BEWARE LIGHTHOUSE WIND and Apex Clean Energy LLC

 The comments below were given on April 29, 2015 to the public at the Barker, NY fire hall.

 

I'd like to begin by giving you my personal feelings about wind energy.

I oppose industrial wind turbines anywhere.

Apex Clean Energy LLC is now cultivating your community attempting to set up shop in Somerset and Yates with a project called Lighthouse Wind consisting of up to 70 turbines 570' tall.  We know little more about this project right now than we did in October.

Somerset and Yates are identified by Apex Clean Energy as a host community and this is wrong. Instead of being called a host community both Somerset and Yates are victims of Apex Clean Energy and NYS

Wind Power Monthly online - 27 November 2014 by Diane Bailey interviewed Apex Clean Energy’s President Mark Goodwin and reported Goodwin expects that Apex will continue to look to sell projects as they come into operation.

Think about Apex President Goodwin's goals - “sell projects as they come into operation”. Apex sold the Canadian Hills wind project in Oklahoma in 2012 to Atlantic Power and the operation began functioning in late 2012. Apex sold the Hoopston Wind project in Illinois in 2014 to Sweden’s Ikea and the Hoopston Wind project isn’t even finished yet. Apex also sold the Cameron Wind project in Texas to Ikea and it’s also not finished either.  And numerous plaintiffs have filed a class action lawsuit against Apex Wind Construction to prevent them from building an Oklahoma wind factory near their homes in Canadian County.

This month Apex is into a new dilemma regarding their 49 turbine Mills Branch Wind project slated for Kent County, Maryland. Kent County Commissioners have voted unanimously against the project for numerous reasons including  including Apex’s questionable tactics.

Last year the Oklahoma Wind Action Association filed lawsuit against Apex over the Kingfisher wind project involving over 300 turbines citing health and safety concerns of residents near wind factories, including low-frequency sound and “shadow flicker” from the blades at certain times of the day and the loss of use and value of landowners’ property.

In Corpus Christi, Texas - Nueces County Commissioners are attempting to block the Apex Chapman Ranch wind development. Both the City and County have gone on record in opposition to the APEX wind farm development.

A year ago Apex had decided not to pursue the Clear Spring Wind Energy project in LaGrange County, Indiana due to “a lack of landowner participation - how lucky for LaGrange landowners.

Would you like Apex Clean Energy LLC doing business in your community with this record?

 Apex Clean Energy LLC is not clean. What's clean about the slaughter of birds and bats? Did you know that every turbine has powerful magnets within the nacelle that are made from rare earth materials mined and processed in China leaving enormous amounts of toxic waste behind? What's clean about the numerous serious health issues caused by noise & low frequency noise generated by the operation of the turbines? What's clean about the visual pollution turbines bring concerning aesthetics? What's clean about shadowing by the massive rotor blades, light reflecting from the blades, the loss of darkness that many people in rural areas cherish and much more. And worst of all - the whooshing sounds and the infra sound that causes sleeplessness,  headaches  and any number of health issues that will affect those living near these industrial giants that desecrate your community. If this project is built and there are noise problems, TV or cell phone reception issues - who will mitigate these problems? The town board, NYS siting board - they have no authority to correct these problems. Sell your home and move??? You would be lucky to sell your Yates or Somerset home right now.

It is disgusting that both Yates and Somerset town boards have done nothing to protect their community from the Lighthouse Wind project. Somerset supervisor Dan Engert said repeatedly there is no project.  Engert is wrong. There is a project forthcoming and he knows it. Apex signed  Somerset land leases as early as May 2014

This is an election year for both towns. Somerset supervisor Dan Engert and Councilmen Randall Wayner and Jeffrey Dewart are up for election if they decide to run for office again. Yates supervisor John Belson and Councilmen Steve Freeman and Wes Bradley are up for election if they decide to run for office in Yates this year. Do NOT elect these people again. I cannot tell you how important it is to elect anti wind candidates into your town government. Your weak town boards have failed taxpayers miserably.

A few weeks ago I sent 2 questions to all Somerset and Yates TB members asking if they supported this Lighthouse Wind project or if they would fight it and asked that they return my question page and I did not get one back. These town boards seem content to permit Apex to rape this community. What kind of stewardship is this? Where's the transparency? Why are they hiding in the closet? They seem willing to make their towns a prostitute for the money.

 What fool in their right mind would buy or build a new home in Somerset or Yates at this point in time knowing that their new home may take a 50% hit on value because you don't know if a turbine might be located near your home along with the noise and numerous other overwhelming problems associated with wind energy? What business would locate in Somerset  or Yates knowing their investment would be sullied by a wind factory that's already divided the community

There is a new spectacular and innovative electric energy project soon to begin construction  in eastern NYS called the Champlain Hudson Power Express. This endeavor will bring 1000Mw of electric power directly from Hydro Quebec 333 miles to NYC via an 5.5" diameter submerged electrical cable  under Lake Champlain and then submerged  under the Hudson River to NYC.

