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Resident asks Berkeley County officials to join legal challenge to HB 2014 and press for data‑center transparency
Summary
At a planning commission meeting, resident Brooke Gibson urged county and city officials to work with an attorney to challenge HB 2014 and to bring West Virginia data centers under public‑records access via the Freedom of Information Act to improve transparency and local oversight.
Brooke Gibson, who identified herself as a Berkeley County resident, used the meeting's open governmental process to ask county and city leaders to help "take that iron curtain down" around data‑center information she said is being hidden under HB 2014. She urged the county commission and the mayor to join a legal effort and provided contact information for an attorney willing to represent local governments.
"If we can amend or repeal HB 20 14 to get our local rates back and to include West Virginia data centers in the Freedom of Information Act, then we can begin to operate in an accurate and factual environment and help our residents to regain our trust in our state government," Gibson said. She asked the county commission and city elected officials to reach out to the lawyer she named and said only one city official’s participation would be sufficient to begin a legal challenge.
The chair responded that the county commission meets on Thursdays and advised Gibson that speaking directly to the county commission during its open governmental process would be the appropriate next step for action. Planning staff and commissioners clarified the procedural difference between comments at the planning commission and action by the county commission.
Gibson framed her request as a remedy for misinformation circulating in social media and word of mouth and said she appreciated public updates from Commissioner John (last name read earlier during roll call) about meetings with project proponents. She asked local elected officials to join the effort to regain "local control" over rate and information decisions related to data centers.
What happens next: The chair encouraged the commenter to bring the matter to the county commission in its public comment period; no formal action on HB 2014 or FOIA coverage for data centers was taken by the planning commission during this meeting.
