Saturday, December 31, 2011

Bill Owens: "I would like to see a credit for wind extended for another year"


During a town hall meeting in Watertown, N.Y. June 2010, Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, answered questions about wind power development and federal subsidies.
Bert Bowers Chairperson of the Coalition to Preserve the Golden Crescent spoke to Rep. Owens about the problems that we are experiencing with the proposed wind developments in our area. Mr. Bower spoke of the rampant corruption, the underhanded methods that these companies use, signing landowners up to long term lease agreements behind closed doors. He explained that our areas are financially dependent upon the seasonals tourism dollars. Moreover, our area just wasn’t the proper place for this type of large-scale industrial development.
Mr. Bowers also touched on the massive subsidies needed to sustain the wind industry.

Additionally, Mr. Bowers pointed out that our own government does not provide any substantive information about industrial wind development, they merely regurgitate propaganda that the wind industry pushes.

Rep. Owens began with, "In terms of wind turbine, siting it is largely a local issue."
And he also stated
"I think we need to look at all possibilities, as options to reduce dependence on foreign oil."

Mr. Bower, "If I may", "Dependence on foreign oil has very little to do with electrical energy production, because we don't use oil more than 1% of our electricity nationally."

Rep.Owens then said, "There's a lot of information out there. There's no doubt about it.
Sorting through all that information. "
" What troubled me most about what you said actually was the fact that when you speak to the government agencies. They are not giving you both sides of the coin. "