The power express avoids and overcomes every weak point wind energy brings and more. It didn't take Sup. Engert long to criticize the new exciting power express energy project unveiled for eastern NYS.  Engert claimed the power express would threaten the AES Somerset power plant by stealing business from AES. Former state Sen. George Maziarz, of Niagara Co.,  also bad mouthed the power express yet Maziarz sponsored the horrible Power NY Act of 2011 and its Art. 10 debacle betraying New Yorkers in the process. Isn't it a hypocrisy that Engert didn't waste time criticizing the power express yet he won't take a position opposing Lighthouse Wind and is content buying time until the siting board approves this project? Engert is using all the excuses he can muster to avoid taking a position on Lighthouse Wind - denying for months that there's even a project while Apex in the meantime is getting large land owners to sign leases and filing documents on the Lighthouse Wind project, with the NYS Dept. of Public Service, holding open houses, etc. And the Somerset TB is content to witness Engert's actions. Ditto the Yates town board.

Yes - I'm a NIMBY. There are dozens of good reasons for taking this attitude but I'm going to stress the three main reasons why I feel wind energy should be rejected: (1) noise/health problems; (2) unavoidable property value decline and (3) decommissioning dead turbines.

Noise/health

The biggest problem with wind factories is noise and since Apex has plans to install the tallest turbines ever erected in NYS - the noise generated from this Lighthouse Wind project will likely be the loudest of any wind project in NYS.

Wherever turbines exist - some people have been forced from their homes because they could no longer stand the noise from the turbines  that impacted their health or their children's health or their pets health or even their livestock's health. The noise created is both mechanical and aerodynamic. The noise is both audible and infra sound. And the noise from the Lighthouse Wind project will impact people's health.

Apex is lying when they say on their website:

That wind energy is one of the healthiest forms of energy generation;

Measurements show this sound is no louder than a kitchen refrigerator or air conditioning unit at a distance of 1,000 feet. Low frequency sound will be no different than waves on a beach and weaker than highway traffic, air conditioners and other daily exposures. Scientific evidence confirms this sound is not dangerous and that any low-frequency waves produced are not harmful to those nearby.

Apex is lying to you by peddling this information while attempting to get their foot in the door of your community. Your quality of life and health are at risk.

Two other significant winds sins are property devaluation and decommissioning.

Property devaluation

Apex Clean Energy on their website flatly denies that property devaluation happens as a result of wind turbines invading a community. The Lighthouse Wind website says this:

In fact, according to rural appraisers, farm acreage with turbines often increases in value due to the stream of steady, long-term income the property generates by the harvesting of the wind.

Increases in property value does it? Who would possibly believe this lying garbage? If it's true the let Apex offer property value guarantees as part of their plan to back up their comments. But you know that will never happen. What about the value of farm acreage of non-participating adjacent neighbors? Where does that value go? When a wind factory devalues a person's property its known as an involuntary taking.

Decommissioning liability

Removing non-functional turbines that will likely never operate again.

When the time comes for removal of the turbines I estimate they will cost $1M each to remove. The (3) 11+ ton blades are not worth anything in salvage and not recyclable. It's likely the project will then be owned by a foreign company that realizes that removal of the turbines is too costly and simply walk away from the project leaving the mess to the property owner to deal with. What happens then is obvious. The property owner can't afford the removal costs so the turbines sit there for decades rusting, stained with leaking oils and coolants, getting filthy, and becoming an even worse eyesore. Decades from now, long after were gone, your children's children will be asking about the Somerset and Yates town boards of 2015 - what were they thinking that created the wind factory graveyard! Where will the money come from to rid the community of these eyesores? Buffalo wind attorney Dan Spitzer reportedly said the land owner will be liable for damages and removal of the worn out turbines. The offspring of the lessors wouldn't even accept their parents property as a gift because of the liability of a wind turbine contaminating the land and the cost of removal.

Tourists

Somerset has a beautiful historic lighthouse on Lake Ontario and adjacent state park that is a huge asset to the town and would be envied by many municipalities. This is a lovely rural agricultural community with nice farms and lucky to be situated along Lake Ontario's south shore. The character of this community will suddenly be vandalized by the invasion of wind turbines. When a wind factory is built - there will be new class of tourists coming to town. The new tourists will be rolling up and down Somerset's formerly quiet country roads looking at the 570' monuments to lunacy, the tallest turbines in NYS, stopping to pose their kids in front of the monstrosities for the mandatory Kodak moment before moving on to the next roads. These tourists aren't your normal tourists - these are gawker tourists - the same people that come to witness a crashed plane, train wreck, burned building or some other disaster - then go home satisfied. Now ask yourself - is this the kind of tourist you'd like visiting Somerset and Yates?

We have with us NYS wind factory historical data to support the fact that wind factories  don't operate almost 75% of the time due to the intermittency of wind. Would you be satisfied if your home electric or automobile worked only 25% of the time? Wind energy is unacceptable.

What should the people of Somerset and Yates do? 

•       nominate and elect 3 anti-wind TB members from each town this fall

•       If you are a seasonal resident - modify your Voter Registration to vote in Somerset or Yates next time,  to be able to elect local anti-wind officials, to protect your property

•       review the Lighthouse Wind project on Apex website

•       send a letter to your town supervisor advising him of your opposition to the LW project and the reasons why you're against Lighthouse Wind

•       If turbines infect your community - sue Apex and by all means sue the land owner.

•      Support the SOS group in the fight against LW

What should the town boards of Somerset and Yates do? 

• There are many things the towns can do right now to help themselves later on.

•       both towns should officially reject this Apex wind factory and then pressure the county legislatures to do likewise and also pressure new state Senator Ortt and Assemblywoman Corwin to say NO to this project.

