March 10, 2010
Then - Senator Darrel Aubertine wrote a letter to NYPA President Richard Kessel telling him that he supports the decision made by any New York County or Municipality to oppose wind development.
Then - Senator Darrel Aubertine wrote a letter to NYPA President Richard Kessel telling him that he supports the decision made by any New York County or Municipality to oppose wind development.
Will Mr. Aubertine be sending a letter stating as much to the NY Public Service Commission?
~~~~~~~~~
Re: New York power authority Great Lakes wind power initiative.
Dear President Kessel:
I want to thank you for taking the time to address Jefferson County legislature.
Dear President Kessel:
I want to thank you for taking the time to address Jefferson County legislature.
concerning the New
York Power Authority's Great Lakes Wind Power Initiative.
As you are no
doubt aware, many residents who live along the Eastern and Southern
shore of Lake Ontario and the St.
Lawrence River, through many local advocacy organizations and their elected
representatives, have voiced opposition to this initiative. In addition they
have expressed concern that the power authority will move forward with the
award of contracts for the construction of wind turbines in spite of these
concerns and over the objections of the impacted communities.
These concerns
have led to significant anxiety and agitation in advance of the power authority
receiving responses to the request for proposals issued under the initiative.
It is for this reason I write to express my appreciation of your willingness to
address this issue and assure the potentially impacted communities that wind
turbines will not be cited in their vicinity without their consent.
Local officials,
as the stewards of their communities natural resources and being in the best
position to balance the potential positive and negative economic, social,
environmental, and other benefits clearly have difficult decisions to make. The
fact that they are doing so prior to any projects being announced pursuant to
the initiative is an indication of the significant amount of opposition to
these potential projects
My position
remains as it has been ; if after careful consideration of the potential
economic benefits and costs of any wind projects proposed, Jefferson, Oswego
or, for that matter, any New York County or municipality opposes the
development of wind and ancillary projects, that I support that decision.
Again, I thank you
for addressing the concerns of these officials and for making the power authority's
position clear that no wind facilities will be cited where they are not wanted.
I look forward to
continuing to work with you as we strive in our respective capacities to reduce
the cost of providing New Yorkers clean, reliable and abundant power supplies
as one way to improve lives and livelihoods in this region and across the
state.
Sincerely,
Darrel J Aubertine
State Senator
~~~~~~~~
Original letter
.
7 comments:
In 2010 when that was written wind lease holding public officials had control over the government. Darrell knew that and he likely knew that Art x was coming down. Now it appears that he is working overtime, showing up like a bad penny around the community trying to get pro wind elected. I believe citizens for fair government which was recently addressed by
Aubertine is behind the recent personal attacks of our honest and upstanding town and village officials. I think the Citizens for Fair Government organized by a Voter for Wind spokesperson is nothing more than an extension of voter for wind reading and willing to do bp dirty work.
They are tying to tell us Art x is a done deal and it is now the job of the TB to heal the community. The town and village has come together to make the Article x process work for them and prove that the Cape does not want wind.
Watch your backs.
Dear Town of Cape Vincent,
Prior to the then Senator Darrell Aubertine’s re-election bid, a group of more than one hundred political leaders, public officials, businessmen and prominent citizens met in Pulaski, NY as part of a coalition that had concerns about industrial wind in Lake Ontario and on the shores stretching from Oswego to Hammond, NY. The people attending dozens of jurisdictions and thousands of voters in Darrell Aubertine’s district.
Aubertine had been ignoring the “coalition”. But “his people” did show up for the Pulaski meeting. Aubertine’s people presented the same song and dance to the people attending that meeting. However, the people attending knew that Aubertine had signed leases with a wind company and they believed he was being less than honest to the media about his receiving money from wind developers. But more importantly, they knew that the Cape Vincent Town Government was under complete control by wind lease holding public officials.
The well-versed coalition members knew about the Aubertine’s letter that appeared to cast ethics aside. In his letter Aubertine said, “After careful reflection, I feel that it is ethically proper that in this case all board members should vote on the issue at hand. In fact, I believe it is their responsibility to do so.” The town’s code of ethics said otherwise.
So, It appeared to be safe for Aubertine to try to fool the people about his local rule stance since his wind partners already ruled in his home town of Cape Vincent.
Aubertine lost his bid to stay on as a NY Senator and politicos believe it was his incestuous affair with wind that did him in.
Now, it appears that Aubertine is more than willing to let New York State and bp steamroll the majority of the citizens of Cape Vincent so 3.9% can destroy the most beautiful part of the Golden Crescent and Thousand Islands with their 124 five hundred foot towers.
It is not so much that Aubertine has favored wind all along. He has that right. But his apparent attempts to try to fool people that he is in favor of local choice is an insult.
Certainly voters make their own choice. But if you are pro Cape Vincent and love your community, you may want to vote against any local candidates that Darrell Aubertine, the Cape Democrats and the Citizens for Fair Government endorsed.
Don’t be fooled.
The Coalition for the preservation of the Golden Crescent and Thousand Islands region held a meeting in Cape Vincent at their Town Center. Members of the Marion Trieste group that she advises, Voters for Wind attended. A Voter for Wind refused to pass on some papers when asked by the moderator. His action resulted in him jumping the moderator from behind and taking him down to the floor. It took several guys to pull him off and protect the moderator. This is just another story about how your Voters for Wind have helped bp and their community organizer engage the community and get out their message.
In a webinar, Ms. Trieste described the Voters for Wind as one of her favorite groups In that same webinar she said what we have here is a little Appalachia.
Presently, bp is trying to convince the New York State Public Service commission that they have positive community outreach and the town supports their project.
If that is the case, why the need for bad ethics, verbal abuse and violence?
Why the need to show up at public meeting and defame your public officials if you really think power NY legislation is going to be successful in putting wind in you
P.S.
To the thousands of people who support the coalition, please continue to support the Cape Vincent Bloggers Defense and legal fund.
This letter was well written, and one can hardly find anything to object to in Mr. Aubertines position. It is completely supportive of local autonomy in land use issues, and promotes the notion that such decisions that affect localities, is best left to the local.
I do not recall any lobbying , or public positioning on Mr. Aubertines's part in opposition to Andrew Cuomo's ART. X legislation, which is in direct contrast to these expressed ideals.
9:14
Yes, it is well written...years ago.
But, at that time Aubertine thought he had a pro wind local Cape government in the bag with the wind lease holders in control. The wind lease holding good old boys seemed invincible and voters for wind were working hard in the community to convince them that Urban Hirschey was senile and did not know what he was doing. The Dem chair was working hard on preventing targeted people from voting and the Godfather of the CFFG, VFW had joined with the donkeys and was working very hard on shutting down information that did not meet the company standards.
If you think Darrell believes in home rule now, ask Darrel to go to a Cape town board meeting, stand up and say, "Thank you very much for supporting local home rule and beating back Article 10.
Do you think bp, voters for wind, the cape donkeys, and CFFG would allow that to happen?
Darreel Aubertine is the head of the New York State Department of Ag. and Markets. His career has been laced with ethical challenges. He once tried to hire his sister even though he had recently voted on a New York State bill that made such patronage a political no no.
"He once tried to hire his sister"
No big deal. In some parts of Appalachia it is not uncommon for life time residents to marry their sister.
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