A device used by wind developers that allows them to take
advantage of people that live near industrial wind plants.
Developers buy the rights of people living in close proximity to
turbines for a small payment. By signing a good neighbor contract you agree to
accept the noise, shadow flicker or any other issue that may degrade the
quality of your life.
BP’s good-neighbor agreement requires residents to accept the
noise (for an annual payment of up to $1,500), additionally if the developer
requests that a noise easement on the land be recorded with the county clerk
this creates a burden on the land for all subsequent buyers. If a landowner
finds the noise is intolerable, it will be difficult to sell and move.
Below is a transcript of a BP Good neighbor recruitment letter.
For the protection of the landowner, I have removed the name.
The original is at the end of this post
December 11, 2007
Cape Vincent, NY 13618
Dear Mr.
As you may be aware, BP alternative energy has been working to
develop a wind farm. The agricultural district of Cape Vincent. Over the past 2
years, we've worked with landowners; county and state officials’ preliminary
technical studies are currently concluding detailed environmental studies as
part of the New York State environmental quality review (SEQR) process. While
there has been a lot of recent activity, we are still at least 18 months from
construction of the proposed project and have not yet applied for the required
town, county and state permits.
At this time, we are contacting landowners whose property is
within our site area to discuss whether they would be interested in
participating in our project through good neighbor agreement. Our good neighbor
agreement provides income to landowners whose house or property is near a wind
turbine. In return, the landowners would agree to waive the standard setbacks
adopted by the town of Cape Vincent.
The town recently adopted guidelines that require us to set
turbines back at least 1,250 feet from the dwellings in at least 1,000 feet
from property lines of any non-– participating landowner. The good neighbor
agreement would allow us to place turbines as close as 750 feet from residences
or 400 feet from property lines, whichever is most restrictive. By agreeing to
these reduced setbacks, you would receive a signing payment of $500 in annual
payments of up to $1,500 per year during the operational life of the project.
The good neighbor agreements are completely voluntary, so if you
want us to use setbacks in the town guidelines. Then we will abide by those
restrictions. If you are interested in learning more about our project and the
good neighbor agreements, then please call us at 866 – 359 – 8807 to request an
informational package. I hope that you will consider participating in our wind
project.
Regards,
Jim Madden.
Business developer
Jim Madden.
Business developer
7 comments:
Good morning Pandy,
I thought a good neighbor agreement was about compensating you when BP abides by town zoning law. I thought it was recognizing that with Edsall's 1,250 ft setback you'd be getting screwed, so BP would give you a little money to not complain once the wind farm was up and running. Seemed like a good idea at the time if you wanted to give up all your rights to complain in exchange for a few dollars.
But no, this letter is suggesting you will get paid only if you allow a turbine closer than what Edsall allowed back in 2007. BP would only give you money if you allowed their turbines even closer to your home, like 750 ft.
Hard to imagine anything worse than putting aside the Mad Max protections put in place by Edsall and BP. If you agreed to these terms back in 2007, then you should hope and pray the current town board is successful in their fight to keep BP at bay. You better be lighting candles and doing novenas, otherwise you could be in deep doo-doo, very deep doo-doo.
Edsall is a Bp lease holder. He did not cooperate with the Town Economic committee and bragged that he only opened mail once a month. (I think he opened wind company mail, though.) As a citizen of Cape Vincent I firmly believe that no project application be allowed until Edsall's lack of due diligence and everything his PB did (and did not do) be reviewed by town, its attorney and the courts, if necessary. It is very likely or possible that Edsall is helping advise the plaintiffs about their lawsuit against the members of the community. With good reason, he did not join the suit himself because a lot of past events like lying about a secret meeting will likely be brought up again if people get to tell their stories at a trial of those who they were tying to shut up. Edsall frequently chastised and intimidated bloggers while they were attending town meetings.
Jim Madden is a liar, and BP obviously has no integrity to even stand behind its own written words.
Note at the end of the agreement, it states that if one does not want to sign a good neighbor agreement,but would rather BP follow the Town's more restrictive guidelines, that BP will honor those guidelines.
Why then is BP now asking the State to over-rule the Town's restrictive guidelines.
double -speak,outright fraud, misrepresentation, or just blatant bare faced lying. Take your pick, BP is devious and immoral!
Was it really "true" that in December 2007 the Town had "offically adopted" setback regulations? Or did Mr. Madden take some liberities with the wording of this letter?
July 2007 Edsall sends the wind boys a 17 point letter, or something to that effect that outlines setbacks. Yeah, Edsall had his limits, but not on his checks from BP.
I want my money! I want my money, dammit!
"If you want to use the town restrictions we will abide by them."
I would like to see them abide by the town restrictions, 15but I guess they no longer agree to honor that statement.
What a surprise, coming from such a "highly respected" corporation.
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