•       pass a moratorium on wind energy until the town updates their wind zoning laws . The town wind ordinances are horribly out of date and very weak - especially noise and setbacks. Setbacks should be 1/2 mile minimum . They should have been given attention the moment Apex began sniffing around this area.

•      refuse to sign a PILOT agreement of any kind (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Why would anyone give an huge tax break to a project that desecrates their community?

•       have the town planning boards get to work updating their wind zoning laws and pay particular attention to noise/health issues; property values and decommissioning. The PB should greatly strengthen noise parameters and define a maximum noise limit in decibels that can be measured with instruments. Review noise laws now on file in the towns of Castile, NY and Hammond, NY

•      require Apex to leave $1M CASH in the hands of each town for decommissioning for each turbine installed and site cleanup. This requirement would also apply in the event of bankruptcy of the developer

•       if the state siting board grants a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need allowing Apex to build this project - the towns should pursue this matter through the NYS court system vigorously. Article 10 has stolen home rule from the people of NYS

•      Work to get the Somerset 675Mw AES Generating Station converted from coal to natural gas.

Unfortunately outright greed plays an important part of this scenario and Apex takes advantage of this weakness by luring greedy large land  owners into signing leases that allow placement of the turbines on their property.

So who are the large land owners that have signed leases with Apex? Well lets name them right now. As of April 1, 2015 these Somerset people have signed leases with Apex according to the Niagara County clerk (dates after the names are the dates the leases were recorded with the count clerk):

Peter E. Forrestel  5/21/14

Barbara R. Eggert  5/21/14 alt Barbara R. Alt; related to Somerset Councilman Gary Alt?

Keith R. Rhodes   9/11/14

Sharon L Rhodes  9/11/14

John H. Voelpel    9/11/14

Jane M. Voelpel   9/11/14

Floyd E. Koerner Jr.   9/11/14

Marsha A. Koerner    9/11/14

Stephen B. Lee   9/11/14

Jenny A. Lee   9/11/14

Benjamin J. Atwater   12/9/14

Seth E. Atwater   12/9/14

Susan McNulty Atwater   12/9/14

Joseph C. Czelusta   12/9/14

Jacqueline K. Czelusta   12/9/14

Lyle M. Whitford   1/8/15

Priscilla P. Whitford   1/8/15

The Orleans County clerk responded to my FOIL request for Apex leases saying she did have 4 leases with Lighthouse Wind with these names:

Donna Rae Bane    4/9/15

Richard M. Austin    4/9/15

Barbara J. Austin    4/9/15

Gary L. Bayne II    4/9/15  2 leases

Faith A. Bayne       4/9/15

These are the Somerset & Yates land owners that have thrown their neighbors under the bus.

Folks - you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Somerset & Yates will become known as Turbinetown.

My comments from tonight's program will be found on the blog site - Beware NY Wind - the address is in the handout that will be passed out later.

Alan Isselhard

Great Lakes Wind Truth

Wolcott, NY

Town of Huron

Wolcott, NY

New York's Ongoing Wind Energy Mistakes

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) provides on its web site[i][1] many claims about the great progress and benefits achieved by promoting and subsidizing wind energy in the state – an initiative kicked off by former Governor Pataki and followed slavishly by each succeeding administration and legislature.

Unfortunately, like other promoters of wind energy, the DEC article tells less than half the true story about very high cost, low value electricity from wind energy and ignores completely its adverse environmental, economic, electric system reliability impacts, and its damaging impact on ordinary citizens, taxpayers, and electricity users in New York.

For example, the DEC article doesn't mention (a) incessant noise from wind turbine, (b) birds and bats killed by the huge machines, (c) the destruction of landscape, natural resources, scenic vistas, and animal habitat during construction and thereafter, or (d) the damage to property values and quality of life of those unfortunate enough to live near “wind farms.”

Neither does the DEC mention the high cost and low value of electricity from wind turbines.  The low true value of electricity from wind turbines is due to their intermittent, volatile, and unreliable output and their tendency to produce electricity primarily at night in cold and shoulder months when electricity is least needed, rather than on hot summer weekday late afternoons when demand is high.

Looking beyond the misleading DEC article, the fact that political leaders continue to push wind energy is particularly difficult to understand when looking at the following facts:

1.      New York’s first 15 “wind farms” completed before the end of 2010 have a total rated (or nameplate) capacity of 1,273.9 megawatts (MW).  During 2012 these 15 “wind farms” produced 2,321,500 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity. [ii][2]  Assuming very conservative capital cost numbers, the capital cost of these 15 “wind farms” in NY was probably around $2 billion.

The predominate demand for electricity in New York state is in the New York City (NTC) area. However, NY’s “wind farms” are located in upstate and western New York so the output from these “wind farms” must be transmitted to the NYC area, adding to the cost of the electricity and adding environmental damage when additional transmission capacity must be provided.

2.      Now consider a logical alternative:  A single 450 MW gas-fired combined cycle generating unit (or two 225 MW units) located near NYC, operating at only a 60% capacity factor, could have supplied just as much electricity — actually2,365,200 MWh[iii][3]  – with about one fourth of the capital cost and with less overall cost to consumers and taxpayers when fuel and O&M costs are added.

Furthermore, the gas-fired generating units would be reliable and dispatchable and thus available when needed, including times of peak electricity demand. Electricity is available from wind turbines only when wind speeds are in the “right” range.[iv][4] They are highly unlikely to produce much electricity during times of peak demand, so they have little or no “capacity value.”

