"Psst . . . Your pants are on fire"

I thought we could do a fun new feature detailing some of the outrageous, outlandish, and just plain out-there statements we've heard in this coal plant fight.

Introducing:  "Psst . . . your pants are on fire!"

Let's start with one of the earliest and most egregious, shall we?

A quote that appeared in one of our local newspapers--in an article that would later be photocopied and passed out to citizens and town council members by ODEC.

"The only thing

 that comes out of the top of the coal plant

is water vapor." 

- Jeb Hockman, ODEC

Smithfield Times May 13, 2009

Heh heh . . . water vapor.

Kind of makes you wonder about the pages and pages of "hazardous" and "toxic" emissions ODEC estimated would "come out of the top of the coal plant" in their application to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), doesn't it?

And why the Smithfield Times would say that experts at the VA DEQ and Department of Health agreed with Mr. Hockman's statement. (I spoke directly to the folks at the DEQ and Dept. of Health and they categorically denied agreeing with such nonsense.)

Because this is the "Psst . . . Your pants are on fire" kick-off, let's make it sort of a two-fer (and, because, as my father always said, "One lie always begets another."). Here are some of the out-there follow up statements to that doozy:

Later, Hockman told the Smithfield Times that he “misspoke.”

The Smithfield Times said they took his statement “out of context.”

While an attorney for ODEC explained the gaff to the Surry Board of Supervisors as the reporter “misquoting Mr. Hockman.”

Misspoke, out of context, misquoted.

Wow! That's a lot of pants on fire right there.

But don't worry, there's still plenty more where that came from. Until next time! xoxo