Acting Secretary Cohen
New York State Public
Service Commission
The Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY 12223
Case number: 12-F-0410
Cape Vincent Wind Power, LLC
Dear Acting Secretary
Cohen and Members of the NYS Electric Generation Siting Board,
I have read many of
the comments concerning BP’s proposed Wind Power Project in the Town of Cape
Vincent that have been sent to your Board. Two of those that convey my feelings
very well are Mary Hamilton’s submission of 11/29/2012, and David and Sheila
Salvatore’s of 3/14/2013.
Many of the others
have written about the uniqueness of this area. I would like to add how “one of
a kind” and “special” our town is with its approximately thirty miles of
pristine freshwater St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario shoreline. This
includes eleven miles on the mainland bordering the river, six miles bordering
the Lake, and thirteen miles total waterfront on the four Islands, Carleton,
Grenadier, Fox, and Linda. Most people who spend some time here leave with the
feeling that they hope to return at every opportunity. Many people find Cape
Vincent a place to enjoy the “peace and quiet“, relax, fish, swim, boat,
observe magnificent sunsets, and night time star-lit skies. Fortunate are those
of us who live here year- round, and those who come to this place to rest,
recreate, and rejuvenate.
Equally significant is
the pleasant little village that borders the river, the country side with its
open spaces, fertile land, quiet and nicely cared for fields and woods, night
time moon and star-lit skies. I too have traveled to many places in the US and
to other countries and though unique in many ways, to me they don’t have the
appeal that the beauty of this area has.
I have traveled to the
Wind Turbine development near Lowville, NY on about six different occasions and
spent considerable time there, driving deep into this development on the Rector
Road, Flat Rock Road, and Gardner Road. I have witnessed first hand some of the
following issues about wind turbines that may not have been written about in
the other comments. I want to emphasize for the board’s consideration:
Industrial Wind Turbines
produce:
1. noise, generating
both audible sound and inaudible sound. The latter is in the form of a
compressed air wave that radiates out at about one cycle per second as each
blade passes the trunk. This wave of sound energy is inaudible but travels
considerable distances, enters buildings and causes vibrations in the rooms and
in a persons body cavities (chest, eyes, throat and ears). As Dr. Nina Pierpont
writes in her Executive Summary from her peer reviewed research and published
book “Wind Turbine Syndrome“, this in turn causes in some people, illnesses
such as sleep disturbance and deprivation, headache, tinnitus, (ringing in
ears), dizziness, nausea, vertigo, irritability, panic episodes, etc. In the
same summary from the book, she states,” This study and other studies reviewed
in the report indicate that safe setbacks will be at least 2 km, (1.2 miles)
and even longer for larger turbines and in more varied topography”.
Our Town Board has
unanimously endorsed citizen committee’s recommendations that puts in place an
amended Zoning Law that protects the Health, Safety and Welfare of all the
citizens of this town. This Zoning Law has in place setbacks which provide
protection for our citizens in order to avoid sickness and health problems as
described above. I believe it is the Town Board's duty and responsibility first
and foremost to protect the Health Safety and Welfare of the people they serve.
To do otherwise would be a dereliction of their duties and violation of their
Oath of Office which states in part “to uphold the Constitution of the United
States and the Constitution of New York State“. As I interpret it, in the New
York State Constitution under Article IX, section 3c, sentence 10, local
governments shall have the power to adopt and amend local laws in regard to the
protection, order, conduct, safety, health and well being of persons or
property therein. Our Town Board is doing exactly that. For the Governor appointed
board to over rule this basic common sense protection as guaranteed in our
constitution and provided for in our Zoning Law with the result of putting our
citizen’s health at risk would in my opinion be a giant overstepping by our
state government and abuse of their power.
2. giant shadows
sweeping through properties as the blades intersect the suns rays.
3. shadow flicker, as
these same shadows enter a building and cause the sensation of the lights being
turned on and off at one cycle per second.
4. property value
loss, estimates in the range of 40% to 100%. In the worse case, people can no
longer live in their homes and their homes are not resaleable. If one is to
research this topic and spend enough time at actual Wind Turbine Developments,
it doesn’t take long to realize the obvious, “you don’t put these 420 to
500 foot high wind turbines where people live”!
5. a poor investment,
are lacking in efficiency, only about 20% of the time are they capable of their
rated output, (the wind salesman claims that such and such a wind mill
development will provide power for 150,000 homes. They don’t comment on what
these homes do for the other 80% of the time when they’re not producing), are
high in cost to build, destructive of the land with miles of gravel roads,
under ground trenches and overhead poles for transmission wires, and have a
limited life, etc. Also, with this Town in the path of a major flyway, it is
expected that thousands of birds would be killed similar to what has been
reported at the nearby Wolfe Island, Ontario Wind Turbine Complex.
With our country
borrowing money from China to provide subsidies for projects like this, with
the US Treasury way beyond depleted resulting in an incomprehensible debt
burden for future generations, and in the process destroying the natural beauty
of our nations treasures, degenerating the physical and mental health of its
citizens and robbing them of their peace and quiet, enjoyable use of their
property and its value, something is very, very, seriously wrong.
Thank you for
receiving my comments, and I invite the board to visit not only our town but
also the Wind Development near Lowville and the places specified in the
comments above. I offer my personal assistance for these visitations and in any
other way that may be helpful. Also, I have included a copy on Dr. Pierpont’sExecutive Summary.
David H. Docteur
33163 NYS Rt. 12E
Cape Vincent, NY 13618
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