Also, there would be no need to add transmission capacity to bring wind-generated electricity to the NYC area from upstate and western NY.  Finally, a factor that should be important to political leaders:  a gas-fired generating unit would provide many more long lasting jobs than  “wind farms.”

The apparent low regard that NY political leaders have for the people and organizations dependent on electricity is illustrated by the extremely high electric bills that result from the state’s policies.  The average electricity price for residential customers in New York in 2012 was 17.69 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), while the nationwide average in 2012 was 11.88 cents per kWh. [v][5] 

Therefore, New York’s average residential electricity prices are 53% above the national average.  A New York resident using 6,500 kWh of electricity per year will pay about $400 per year more for his or her electricity than if New York’s electricity prices were at the national average.  (Only Alaska, with 17.84 cents per kWh and Hawaii with 37.27 cents per kWh had higher prices.)  Consider the job and other local economic benefits if New York had allowed its approximately 8,000,000 residential electric customers to spend $400 per year – that would be $3.2 billion -- in their local economies.  

Unfortunately, the New York States’ Department of Environmental Conservation web site article cited earlier is but one example of the way that government officials and employees now use tax dollars to distribute false and misleading information that protects and promotes bad policies, helps special interest groups such as the wind industry, and/or promotes their personal preferences.

Glenn R. Schleede (former western New Yorker)

The text below is from National Wind Watch web site and makes you wonder what university profs have been smoking when they offer bizarre ideas like this.

 

filed:  April 9, 2013 • New York

New York renewable power plan would cost $382 billion by 2030  

Credit:  By Louise Downing - 2013-04-08 | Bloomberg | www.bloomberg.com ~~

New York would need about $382 billion and wind turbines covering an area equivalent to 13 percent of the state’s land mass if it followed a Cornell University plan to derive all of its power from renewables.
Robert Howarth, a Cornell ecology professor, suggested last month the state could get half its power from wind and enough from solar, tidal and other forms of clean energy to replace fossil fuels by 2030. The plan for 254 gigawatts of generation capacity would cost about $1.5 million a megawatt, or $382 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The findings cast doubt on the ability of the state to eliminate oil, natural gas and coal from its energy supply. The Cornell proposal would require onshore wind turbines covering an area 3.3 times the size of New York City’s five boroughs.

“It’s too ambitious by 2030 to replace all the state’s power with renewables, although big progress could be made,” Angus McCrone, a senior analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London, said today. The projections, he said, look “unrealistic” for individual technologies.

The Cornell study published in the journal “Energy Policy” in March was done along with Stanford University. It called for 4,020 onshore turbines and 12,700 machines offshore harnessing the wind’s power. It also suggested 387 concentrated solar plants and 828 utility-scale photovoltaic generators. Wave, tidal and hydroelectric would supply much of the rest of the electricity.

Study’s Vision
The report envisions all vehicles running on battery power or hydrogen fuel cells and electricity-powered heat pumps replacing heating oil in homes. New York already gets about 11 percent of its energy from renewable sources, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation.

Savings from reducing air pollution would top $33 billion, and a further $3.2 billion could be saved by reducing coastal erosion and extreme weather due to climate change, the researchers concluded.

The offshore wind turbines would cover an area of about 4,903 square miles, and onshore machines would cover a further 1,000 square miles, according to calculations based on Bloomberg New Energy Finance data for how much space each turbine would occupy. By comparison, New York City covers 305 square miles, and the state about 47,200 square miles.

“A different combination, such as with more residential and small-scale photovoltaic, and greater use of energy efficiency, might be more realistic by 2030,” McCrone said.

To meet the target, the report’s authors suggest measures including the establishment of a Green Bank, introducing feed-in tariffs, or premium payments for small-scale energy generation, and implementing a goal for at least 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2020.

NOTES FROM GLENN SCHLEEDE

 RE: WIND SUBSIDIES IN THE SENATE BILL and the claim 37,000 jobs will be created (unfortunately the PTC subsides were extended anyway - till the end of 2013)

 

Glenn's comments:

 

 

1.  37,000 is a "made up" number.

 

2.  Electricity from wind is high in cost and low in value.

 

3.  Billions in capital investment dollars have been wasted, with many of those dollars going to other countries for turbines, towers and blades.

 

4.  Those capital investment dollars could have been used more productively and employed many more people than the few employed in erecting and operating wind turbines.

 

5.  Hundreds of millions in higher costs for electricity and in tax burden have been shifted from the pockets of ordinary taxpayers and electric customers to the pockets of "wind farm" owners.

 

6.  Those dollars could have been used by taxpayers and electric customers to buy goods and services that would have employed many more people than are employed in the wind industry. 

 

7.  federal tax breaks and subsidies have added to deficits and to the national debt -- which debt will have to be paid by our children and grandchildren.

 

8.  Look at the situation in NY.  A reliable gas-fired generating unit build in the New York City area could have produced more electricity than all of New York's "wind farms" -- and made it unnecessary to expand transmission capacity from upstate and western New York.

 

9.  In summary, the costs of electricity from wind turbines FAR outweigh the benefits.

 

Glenn  

TEN WAYS TO KILL BIG WIND by Mike Bond

How a Little Island Stopped a Huge Industrial Wind Project

Despite many victories, communities around the world are still facing a plague of industrial wind projects that like hideous War of the Worlds steel monsters are destroying communities, mountains, and wildlands, slaughtering birds and bats, sickening people and driving them from their homes.

