For the past 6 -7 years Cape Vincent has been a victim of BP’s lack of business integrity.
BP came into our community like thieves in the night, quietly signing many of our Town Officials and their families to Wind Leases and Good Neighbor Agreements, knowing this would create blatant conflicts of interest. This is a clear violation of the town’s ethics code and NY State law. These conflicted Municipal Officers played a pivotal role in moving BP and Acciona’s projects along.
As a result of complaints over these conflicts of interests and subsequent actions taken by our Municipal Officers, then Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, launched an investigation that to this day has not properly addressed the conflicts of interests. As a result, our community galvanized and through the democratic process we were able to eliminate the conflicted officials, removing BP’s influence/control over the approval process.
BP is attempting to bypass our community by pursuing their project through an Article 10, process. BP has submitted a public involvement program that grossly distorts their public involvement and outreach in our community.
The only board or community members that BP has reached out to are the ones that have signed financial agreements with BP.
BP Wind Power Development Director, Richard Chandler has
stated publicly, “we have an incredible amount of support from the community”.
BP began promoting their project by cultivating a facade of community support.
In 2007, BP retained the services of Trieste Associates (Marion Trieste) and her company’s team of public outreach experts to assist with planning events to educate and engage the public. As part of this effort, BP assisted a group of local wind power supporters in the Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme to form a group known as Voters for Wind (VFW). [1]
Marion Trieste uses a community outreach technique she defines as grassroots organizing. Typically a grassroots movement is driven by the politics of a community however; Trieste specializes in developing grassroots movements that are driven by the politics of the wind developer. [2]
Trieste organized Voters For Wind , a body of residents consisting largely of wind lease holders whom expect to profit from the wind turbine developments in Cape Vincent, NY.
Over the years Voters for Wind have been successful in maintaining the appearance of being a civic organization, independent of the wind developers.
Recently in their PIP, BP, re -branded Voters for wind as a public interest group they developed as part of their public outreach and education process.
Voters for Wind have been actively and aggressively promoting and assisting BP/Acciona with their respective wind projects.
Below I have listed a few noteworthy outreach activities, conducted by BP’s Voters for Wind.
August 14, 2008 - Voters for Wind filed and won a lawsuit against town board members who voted for a law to regulate the siting of wind turbines in the town of Lyme, New York[3][4] ( Lyme is a stakeholder in BP’s Cape Vincent wind project)
May 5, 2010 - Voters for Wind were successful in derailing Cape Vincent’s efforts to enact a wind law.
Over the years Cape Vincent has made several unsuccessful attempts to develop a zoning law to properly regulate the siting of industrial wind towers.
A committee convened in 2010, and over the course of several months they reached a consensus on a wind law. However May 2, 2010 through the efforts of a Voter for Wind spokesperson the agreement was sabotaged.
The Voter for Wind spokesperson introduced data containing facts and figures supportive of a less restrictive, developer friendly wind law .The lease holding committee members agreed with the Voter for Wind spokesperson, consequently the process was subverted [5] [6]
Three days after this last wind law committee meeting, BP business developer, Jim Madden, sent a letter to the Cape Vincent Town Board containing the exact same data that the Voter for Wind spokesperson had presented to the wind law committee as her own. It became apparent that the Voter for Wind Spokesperson was representing BP, and not the interests of the community. [7][8]
August 5, 2010 - during a Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency (JCIDA) meeting , members began discussing drafting a policy based on an idea put forward by Justin S. Miller, Harris Beach PLLC, Albany which would preclude local governments from signing off on any deal the agency made with a developer.[9]
A voter for wind spokesperson supported taking away local jurisdiction as well, stating "I am appalled that anyone on this board would consider distorting the mission of the JCIDA to attempt to control alternative energy development by giving school boards the power to kill a project. We vote for our school board members on the basis of their ability to run our school, not our town or county. This back-door effort to kill wind power in Jefferson County is alarming and a gross misuse of power. Do not destroy the reputation of the JCIDA by using it as a political weapon. [10]
January 13, 2011 - At the Cape Vincent Town Board meeting, Voters for wind called for the resignation of Cape Vincent’s Town Supervisor because he released a series of 51 documents, that revealed the initial study on ambient sound levels conducted by the wind developers consulting firm, was "flawed" and that the "Planning Board had ignored the recommendations" of the town's own acoustic consultants. [11], [12]
Since their inception, Voters for Wind have been extremely vocal in promoting BP’s Cape Vincent Wind Project. In their pursuit of thwarting the opposition various members of this civic organization have engaged in other non- traditional activities that may or may not have been carried out under the direction of BP.
