November 17, 2010
Letters, West Virginia

County shirks responsibility with wind farm study

News-Tribune, www.newstribune.info 16 November 2010

I found the decision of the county commissioners to take the advice of U.S. Wind Force’s representative regarding the Pinnacle Wind Farm decommissioning study to be absolutely irresponsible and fraught with ethical incongruities.

Mr. Friend, who, by the way, is only our friend because he has needed our support for his company’s project, must be a superb salesman. To be able to convince two of the three commissioners that it was a good idea to select HIS “hand picked” consulting firm to conduct a study which will be used to determine the parameters to which HIS company and others will be held in the decommissioning and dismantling of the wind farm was brilliant!

Too bad we didn’t have an equal measure of brilliance on our (the folks who will have to look at these things) side. An astute ninth grader would be able to pick out the conflict of interest in this scenario.

You know, the old fox guarding the henhouse syndrome.

Neither Mr. Friend, nor anyone else from U.S. Wind Force, should have been allowed to have any input on the selection of the firm chosen to perform this critical oversight study. One must wonder who’s best interests are being served here.

Tim Long
Keyser


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/11/17/county-shirks-responsibility-with-wind-farm-study/