Rep. Owens ended with,"On the issues of the subsidies. Certainly, if that comes up. And I look at this information more. I'll certainly consider your position on that."
~~~~~~~~~~~~

DECEMBER 12, 2011
Watertown Times ~
Owens gives his opinion about subsidies

Rep. Owens: “I would like to see a credit for wind extended for another year, then considered as part of an entire package of tax code reform.”


Link here to read WDT story

Link here to watch video

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Wolfe Island Turbines

are noisy


Those Wolfe Island giants aren't so quiet

From The Whig Standard Archives

By: Gail Kenney

I suggest that local media provide equal opportunity for Wolfe Island community members who are not employees or landowners under contract with the Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation when these media discuss the potential impacts of the Wolfe Island wind farm on residents.

If it is unwilling to engage residents not in the employ of the company, the K-Rock radio station should consider correcting some of the misconceptions that may have arisen from the station's recent interview with the site manager of the wind farm, Mike Jablonicky.

Jablonicky referred in the interview to the turbines as "silent giants." In fact, the turbines generate 40 A-weighted decibels (with allowance for 53 A-weighted decibels in certain wind conditions, according to the Ministry of Environment's regulations governing noise from wind developments). This does not constitute silence.

The Ontario Government, in the Green Energy Act, has admitted there is a need for greater setbacks for wind turbines due to noise. It has proposed a minimum 550-metre setback from residences, with greater setbacks -- up to 1,000 metres -- for projects of more than eight turbines. Wolfe Island's setbacks are 400 metres and there are 86 turbines.

Local MPP John Gerretsen stated in an interview with the CBC that the new setbacks are needed "to best protect the health and safety of Ontarians," and that where turbines are shown to cause negative health effects, "the towers will be moved." Ministry of Environment officials who attended the public forum on the Green Energy Act held on June 25 in Toronto proposed that 5% of Wolfe Island residents in close proximity to the turbines could experience such negative health effects as dizziness, tinnitus, headaches and sleep disorders due to noise and vibration.

There are many islanders who are now quietly coming to terms with the reality that their own provincial government has declared that their health and safety may be at risk from these structures.

Gail Kenney
Chair
Wolfe Island Residents for the Environment

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

~ Paving Paradise ~ NNY Follies ~ Wolfe Island~


The following piece, written by Perry White (“Kents boss”) was posted on his blog, “NNY Follies,” March 23, 2007, bringing us back to a time before Wolfe Island became an industrialized power plant . Mr. White, is the Watertown Times

23 March 2007

Next week, Canadian Hydro will sponsor two public hearings to discuss a plan to construct 86 windmills on Wolfe Island. The 200-megawatt project will feed Ontario’s electric grid, from towers located across the west end of Wolfe Island.

For the geographically challenged or those who don’t have much opportunity to visit the Cape Vincent area, Wolfe Island is across a narrow channel of the St. Lawrence River from Cape Vincent; the ferry runs from the southeast corner of the island to the Cape. The island is clearly visible from Cape Vincent to Tibbets Point, and most of the towers will be clearly visible as well.

I mention this because, with the wind farm or farms proposed for Cape Vincent and Clayton, if the Canadian Hydro project goes through, the St.Lawrence River valley and eastern Lake Ontario will almost overnight become the site of as many as 350 windmills.

There are fewer than 200 towers in the Maple Ridge project on Tug Hill, and that project dominates the horizon from Turin to past Copenhagen. Along the river, wind farms could dominate the horizon from Fishers Landing to, well, to well out into Lake Ontario.

I have a great deal of ambivalence about the prospects of turning the lake and river area into a giant wind farm. I do believe that green power is important — the renewable, natural nature of wind-generated power has to be superior to burning coal or natural gas or splitting atoms. And yet…the number of windmills it takes to produce enough power to make a wind farm economically viable means that no working wind farm can ever be inobtrusive. Despite what some of my Cape Vincent critics blindly maintain, the aesthetic enjoyment of an area with such breathtaking natural beauty as the Thousand Islands region has significant value and it should be protected.

It seems to me that the dual “economic development” goals of some people along the river are mutually exclusive; you cannot on the one hand push a massive wind farm as a major economic asset and also continue to pursue with abandon tourism dollars. Some — perhaps many — people will be put off by the sight of the towers relentlessly marching along the river to the extent that they will not find the natural beauty they came to enjoy. And they won’t come back. (And believe me, when the initial awe of wind towers wears off, they aren’t going to draw any tourists here.)

Sometimes, man acts with foresight and wisdom. Mostly, though, my experience is that foresight is in extremely short supply. As Joni Mitchell pointed out, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?” It seems that folks along the river are hell bent on paving paradise and putting in a tower lot. They don’t seem willing to consider that once paradise is gone, it just never comes back.

posted by Kentsboss

nnyfollies

23 March 2007

Rethinking Wind Tower Safety

December 28, 2009
Perry White, Watertown Daily Times City Editor

Another wind tower has collapsed, this one in the Madison County Wind Farm in the town of Fenner. The nine-year-old tower collapsed Saturday night, apparently when power was lost to the tower. This is the second such collapse in upstate New York this year; in March, a tower collapsed in Altona, Franklin County, when it, too, lost power. Clearly, this issue is one that needs further study and one that should be giving pause to towns in the north country that are rushing to get permissive laws on the books for commercial wind farm development.

These two collapses are far from the only ones, however. In Denmark in 2008, a tower collapsed when the braking system failed and the blades spun out of control, eventually shattering the nacelle and sending debris well beyond the collapse range of one and a half times the tower height. In Oldenburg, Germany, a tower collapsed in November 2006 when a rotor shattered, bringing the entire tower down; large chunks of blade debris landed more than 200 meters – 660 feet – from the tower.


Link here to the Watertown Daily Times to read more...

Sunday, December 11, 2011

"LET THEM EAT (SEMI-HOMEMADE) CAKE"

Hood-winked at the Article X Banquet

The definition of hood-winked is: “To take in by deceptive means; to deceive.”
Come along with me and imagine that four of us from Cape Vincent were invited to attend a banquet at the Roxy Hotel. We are told that some Big-Shots from Albany are interested in what we have to say about our community. Exciting, huh? Can't wait, huh?
We arrive the night of the banquet and head for the door when two big ushers tell us only two can enter and sit at the table. We begin to decide who among us will enter when the usher interrupts and tells us he decides, not the four of us. Hmm? We are beginning to wonder about this banquet.
The Roxy is humming with noise. Lots of people, mostly men, running around in suits and ties, typical Albany political types. We see a banner on the wall ARTICLE X SITING BANQUET.

We begin to get the drift of why we are here. Some smiley, ex-high school valedictorian leads us to the banquet table that seats seven. We are introduced to the other five sitting at the table – Mr. NYSERDA, Mr. PSC, Mr. DEC, Mr. DOH and Mr. DED. They all smile, shake our hands, tell us we are welcome, and thank us for coming. “Glad to have you share our banquet,” said Mr. PSC at the head of the table.
Then the food begins to arrive. Waiters fill the table with a wide assortment of great food. The five Big-Shots ask us what we'd like for dinner. We respond, “The turkey looks delicious and the prime rib is my favorite.” More smiles. “How about some fixings,” Mr. NYSERDA asks. “Thank you,” we respond and we are beginning to think this is really nice. They are all so friendly and solicitous – they really seem to be interested in us.
After all the food has been served, the Big-Shots pick up the knives and forks, still smiling, and begin to eat. As we move to do the same, the Big-Shots stop eating, stop smiling and tell us to stop. “You two can't eat,” they shout! “You are ad hoc invitees to the banquet, you don't get to eat,” they continued. We dropped our forks and they began to eat, began to smile and even asked us what we thought of the food. Can you imagine their nerve?
How would you feel if you were invited to the table, asked what you would like to eat, but then were denied the opportunity to eat? This is exactly what is written into Governor Cuomo's Article X “Power NY Act 2011.” The law takes away home rule in siting power projects, but allows two, token locals to sit at the table with the Big-Shots as ad hoc member. Ad hoc means no voting rights. They take away our home-rule rights and throw us a few crumbs, but then tell us we can't eat the crumbs.

If you are madder than hell at the nerve of Albany then cut and paste this piece in an email to your local representatives and tell them that the Little-Shots from the North Country want to eat too! The legislature needs to revise the law so that local representatives on the Article X siting board get to vote along with the Big-Shots. With the current law the deck is stacked in favor of Albany 5 to 0. We aren't even asking for fair representation, just some representation. We'd settle with 5 to 2 odds in favor of Albany? Let us vote.

Lone Ranger

Senator Patti Richie - ritchie@nysenate.gov

Assemblywoman Addie Russell - russella@assembly.state.ny.us

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Law gives bureaucrats too much power

On June 22, at the request of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state Legislature stripped local communities of their historic home-rule rights.

In a secretive 24-hour blitz Article X was passed, now called Power New York Act. It applies to nuclear, gas, wind, coal and any other type of electrical generating plant of 25 megawatts or more. It was signed into law Aug. 4.

Siting generating plants and their transmission lines will now be done by a board of seven people, including five unelected bureaucrats from Albany.

They are the chairs of the Public Service Commission, the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency and economic development and the heads of the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health. These chairs may designate a person to represent themselves.


Two ad-hoc members are from the local community targeted by the developer. They have no vote and are not necessary for a quorum. They are selected by the state Senate and Assembly leaders from a list of names provided by the local officials. They are not allowed to be elected people.

According to the language of the Power New York Act, the chair of the board (who is also the chair of the PSC) makes the decisions “in consultation with the other chairs but exclusive of the ad-hoc members.”

The intervenor fund of money will also be controlled by the board. The board may ignore any and all local ordinances and laws.

The purpose of Article X is to guarantee developers that their project will be through the entire permitting process within one year.

Gov. Cuomo says Article X will give communities more say in the process of siting power plants. Doublespeak that rivals the ex-attorney general’s of ethics.

Sen. Patty Ritchie and Assembly members Addie Russell, Will Barclay and Ken Blankenbush all took a stand against Albany and stood for the counties and towns by voting against Article X.

Jefferson County swiftly and unanimously passed a resolution opposing Article X. Other counties and towns have also passed resolutions. I would like to thank them for understanding and supporting home rule.

If the only way to build new power plants requires stripping people and communities of their established rights, maybe it is time to rewrite our energy policies and this time leave the corporate lobbyists outside.

Martha Chase

Cape Vincent

Are the Tables Turning on Turbines?


