February 6,2013
Hon. Jeffrey C. Cohen
Acting Secretary, NYS Board of Electric Power Generation Siting and
Environment
Three Empire state Plaza
Albany, NY 12223 – 1350
RE: Case 12 – F – 0410 Cape Vincent Wind Power
Dear Acting Secretary Cohen:
We would like to bring to your attention to a recent post from the
Cape Vincent blog, Pandora's
Box of Rocks. We Were All Struck by the Irony of the Post.
BP's Article 10 Public Involvement
Plan, We Assume, Requires a Certain Degree of Honest
Representation of Facts and Information
Presented to the Public. Yet, the False, misleading visual aids
that are a prominent feature of BP's
website are in stark contrast to what our community represents.
This concerns us.
The following is a copy of the post:
When you click on that link you will see a brief
paragraph about the project and three or four panoramic color photos that
appear and dissolve away in sequence every minute or so into a new photo.But
each of these photos (such as the one above 1)
is from some place far away from Cape Vincent. North Dakota
perhaps? Eastern Montana maybe? Certainly not around here.
At the risk of making you ill or upset, take a look
for yourself.
Do these completely misleading photos constitute an
example of misleading visual propaganda? Certainly. Anyone personally
unfamiliar with our area who looks at the BP web page might wonder what all the
fuss is about in Cape Vincent. Who would be complaining about the
project? There are no people around to complain if you go by the pictures
they want you to associate with the project.
Here’s a suggestion, BP. Why don’t you take
down those irrelevant photos and put up some true local panoramas. There
are plenty of nice ones already available. Use some images that show the
town as it is – with Churches, schools, homes, cottages, streets, docks, boats
and people – with Lake Ontario and the beautiful Thousand Islands in the foreground
or the background.
But then again, that would require a certain measure of honesty and transparency on your part. Never mind. Just a silly passing thought.
Secretary Cohen, this is
an important, relevant point. Misrepresenting our community in the photos on
their Cape Vincent Wind Project website may help explain why BP so seriously
misjudged our
community’s support for their project at our October 2 012 meeting. If BP
thinks
Cape Vincent is an
open prairie with little residential development meant, then it is not
difficult to understand how BP came to believe they are rousing community
support for their project
proposal when they do
not. In both cases BP is in our view dangerously ill – informed.
BP should not only
take down their deceptive panoramas from their website, but they should also make
an honest re-– assessment of what constitutes a majority of community support
for their project here in Cape Vincent. They can start that re– assessment by
considering all the elected and appointed officials from the town of Cape
Vincent who have affixed their signatures to this letter.
Respectfully yours,
Urban Hirschey – Town
Supervisor
Brooks Bragdon – Deputy
Supervisor
John Byrne – Town
Council
Clifford Schneider – Town
Council
Michelle Oswald – Town
Council
Richard Macsherry – Planning
Board Chairman
Robert S. Brown – Planning
Board
Cyril Cullen – Planning
Board
Paul Docteur – Planning
Board
Dennis Faulknham – ZBA Chairman
Ed Hludzenski – Zoning Board
11 comments:
Big Wind doesn't fit in the (relatively) densely populated Northeast. Even our rural areas are heavily compared to the great plains.
The only reasons Big Wind is even in the northeast are that some northeastern governors misguidedly wanted some green bragging rights from getting some wind farms built here. That -- and the vulture wind developers who will chase a tax credit or a subsidy wherever they can find one. They'd go to hell for a subsidy or a tax break if they could get one there.
And then you have that small but essential number of local landowners willing to become leaseholders -- no matter the consequences to the rest of their communities. Never forget about them. They are not your friends. People don't do such things to friends.
pro windy are saying that art ten is a slam dunk. Even a one or two disgruntled anti windy think it too. Don't believe it and support the CV town officials. When the hell is the village mayor and his democratic BGF going to get the balls to step forth and make a statement one way or the other?
Hey anon. 6:30 I think your right.
In fact I bet this hardhitting letter from the town, will set the PSC secretary Cohen immediately to work rewriting the rules about what should be on an applicant's website.
This will really put BP on the run!
good job town officials and keep the letters coming folks, I think we are wearing the PSC down.
This letter is clever. The town takes a relatively innocuous post about inappropriate pictures and uses it to make a point about BP being deceptive and dishonest, about BP's misrepresentation of community support, and finally they finish by suggesting they were elected and appointed because of BP's errant ways. All this from a picture that didn't have a house.
It is more than clever....
It reduces a giant corporation to the level of a medicine man.
6:59 Do you think it would make a difference if there was no house?? Who do you work for? BP ?
This letter to the PSC is very clever. The town takes Pandora's post about a simple picture and then turns it into something much larger. The town states BP misrepresented their community in the picture, misjudged community support in general, and that the town's elected and appointed officials themselves are a better gauge of community support. All this because a picture didn't have a house. Clever.
This letter is very clever,I agree 6:59. In fact I 'll bet Seceretary Cohen wishes he'd never heard of Cape Vincent.
Who knew these fraudulently elected officials could write such scathing, to the point, make your eyes water,shut my mouth, I wish I'd never volunteered to be on the PSC. , dressing downs like they have peppered the PSC with.
Hell, I doubt BP will even bother continuing their application process, not with this kind of forceful opposition being displayed by the town.
If pro-windies think ART. X is a slam dunk, what do they think of this ,"not in my house" defensive shot blocking exhibited by the rowdy town boys.
You can be sure Marty, Donny, Mickey,Joe,and Tom couldn't have written a letter like this ,not in their wildest dreams!
7:32 I don't understand you comment. The point of Pandora's post was that BP uses images devoid of people and houses, which is not a fair representation of Cape Vincent or the northeast. The town in their letter, however, gets a lot of extra mileage blasting BP for their dishonesty. I still think its clever and no I'd never consider working for BP.
Voters for Wind who claim they hate outsiders have been suckered by outsiders like Bp and Trieste Associates who paint these kind of pictures. One would almost think they are dealing with a little Appalachia up there in Cape Vincent.
Read the disclosure. If you go to the Bp web site I believe they say they will collect your ISP. Be careful. They may not be the right place to put your comments.
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