Commissioners Endorse Liberty Gap

22 February 2006 - FRANKLIN, W. Va.

The audience that gathered for the 21 Feb. 2006 performance of the Liberty Gap Theater Troupe knew what to expect since many had attended the earlier show that was staged on 1 Feb. 2006. The commissioners, having already established their willingness to provide Liberty Gap with a discourse-free venue for its infomercial and with vague promises of financial rewards ringing in their ears, followed the show's script to the letter, including a pledge of writing to the PSC, endorsing Liberty Gap's trashing of Pendleton County.

There was no discussion of the contents of Mr. Cookman's request for an endorsement, only a token question from Kelly Hartman, allowing Cookman to play the role of nice guy with a somewhat equivocal offer to check on and maybe do something about someone's water supply if anything were to happen during construction. End of discussion.

Then Bob Armentrout read his scripted acceptance of Cookman's request. After that it was motion seconded, unanimously approved and democracy in action. Armentrout noted in his set piece that he was a better judge of what the 7,900 people in Pendleton County who weren't in the room thought about wind turbines than the folks who were there in person. This apparently is the mindset of all the commissioners. They alone know what is in the best interest of the majority of Pendletonians and they willfully disregard the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

One has to wonder what their real motivations are. They have accepted at face value the phony revenue projections and loophole-laden promises of "partnership grants" while knowing full well that when FPL Energy takes over the project their Wall St. lawyers will make mince meat out of Liberty Gap's so called obligations to Pendleton County. Unless, of course, the commissioners had the temerity to require Mr. Cookman to legally bind himself to pay all the expenses the county will incur when it has to sue FPL Energy and to also require Mr. Cookman to be personally responsible for any revenue shortfall for the next 20 years.