Fibrowatt: �Quietly they came into Page County�Quietly we would like you to leave.�March 17, 2010by Page County Citizens

If you were in Page County, Virginia on Tuesday night, you would have seen an experiment in Democracy.Could a large, polluting corporation muscle it's way into a rural community against the will of its citizens? Would the local elected leaders listen to the voters? Or would they make backroom, non-disclosure deals with the corporation?The night began with citizens voicing their opinions. There were several people who charmingly asked everyone to have an open mind, but it turned out these men were either on the Planning Commission, EDA, or another organization that had been in secret talks with Fibrowatt for months. Their disingenuous speeches fell on deaf ears. Instead, the citizens who did their own research on Fibrowatt carried the room:Listen to .mp3:
Download the Mac Video .mov (ctrl click and save link as).
Size: 43 mb
Running time: 8:55 minutes Then, unanimously, Page County Supervisors voted to notify Fibrowatt that the county was not interested in locating a waste incinerator in this valley. Huge victory. Through this vote, the new Board brought a level of respect rarely seen in Page's local leaders.Listen to .mp3:
Download the Mac Video .mov (ctrl click and save link as).
Size: 61 mb
Running time: 9:43 minutes Here is link to the full 30-minute Supervisor discussion, Video and Audio:Windows Video .wmv (right click and save link as).
Size: 177 mb
Running time: 33 minutes
Mac Video .mov (ctrl click and save link as).
Size: 188 mb
Running time: 33 minutes
Audio .mp3 (right click and save link as or listen in the player below).
Size: 28 mb
Running time: 33 minutesLet's briefly remember the timeline of how we got here.The Page County EDA initiated secret meetings with Fibrowatt behind closed doors during the last year. It's clear that this is Fibrowatt's business strategy: make non-disclosure agreements with local leaders in poor rural communities; quietly force through legislation at the state level that gives them guaranteed subsidies, THEN manipulate the local government to pay for the infrastructure of their plant. They strategically make allies with certain local personalities, assuming all other citizens will be quieted.Luckily six weeks ago, Page County citizens were alerted to Fibrowatt's maneuvers before the company was ready. Citizens went down to Richmond to make sure Fibrowatt's legislation was pulled. Delegate Gilbert and Senator Obenshain were extremely supportive of the wishes of the community. Letters began pouring in to the Page News and Courier each week detailing independent research on the proposed 300-ft, smoke stack incinerator. No one who researched the simple facts felt that "Thirty-Dirty" jobs was worth trading in our natural heritage for a future of pollution and debt. Opposition to Fibrowatt came from all corners of the county and spanned the political spectrum. Blogs were started to publicly discuss research being done on Fibrowatt (Hawksbill Cabin Blog, Luray VA Blog). The work done in other communities bullied by Fibrowatt helped tremendously (Yadkin Riverkeepers, NC and Fibrowatch).The Board of Supervisors then held a public presentation so Fibrowatt's PR machine could show their product. Over two hundred citizens attended to voice their opposition, based on in-depth research that the internet now allows us to do. Terry Walmsley gave an almost 3-hour pitch on how their incinerator would help the citizen's lives. Terry got huge laughs when he compared burning chicken poop to solar power. The meeting ended with several Supervisors voicing their opposition. It was a classic and rare case of leaders actually listening to their constituents.At our Board of Supervisors Meeting on 3/2/10, Fibrowatt, the chicken litter incinerator company, presented its Environmental Benefits. The biggest misleading statement is at 3:10, where Terry Walmsley claims that Fibrowatt is essentially "Solar Power". It's simply laughable. In fact several people laughed out loud when he said this. That's like saying crude oil is solar because at one point it was dinosaurs and plants that used the sun to live. Hey, that's cool, if you think that, just don't burn it up into the air so we have to breathe it, okay?Other gems include when they claim to be carbon neutral and reduce greenhouse gases. Straight up, greenwashing. You can paint it anyway you want, but really, it comes down to burning sh*t and polluting the air, water and our communities. We see no benefit to that.On Thursday, February 25, 2010, Gary Gibbs organized a great bus trip down to Richmond. Twenty Page County residents let our state representatives, Todd Gilbert and Mark Obenshain, know that we do NOT want Fibrowatt to build a 300-ft incinerator spewing pollution in our community. Fibrowatt will also demand huge tax payer subsidies for infrastructure, guaranteed energy buyback, and tax breaks. Fibrowatt's plant in Benson, Minn already proves that they bring relatively few low paying jobs that are mainly given to existing corporate employees, NOT locals. Bad for our health, children, community and economy.