Even though these wind projects do not reduce greenhouse gases or fossil fuel use, they have dreadful environmental, social and economic impacts on whole regions. But they are a tool for energy companies and investment banks to make billions in taxpayer subsidies that get added to our national debt.

The good news is that communities worldwide are learning how to defeat these dreadful projects. More and more laws and moratoriums are being passed against them, while other projects are defeated on legal grounds or by overwhelming public opposition.

In Hawaii, an industrial wind project that would have constructed ninety 42-story turbine towers across seventeen square miles of Molokai has been defeated by a determined two-year effort of the island’s residents. In the process we learned many tactics, which I’ve tried to summarize below and are further described in Saving Paradise:

1.       Show wind projects for what they are: industrial. Not environmental, not green, not renewable, and cause no reductions in greenhouse gases or fossil fuel use, no long-term jobs and few short-term ones.

2.       Don’t be nice. These wind developers are your enemies: they want to destroy where you live, steal your money (property values), and are quite happy to literally drive you from your homes. They will lie, cheat, bribe, buy politicians, and do whatever else they can to win. They won’t be fair and you can’t trust them.

3.       Create a group and get your community behind you. Point out property value loss, human health issues, environmental destruction, tourism impacts, and all the other dreadful results of industrial wind. If you have a homeowners’ associations, make them aware of the danger so they can join the fight.

4.       Publicize your case. In the newspapers, TV and radio, on blogs and in nationwide petitions. Use videos and  good graphics. Go viral, worldwide. Develop a good professional website with lots of information and ways for viewers to participate. Community members should write op-eds and letters to the editor. A very powerful tool is frequent press releases that pass on news reports from National Wind Watch, Industrial Wind Action Group and other organizations about the devastating impacts of industrial wind. These press releases should be sent to all relevant media outlets and local, state and national legislators.

5.       Do mailings to everyone. In Molokai we sent two mailings to all the island’s 2,700 addresses. The first mailer described the dangers of the project and included a survey with a stamped return envelope. We had a massive response, with 97% of responses against the project, and our group gained hundreds of new members. A year later we sent a second mailer with photo mockups showing how the turbines would tower over homes and landscapes. This mailer also included a bumper sticker which many residents then put on their cars.

6.       Be visible. Put up lots of signs, both homemade and professionally done. Put up billboards if you can. Professional signs show you mean business, and are taken more seriously.

7.       Find legislators who will help you. On the state level, Republicans are often more responsive and more concerned about the environment than traditionalist Democrats who have bought the idea that wind is environmental (or who are receiving contributions from wind companies).

8.       Litigate. Find every avenue to impair or slow the wind developers. Once the Washington industrial welfare subsidies are removed, industrial wind companies will vanish overnight.

9.       Get property value loss appraisals. Average losses of 40% or more are being reported; in Molokai, one of the reasons the landowner planning the project cancelled it was they estimated a 75% property value loss on their lands near the project. Publicize the loss of assessed value at county level, and how that will reduce tax revenues. In most cases, property value loss far exceeds any revenue the county might receive from the project.

10.   Civil disobedience. Politicians and energy companies are terrified of this. Don’t be afraid to go to jail to protect the land and homes you love. On Molokai we planned if necessary to start a hunger strike on the island, and there were people ready to starve to death to protect our island. The level of your commitment is equal to the level of your success.

New York’s Energy Highway – It’s All About Wind

This will be news for many folks reading this discourse. Governor Andrew Cuomo has given birth to the New York Energy Highway and has created an energy Task Force and a new website you should have a thorough look at: http://www.nyenergyhighway.com

But first we need to re-examine what Cuomo said in 2010 when running for NYS Governor. He wrote a document he called Power NY; The New NY Agenda, Andrew Cuomo, 2^nd in a Series in which he identifies NYS problems and his potential solutions for New York including energy. Here’s some Cuomo  philosophy from his Power NY document:

Make New York the Nation’s Leader in Wind

Power

Wind is the most promising renewable

resource for large-scale energy generation in New

York. (page 73)

The Attorney

General’s Code prohibits conflicts of interest between

municipal officials and wind energy companies and

establishes public disclosure requirements on wind

companies. (page 74)

We must work hard to

address the lack of adequate transmission capacity

for renewable energy from upstate areas to the high-demand

downstate region (page 74-75)

Promote On-Shore Wind Projects...

Facilitate Siting (page 75)

As described in other

sections, the State should promote smart

transmission investments that expand the market for

wind power. Next, as described in sections below, the

State needs a new energy siting law that will create

an accelerated siting process—allowing for necessary

community input and protecting critical community

interests—that ensures that sound projects are

approved and permitted expeditiously. A new siting

law should include an expedited review and approval

for renewable energy.

