Commissioners' viewpoints
Chairman Brian McMahan
“I believe that river belongs to the people of the United States of America. That’s our river. Yes we have benefited from the production of power, but it still belongs to the people. I don’t argue the fact that Duke should be allowed to make a profit, that’s part of capitalism. At the same time, if they are going to use our river to generate power, shouldn’t they compensate the people here a little bit more? If you look at what they have offered, it is pennies compared to what they are making off our river. The people have pretty much been ignored.”
Commissioner Joe Cowan
“We are all elected by the people of Jackson County. The vast majority of my constituents have said to me ‘Help save the Dillsboro dam.’ I think it is time to stand up to Duke I don’t care if it does cost a million dollars, I think we will beat Duke and will prevail in this lawsuit because we have facts on our side. Never have I seen a large energy corporation come in and take so much from a people of a county and want to take more and more over the next 40 years and give back so little.”
Commissioner William Shelton
“This has been a very very tough decision for me. I have gone back and forth. Unfortunately it comes down to whether you vote your heart and morals or do you vote with your head? After lots and lots of tossing and turning I’ve done the very best I could to put my finger on the pulse of my district and I am finding overwhelming support to save the Dillsboro dam. After a long difficult decision, I am going to have to vote with my heart on this.”
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Commissioner Mark Jones
“I think we should continue the fight. The money we have spent already is the vast majority of the money we are going to have to spend. The economic problems the town of Dillsboro has gone through in recent years, this would be a tremendous benefit.”
The lone dissenter: Commissioner Tom Massie
Jackson County commissioners are fool-hardy if they think they can win a fight of this magnitude against Duke Energy, Commissioner Tom Massie expressed to fellow board members for the umpteenth time this week.
Massie nearly begged his fellow commissioners not to go through with the vote for condemnation.
“Condemnation is very, very risky. We are breaking new ground. There is no if’s and’s or but’s. This has never been done in the state of North Carolina, this kind of condemnation,” Massie said. “I am not a gambler. I wouldn’t spend a penny in a poker game. I refuse to gamble the taxpayers’ money of Jackson County with this kind of risky venture. I wouldn’t do it with my money, and I wouldn’t do it with theirs.”
During the county commissioners lengthy closed-door discussion leading up to the vote this week and last week, audience members relegated to the hallway outside the meeting room would occasionally walk over to the door and peer through a small window to see what was going on inside. And more often than not, Massie was the one doing the talking, growing animated at times as his fellow commissioners patiently listened but were ultimately unmoved.
Massie agrees with the rest of the board on one count: Jackson got a raw deal from Duke, he says.
“I didn’t think it was fair then I don’t think it is fair now,” Massie said. “My heart says we should continue this argument and fight but my head says this is not good business. This is a time we need to put emotion aside and we need to make prudent cold calculating business decisions about what is best for the Jackson County taxpayers and residents of this county.”
Massie said the writing is on the wall, and has been for a long time now.
“All the federal and state agencies involved in this thing have sided against Jackson County and are for dam removal. We have lost every single appeal we have had in this fight for the past five years,” Massie said.
Massie said he hopes he is proven wrong and the county prevails this time.
