the tourism businesses and home-building trades will be permanently impacted as well if wind turbine eyesores are inflicted on the county.

I notice you did not respond to my specific suggestions for drafting legislation. Is the finance committee not the appropriate source of such legislation? What would be a more relevant committee to contact? I appreciate your willingness to keep me informed of any legislation affecting wind projects that comes before your committee. My biggest concern is the fallout from SB 1002 and the reestablishment of the Public Energy Authority with its power to issue bonds and condemn private property. This revitalized agency is an ill-disguised move solely to benefit private industrial wind developers since all the conventional energy companies in WV have good to excellent bond ratings and they site new facilities on their own property.

My understanding is that funding for the various agencies of the executive branch comes under the scrutiny of the legislature during the budget approval process. Is it possible that the finance committees of the House and Senate could act to deny funding to the PEA and thereby prevent what is sure to become an abuse of the private property rights of the landowners in Pendleton County and elsewhere when their property lies under the projected transmission line of a for-profit private wind developer?

I look forward to your reply and will with your permission post it on www.protectpendleton.com so that other voters and property owners in Pendleton County can become informed as to your position on this important issue.