Enter Into Power Purchase Agreement for

Off-Shore Wind When Economically Feasible (page 76)

Cuomo wrote another 2010 document called The New NY Agenda: A Plan for Action. Here’s some of his thoughts from this document:

New York State already has ambitious goals to improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable fuels, but not nearly enough is being done to meet those goals. To make more rapid progress, the New York State Power Authority and the Long Island Power Authority must be made full partners in advancing energy related projects that will create jobs and grow the economy. Their efforts should include both major wind-power projects and making possible smaller “distributed generation” renewable energy projects by allowing net metering. (page 122)

New York’s farmers must be able to share in the benefits of emerging technologies. Alternative energy sources—ranging from wind to biomass—can create new economic opportunities for farmers. (page 124)

And Cuomo authored yet another 2010 document called The New NY Agenda – A Cleaner Greener NY which includes these thoughts:

            Moreover, we should build the smart grid to empower citizens to

reduce their energy costs and increase efficiency, support and foster the growth of clean tech businesses, promote onshore and offshore wind projects, create a new “NY-Sun” renewable energy tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy, jumpstart the use of solar thermal technology for water heating and enact a new fuel neutral power plant generation siting law that provides fast-track review and approval for efficient power plants that provide the most power and are located on existing plant facilities and for renewable energy projects. (page 48)

And lets not overlook NYS Lt. Gov. Duffy and what the Rochester, NY newspaper said in an article on Aug 20, 2010:

“Duffy, who is running for lieutenant governor, said offshore wind farms were desirable as a source of renewable energy and, potentially, a source of jobs and economic growth for the Rochester region.”

From Cuomo’s 2012 State of the State address:

We have an excess of generation capacity and tremendous

wind power potential in Upstate and Western New York and

north of the border in Quebec. We have tremendous energy

needs Downstate. Just as we built the New York State

Thruway to unite distant parts of the state, we will develop

an “Energy Highway” system that will bring excess fossil-fuel

energy from Western New York downstate, and also tap into

Upstate’s potential for renewable energy, like wind power.

The permanent Article X energy siting law

we passed last year will be a critical tool to help with meeting

our energy needs and protecting our environment in this

effort.

In late March 2012 the Wall Street Journal published an article announcing that the Obama administration cooked up a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement with 5 Great Lakes states governors, including New York, to speed up approval of offshore wind factories. That’s right, Cuomo signed up for this after knowing how repulsive off shore wind factories were to NY counties bordering the Great Lakes. Jefferson, Oswego, Wayne, Monroe, Niagara, Erie and Chautauqua counties passed resolutions against offshore wind, the NYPA GLOW project, in 2010 and 2011.

The Conclusion---

May we hence conclude that Governor Cuomo is a HUGE supporter of wind energy and that his use of the words “renewable” or “clean energy” mainly infer wind energy? Solar, biomass, flywheels produce such minute amounts of electrical energy they can’t even be considered players in today’s commercial energy production. And can we conclude that Cuomo’s appointees (see below) for the New York Energy Highway Task Force as well as New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment - would be people that strongly support his position on energy, especially wind?

Here are the appointed members of Cuomo’s new energy Task Force - or the good old boys club:

Task Force Members:

·         Gil C. Quiniones

President and Chief Executive Officer, New York Power Authority (NYPA) (Co-Chair), lives in New York City

·         Joseph Martens

Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Co-Chair), lives in the Albany area

·         Kenneth Adams

President & CEO and Commissioner, Empire State Development, lives in Brooklyn

·         Garry A. Brown

Chairman, New York State Public Service Commission, lives in Averill Pk. (Albany area)

·         Francis J. Murray, Jr.

President and Chief Executive Officer, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), lives in Delmar (Albany area)
 

Quiniones is the replacement for the arrogant Richie Kessel, ex-CEO and Pres. of NYPA – you remember Kessel don’t you - biggest wind charlatan north of Manhattan. We already know NYPA’s position on wind, especially offshore wind as NYPA squandered millions of NY ratepayer dollars on the failed offshore GLOW project. Quiniones was part of that fiasco. And read between the lines of Quiniones presentation (in blue) made at the recent NY energy summit meeting April 4, 2012 at Columbia University where he was a featured presenter:

Higher costs to downstate consumers due to inability to access power from lower-cost power plants upstate  - do you think NYS would be concerned if upstate consumers paid higher electric costs than downstate consumers for the same reasons? Would there be any state effort to reverse this? Doubtful!

Limited downstate access to renewable energy generated upstate....

Build clean, economical new plants..... – could economical new plants possibly be wind factories? Of course it is – what else could it possibly be? What’s clean about wind energy?

Encourage development of renewable generation – could this possibly be wind factories? Its amazing how they all try so hard to avoid specifically mentioning WIND.

Be sure to check out Quiniones Energy Highway Overview illustration #3 showing a sketch of generation, transmission, distribution and consumers and note the wind turbines as part of the generation facilities. Then we see the sketch showing the power going over the high tension lines, then to the power poles and finally to the homes, apartments and factories in sunny downstate while upstate get nothing but unintended consequences and inverse condemnation from wind factories. No sunshine upstate – only gloom over the noisy, ugly wind factories. Quiniones message is there for those “in the know” however its humbly understated. Cuomo appointed Quiniones as President and CEO of NYPA.

If you’ve ever walked into NYSERDA headquarters in Albany you can’t help but be overcome with their dedication to wind energy with pamphlets supporting wind in the lobby as well as photos of turbines in the building and staff clearly speaking overwhelmingly in favor of wind energy. No question on where NYSERDA stands on wind energy! Francis Murray heads NYSERDA and he’s a huge wind supporter – and NYSERDA is all on your dime – a tax disguised as a “charge” on your monthly electric bill.