~~~~~~~
A large number of bats are dying at wind turbines in the United States. The number of bat deaths is higher than any fatality rates seen in this species in the past. There is something strange happening with bats and wind turbines. It is not known why bats are so susceptible and why they are being killed in these surprising numbers.
~~~~
There is a story in the Wall Street Journal today that reports that the tables may be turning Bats may now be a threat to wind turbines.

In anticipation of New federal rules that take effect in January some wind developers are changing their plans , although the new guidelines are voluntary those who don't follow them are more likely to face fines or penalties if their turbines kill an animal protected by federal law. These new guidelines could potentially effect where all wind projects are built .

Acciona’s St. Lawrence Wind project has the potential to significantly impact the future survival of the Indiana bat and all bat species existing in Cape Vincent as well. Wolfe Island Canada located just 3/4 of a mile from the shores of Cape Vincent is home to an 86 turbine project that reported estimates of 1720 bats deaths per year , a significant number . Cape Vincent can expect the same numbers because of similar habitat and shared species with Wolfe Island.

Acciona’s wind development will cause fragmentation of habitat and destroy foraging ground; this will have a devastating effect on Cape Vincent’s dwindling bat population.
Below is a partial map of the area that is proposed for utility scale wind turbines and the necessary transmission lines to facilitate the project.
Notice the project is in the heart of the Indiana Bat areas. Notice too that land owned by Agricultural Commissioner Darrel Aubertine is slated for transmission lines in or perilously close to the Indiana Bat habitat areas...

AUBERTINE PROPERTY
slated for development~



ACCIONA TURBINE AREAS



To read the article ~ Wildlife Slows Wind Power ~ from the Wall Street Journal link here

Monday, December 5, 2011

Cuomo seeks to pull New York State economy out of

the
Toilet with a royal flush



December 4, 2011, 10:43 PM


ALBANY -- With the state's deficit worsening, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said he wants the Legislature to act quickly on a job-creation effort, which he said should include a massive program of bridge and road construction and an expansion of full-blown, Las Vegas-style casinos across the state.

Link here to the Buffalo news story