Good evening ladies and gentlemen and distinguished Board of Supervisors of Tazewell County: Mrs. Sayers, Mr. Wood, Mr. Wade, Mr. Payne, and Mr. Jones. My name is Jeff McMillion, I live in the Hawks Heights subdivision in Tazewell County with my wife and daughter. I am a homeowner and concerned citizen of this county. My home is also within 600 feet of the proposed AEP 765 kv power line planned for the county.
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak before you on behalf of Citizens United to Protect Tazewell County tonight. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your vote to oppose AEP and their plan for our county at the August meeting. That was a small battle won, but the war continues and that is why I stand before you tonight as a father, a husband, a homeowner and a taxpaying citizen of Tazewell County. I have a 9-year-old daughter here tonight wondering why we should have to fight to keep a power line out of OUR backyard. She is my main reason for fighting this power line and AEP. If this line is allowed to run near our home her health, her well being, her future and her family will be adversely affected.
As I am sure you are all aware AEP is a corporate giant with millions of dollars to spend on advertisements, research and scare tactics. Their slogan: At AEP this is what we do falls a little short of the truth. What they do ---or what they are trying to do is frighten, scare and intimidate Tazewell County resident into believing that this power line will somehow benefit our county. Terry Hall the representative from AEP has been quoted as saying that we the residents of the county will be unaffected by this line. Well Mr. Hall this petition with over 2,000 names on it says you are wrong and we resent being referred to as unaffected. If the people here tonight who feel they will be affected by this power line will please stand so that Mr. Hall can see you………………………..
Mr. Hall works for the Goliath of the 90 AEP. Like a giant they have total disregard for families, homeowners and property in their path. Their focus is only on the huge profits to be plundered. They have proposed this line where they have seen fit for the last 10 years. In their need for greed they have had total disregard for the destruction they would cause. This Goliath, AEP has spent millions of dollars on research to find out the environmental impact of these lines. And I imagine, close to an equal amount for the results to come back in their favor. They buy up huge amounts of prime advertising time to tell us how much they care about us and how they are working to insure us a better future, A future that could include health problems such as cancer and leukemia, contaminated water supplies, incredible noise and destruction of the things we hold nearest to our hearts. I ask AEP; how they think anything good can be gained by us??? How would Mr. Hall like to raise his children where he knows they will be exposed to the detrimental side affects of these lines? But according to their commercials where the deer and turkeys roam undaunted under these lines, we could take our families for a picnic here to enjoy the beauty and not even notice the lines. Of course we would have to hook 4-foot long chains to our belts to ground us, and use all plastic utensils for fear of electrical shock. Their ad are misleading at best and they take advantage of the uninformed people by making AEP look like they are here to help the community. I am expecting to see a new ad showing how they are planning to part the sea so that they can run a 765 line to the Promised Land. That way they could pillage a new continent because that is what they do.
The bottom line is that here at home, millions and millions of tons of our Southwest Virginia coal sit stockpiled, mines are being shut down, and thousands of miners are out of work. And what is AEP planning to do to help with this??? They plan to get coal from out west ,of course. But they dont tell us this in their commercials. They dont tell us that we will not have a single substation in Tazewell County. They dont tell us that AEP is downsizing their work force in our area. You have to wonder what else Goliath has not told us about this line. But as in the story of David and Goliath there is always one willing to step up and defeat the giant. Many Davids have come before us in this battle:

Monroe County West Virginia residents
Craig County Virginia residents
Giles County Virginia Residents

They have all succeeded in running this Goliath out of their counties with hard work, support from their county and state government and involvement of the citizens.
Now it is our turn to step up and take on the role of David in Tazewell Countys battle against the AEP Goliath. AEP you wanted to come into our county and destroy it, well Meet your new Davids . Meet your next conquer - Meet the ones who will stop you in Tazewell County.
If you will remember in the story of David and Goliath, David chose 3 stones to use in his battle. Well the residents of Bland and Wythe counties already have their stones. Their Boards of Supervisors have allocated $30,000 each to supply the citizens with the ammunition they need to fight Goliath. This ammunition includes Lawyers, experts in the fields of electrical lines and health problems, as well as their own specialists to show that AEP does not need this line at all. We are here tonight to ask you the Board members to give these Davids their stone to fight. To ask you to step up and allot YOUR citizens $30,000 so that we can join with Wythe and Bland County to stop AEP. You have received documentation on how we would use these funds to fight AEP. We the citizens of the county ask that you consider what has happened so far in this battle, AEP gets beat, they move the line. I realize that some of you are not directly affected by the current route of this devastating power line, but an alternative non-forest route through Tazewell and Smyth counties has also been mentioned if this route fails. That line could affect families in Richlands, Claypool Hill , Raven, The Cove, Thompson Valley or other communities in our county. We need your support; you can give us the stone we need, the resources to fight back. You can ensure that we do not go to the SCC with an empty pouch. Please look at the names of affected people on your copies of the Petitions we have collected. These are taxpaying voters in Tazewell County. Families that have put their well being and their futures in your hands. You are the ones with the power to determine what that future will be. You ultimately control the legacy that we leave here for our children. Please allocate the money we need to help End this AEP induced nightmare in Tazewell County once and for all.
In closing I ask you to think about this, not only as Supervisors but as parents, grand-parents, home owners and citizens of Tazewell County!!

Aren't our Mountains, Valleys, and Farmland worth it?
Aren't our Streams, Wildlife, and Environment worth it?
Aren't our Property Values, Health , and Peace of Mind worth it?

And finally and most importantly arent our Children and their futures worth it.
I say they are, Citizens United to Protect Tazewell County says they are, The people who have signed our petitions and the people here supporting us tonight say they are and I hope that tonight, with your vote/ you say they are.
Thank you for your time and attention.