Now think about the Power NY Act of 2011 and its Article X section (co-authored by NY Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and NY Sen. George Maziarz) and its New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment, "Siting Board" – the board of five unelected Albany bureaucrats that will site new power projects (wind factories) in NYS that are NOT wanted by the municipalities that are victimized by them. Think about how covertly both Cahill and Maziarz crafted this Power NY Act bill for Cuomo – acted on at night on the last week of the legislative session with zero transparency. The bill was wordsmithed with “feel good” items in the first and third sections unrelated Article X  to to make it extremely difficult for fellow legislators to say no – and few did say NO.  Tacked onto the bill is the disgusting Article X section that does the real damage to New Yorkers and the sole reason why this bill was designed via Cuomo’s shrouded direction. The bill strips New Yorkers of “home rule” regarding the siting of power plants and gives that task to the siting board whose members probably have never visited the community they will victimize. Did you know that EVERY downstate assemblyman and senator voted in favor of the Power NY Act of 2011 and Article X but I wonder how many of them fully realized they were signing off on home rule (for siting power plants) when they voted to approve this bill? Think of the Power NY Act as the enforcement mechanism for siting turbines but this will all play out in the courtroom soon after the first victimized town is selected. Home rule is something that’s been part of the state Constitution for decades – and to now take home rule away from New York municipalities is illegal. Here’s what Cahill said at a March 2012 Jefferson Community College forum when questioned about this:

…..when the state picks a compelling interest to legislate on, such as energy and the energy planning process and the energy siting process, and it is considered to be one of those compelling areas, the home rule laws take second place to this.

Its probable Cahill is standing on weak ground by making such statements but only time and an expensive legal showdown will clear the air – unfortunately at the expense of the taxpayers in the victimized community. Numerous NYS counties have passed resolutions opposing Article X of the Power NY Act. A statewide organization called Coalition on Article X (COAX) has organized to inform state residents about the Power NY Act, Article X and how New Yorkers will be hurt by this law. See the website http://coaxny.org/  for much more Art. X and "home rule" information.

The Art. X section is so cleverly worded that nobody would pick up on home rule being snatched from New Yorkers by this bill until days after the acceptance vote was made. Cahill must have cherished this exploit and how slickly it passed with little question or controversy. And Cahill praises his Article x law because there is limited money available called "intervenor funding" for unfortunate wind victimized towns to use to save their ass. Cahill doesn't bother to explain that this funding is available to many different group including groups that want wind energy. The pot of intervenor funding money isn't really what Cahill tries to convince people it would be used to help their cause while it may actually go the other way - against them. All this is what Cuomo had in mind when he scribed his: The New NY Agenda: A Plan for Action.  The Power NY Act of 2011 creates a new board to force unwanted electrical wind plants on New Yorkers and here is the siting board lineup - the unelected bureaucrats:

New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment members:

·         Joseph Martens

Commissioner, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Co-Chair)

·         Kenneth Adams

President & CEO and Commissioner, Empire State Development

·         Garry A. Brown

Chairman, New York State Public Service Commission

·         Francis J. Murray, Jr.

President and Chief Executive Officer, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

·        Nirav R. Shah, M.D., M.P.H.

           Commissioner, NYS Department of Health, lives near Albany

With the exception of Dr. Shah - are we experiencing a Déjà vu ? Do you see a duplication here? Maybe a conflict of interest? Ask yourself - could this possibly be ethical? What did Cuomo once promise about ethics? A shortage of volunteer bureaucrats maybe? Governor – what have you done? Four of the 5 members of the NY Energy task force and NYS Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment are the SAME  people!  These are Cuomo’s “yes” men and the ultimate good old boys club. (We wonder how much an MD might know about the energy highway, siting power plants, etc. and appointed by Cuomo to boot) Think about this - if the Task Force recommended an action -  do you think the Siting Board would question it? Isn't this all ethical?


Now look at the NY Energy Highway web site home page for a peek at:

The Energy Highway

Wind turbine population is how Cuomo sees future electrical power being generated for downstate NY and NYC. This could be your upstate town! And of course this complies with Cuomo’s promised New NY Agenda(s). But what happens when the wind isn’t blowing?  Think about how many wind turbines it would take to power your home when the wind speed is zero MPH. And think about the Task Force – suggesting the wind factory debacle for upstaters for the benefit of downstaters and dressing it all up by overstating how many jobs the project will produce. And then consider the separate NYS Board on Electric Generation Siting forcing the wind factory on a municipality that loathes wind - as a result of the Power NY Act of 2011 and its Article X. This is the future of New York State energy through Cuomo’s & Assemblyman Cahill’s eyes but shared also by Senators Schumer and Gillibrand – all downstate NY Democrats united supporting wind energy.

Cuomo and his gang are ignoring the sound advice of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) that has repeatedly advocated placing the power generators near where the power is needed. Cuomo simply won’t accept this. Cuomo’s NY Energy Highway website info says that 67% of New York’s generating facilities statewide are 30 years and older and 22% are older than 50 years. Could anyone possibly think that a wind factory could last beyond 20 years? The Energy Highway website map shows the need for power is from Westchester County south and especially western Long Island. Upstate has excess power – why erect wind factories trashing upstate? What’s in all this for upstate except problems?  NYISO claims there’s a serious bottleneck getting power from upstate to downstate declaring aging transmission lines need repairs and replacement especially from Oneida County to Albany and south as far as Dutchess County. Placing wind turbines in Westchester County and on western Long Island would bypass that bottleneck. Can you imagine if upscale Westchester County and affluent Long Island would tolerate a wind factory in their neighborhoods – no way. Then why should upstate NY accept this vandalism of the countryside? And Cuomo wants to kill the Indian Point nuclear power plant (Westchester Co.)  that supplies 30% of NYC power but Cuomo has no alternate source for replacing that lost nuclear power. Cuomo hasn’t yet given an indication of support for the largest power project ever perceived in NYS history – the Champlain Hudson Power Express – that could bring 1,000 Mw of power from hydro Quebec to Yonkers, NY via cables placed under Lake Champlain and the Hudson River - a $2 billion energy project – privately financed too, clean, carbon free dependable energy. Its time Cuomo took the blinders off and realized wind energy is a poor, unacceptable choice. Governor what are you thinking?