BP’s record in Cape Vincent and Lyme is abhorrent; we have been used and abused by BP’s lack of business integrity. Their Development methods have been and continue to be unduly burdensome. As long as BP has a presence in our communities we cannot begin to repair the damage done by their underhanded activities.
BP GO TO HELL
You forgot to mention that the local bloggers were sued by a group of individuals who described themselves as members of voters for wind and the pro wind political group called citizens for fair government. Their action and claim is now being discussed nationally as an typical human rights depriving SLAPP action and why Congress should draft legislation protecting people who are harassed in the courts and in public for exercising their free speech concerning contentious and important community matters.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lot of discussion in the national legal community regarding SLAPP and why Anti- SLAPP Statute is Important.
ReplyDeleteFollow this link to D.C. Anti-SLAPP Law, free speech protections against frivolous lawsuits. The action against Wiley-Hludzenski by King is held up as an example of why Anti-SLAPP is important.
This post gets to the heart of the matter, doesn't it.
ReplyDeleteIt reflects how the majority of CV residents feel.
Clayton residents - you should be sleeping with one eye open. There are scoundrels among you who do not mean you well.
The whole town knows BP is behind the legal complaint against the Cape bloggers. We all know the BP lease holding plaintiffs just put their names on the complaint to help and assist British Petroleum. The lease holders had to do it, they were required by their contracts.
ReplyDeleteThe blogger's legal suit is all about BP trying to squelch the kind of public discussion that this post is all about - shining light on questionable and corrupt practices by a foreign company trying to have its way with a little town in America.
Well, it doesn't look as though BP, one of the biggest corporate players on the planet, has done much to shut down one little lady pounding away on her keyboard on a back road in Cape Vincent, NY.
Ms. Muschell has shown 'True Grit' in the face of some pretty big and intimidating forces. I am very proud of her determination in going toe to toe with the big boys while at the same time telling them to Go To Hell. I love it!
Great reporting on the wind voters attempt to get the JCIDA to take away the right of local taxing jurisdictions to vote on a JCIDA PILOT.
ReplyDeleteThat would have included the county, school and town. In this case, 5 jurisdictions would have lost their vote if the wind voters had gotten their way. Did you know that according to the record that a number of plaintiffs in what is being called SLAPP suit against the bloggers and others were there that day petition the JCIDA to take away the schools, county and towns' right to vote? It seems the wind voters have a history of taken away certain freedoms.
BP is despicable, but they try to be clean. The have a penchant for laundering money in Cape Vincent in order to influence and control events. The money goes from BP to Trieste, from Trieste to VFW, from VFW to VORYS, and finally from VORYS back to BP when they buy Chandler a cup of coffee and Danish at the coffee shop at 700 Louisiana St., Houston, TX where both BP and VORYS have offices. BP may stink to high heaven, but they try to be clean.
ReplyDeleteBREAKING NEWS
ReplyDeleteLast night, residents of Marion Trieste's Little Appaalchia came down off their porches and endured the long trek to the Greater Downtown Cape Vincent offices of Bp's Wind Energy . It was reported that 23 residents from nearly every home shown on Bp's recently published wind development overlay (circa 1950) was in attendance. When asked what he learned from attending the Bp open house, Bubba Hatfield, who traveled in from the four corners of Podunk and Plowed Ground, replied, "In this cool relaxed setting, away from all those wind haters, Maz looks hotter than ever!"
Hey Bubba, you gotta get out more man. Most any woman would look hot to you after hanging round the farm for months drooling over your 2nd cousin from Rosiere, knowin durn well Pa'd bust yur hed if'n you teched her.
ReplyDeleteMaz ain't fer you, she needs a real man.like maybe that Gary King dude who ain't one bit 'fraid a makin a fool a hisself in publik,or in them there newspapers.