I attended the public meeting Tuesday night regarding a natural gas pipeline that will be installed, either on Pre-Emption Road or Route 14A, to serve the new Yates County Emergency Services Building in Benton. As I listened to the rather tense discussions regarding pipeline route, the costs and relative advantages of LP vs. natural gas, the impacts this might have on residents and businesses, I was struck by this fact; we have no idea what the relative price and availability of natural gas, LP, or electric will be in 5 years, much less 25 or 50 years. But we do know is this, if we purchase less energy, it will cost county taxpayers less.