Hudson Valley residents are still proud of their historic successful fight to save Storm King Mountain — northern gateway to the fabled Hudson Highlands — from a Con Edison proposal to build the world's largest pumped-storage hydroelectric plant – a 17-year battle beginning about 1963. Who can blame Scenic Hudson for trying to protect their majestic landscape on the Hudson River but how is this any different than the hydroelectric plant on the Niagara River? Isn’t the Niagara Gorge just as beautiful as the scenic Hudson Valley? Maybe now is the time for the Storm King Mountain pumped-storage hydroelectric plant to be revived as a replacement for the Indian Point nuclear plant Cuomo wants to dismantle. Electric power is needed in this Hudson Valley area – why shouldn’t Hudson Valley residents accept part of the negatives that solve their power problems? Maybe they’d like a wind farm instead? Upstate doesn’t need a wind farm or its power and we already have the Niagara hydro power project. Why should downstate, NYC and LI escape a little industrialization that helps them? Do you think Cuomo’s Task Force or Siting Board would locate a power plant along the Scenic Hudson? In Westchester County?

Some Answer(s)

The answer is not hundreds or thousands of wind turbines littering the NYS landscape or waterscape in producing intermittent, low quality, expensive power. The answer is not expensive solar or biomass or flywheels – these technologies cannot produce meaningful amounts of commercial energy. Here are some possible answers to a shortage of power downstate and on LI.

(1)   NYS accepting and encouraging the Champlain Hudson Power Express and its host – Transmission Developers Inc., to bring clean and affordable Canadian hydro power to Yonkers - needs immediate endorsing and state approval to begin construction as soon as possible. This is a project that needs fast tracking.

(2)   Correct the power bottlenecks where needed as NYISO requests

(3)   Replace decades old power lines and infrastructure where needed as NYISO requests

(4)   Conversion of coal power plants to natural gas should be investigated and pursued as soon as possible where cost effective and practical.

(5)   NYS should become a leader in promoting modular nuclear or mini nuclear power plants that will produce power that’s affordable, reliable, clean and green and be located on small parcels of land (less than 10 acres) near where the demand for additional power is greatest. Modular nuclear units could be small enough they could fit into a 2-car garage. Modular or mini nuclear power plants, also called local reactors, CANNOT meltdown, they’re affordable and safe. NYSERDA would be the state agency to promote mini or modular nuclear and provide taxpayer seed money to encourage this energy development. NYSERDA could be effective here and should be directing money to encourage developing this source of energy instead of squandering taxpayer money on intermittent wind, & expensive solar and biomass. Billionaire Bill Gates gave his backing to the nuclear power renaissance, investing $50 million in TerraPower, a nuclear power research company that is hoping to design a new generation of reactors. Hyperion, a New Mexico-based manufacturer, has said it plans to start delivering 25-megawatt reactors, which are about the size of a garden shed and cost around $25 million, in 2013. Can you imagine the tons of jobs makers of these mini nuclear power generators would provide if NYS industry was smart enough to be first to design, manufacture and market this technology for the world?

There is considerable information on modular and mini nuclear energy sources on the internet. Unfortunately, Id say its more likely to snow in July than for Cuomo to accept nuclear energy at any level.

Although Cuomo’s Energy Highway may touch on energy other than wind – make no mistake about the ultimate Cuomo motive – this is all about wind factories and forcing wind factories upon upstate New York via Article X because downstate wouldn’t tolerate these massive machines and the harm they bring. Wherever you hear or read the word "renwables" from Cuomo - replace that word with wind turbines. The NY Energy Highway website FAQ sections says:

This bold proposal for an “Energy Highway” promises to help provide reliable, economical power to New York’s homes and businesses for the next half century…

There is nothing reliable about wind, its expensive and NOT economical and no wind factory would come close to lasting a half century. Wind benefits are oversold. Its time politicians woke up to the half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies propagated by the corrupt wind industry for their own self-serving benefit. After getting by the mouth watering appeal and opportunity rhetoric – the wind energy sideshow fails to live up to is hype and will actually help drive America into fuel poverty. Staking our future energy needs on intermittent, expensive, non-dispatchable wind is folly and a money waster. Investing public money in wind factories misdirects funding that would be better invested in more promising clean energy technologies. We do not need to infest beautiful New York State landscapes or waterscapes with steel forests of 500’ tall lightening rods. Cuomo’s NY Energy Highway is all about wind, an assault on resident’s health, property values, natural resources, the environment, people’s quality of life and more.

Lastly is a wind turbine image that shows the horrible truth of the matter - the photo is from Hawaii where the weather is perfect 365 days a year. Would you like this scene in your town? This is exactly what a wind farm will look like in 20 years. Would you like it in your town?

Photo acknowledgment – treedork, Flickr