Cohocton Town Board
Cohocton, NY 14826
Re: Upcoming Open Public Meeting
Dear Town Board Members:
At your last regular meeting you stated that you are going to schedule a public meeting in which you are going to have professionals attend to answer specific questions concerning the proposed installation of the wind turbines.
As one opposed to this wind turbine program as it has been proposed, I have contributed to the effort to enlighten residents of particular concerns that establish my belief that these turbines as proposed are wrong for Cohocton. I have clearly identified areas where I believe the management of this program misses the mark.
Rather than a presentation of how “pretty” these things are, or a promotion filled with puff and sweet smelling powder, please make a diligent effort at presenting the entire picture. I have five areas that are central to my concern that I ask you to have professionally addressed at this public meeting:
The first is the economics. I would ask that you have a professional level presentation as to what the actual cost will be per kilowatt hour to produce this wind generated power. I ask that the analytical evaluation include all government subsidies, the tax savings from the P.I.L.O.T. program, N.Y.S.E.R.D.A incentives. Tax savings from accelerated depreciation and the actual cost paid to UPC for each kilowatt hour of generated electricity. I ask that this cost be compared to the traditional methods currently employed to produce electricity.
Since we are presented to be “co-investors” for the “good of our energy needs” with UPC on this program that is supposed to be good for Cohocton, Steuben County, the School, the State, and the Nation, I ask that you insist that UPC have available at this meeting in paper and electronic copy, a certified copy of the same business plan they are showing their financial investors. If we are truly investors, asked to invest in the future energy needs of our area with UPC, this should not be an unreasonable request. Surely we should be entitled to view this written Business Plan just as the other investors.
Included in this first analysis, I request an analytical financial evaluation in a percentage form, the actual amount of total yearly income to UPC that the proposed $160,000 to our Town represents. This will go a long way in showing the return on our investment in this program.
The second specific professional presentation that I am asking you to provide is a responsible explanation from both an economic and insurance advisor as to why a letter of credit, rather than a surety bond would be sufficient to protect the Town of Cohocton and its residents from liability and loss in the event of a bankruptcy on the part of UPC. Please ask this professional to explain the differences between a letter of credit and a surety bond.
The third presentation I would like the Town Board to personally present is their justification as to why they have proposed this wind turbine industrialization of Cohocton when it is in direct violation of our Town Comprehensive Plan.
The fourth area I would ask that you address is the specifics of how the Town thinks they can influence a private property by allowing a setback of only 500 from a property line when the turbines influence extend 1500 out as a result of you proposed law. How is someone going to be able to build closer to their property line if they want to? Will you have provision to make the wind company take down the turbine and place it 1500 ft. from this new building? I would like an answer presented as to why the Town Board thinks this will not be an issue for expensive lawsuits against the Town in the future? If you are going to reduce the use of these private properties, shouldn’t each private landowner that you put in this situation be entitled to a reduction in taxes? You are taking properties that are zoned residential, overlapping them with an industrial influence and restricting their currently zoned use. What if a landowner wants to subdivide and sell his property as building lots later? Do you see what this 1500 extension outward from these turbines does in this situation?
The fifth area of presentation I think you need to present is that of fire protection preparedness. I have brought this subject up before and it has been spun into a supposed disrespect of the fire department from me. This is not the case. I support the fire department, both publicly and financially. You are putting these volunteers into a situation where they do not have the equipment necessary to respond effectively and in a timely manner to the HAZMAT issues these turbines bring with them. I would like to see a presentation how the Town is prepared to help these good men and women fight a 500 gallon hydraulic oil fire 265 ft in the air at the hub of these turbines? They will need more than courage and ingenuity; they need tools to be effective.
There is millions of dollars worth of timber growing on these side hills. I am not saying that these fires will burn down these trees. I am saying that a simple ground fire sweeping through a forest can damage trees in such a way that although they may stand and grow for years to come, the damage sustained during fire can deteriorate their quality as potential timber producing trees. How many good boards can you get out of a tree that is hollow from fire damage?
This pseudo-environmentalist wind turbine program has the potential to devastate the very environment it is purported to protect if you allow negligence and lack of preparation prior to its installation. Again, please … no fluff; present us with a credible report of how you will deal with preparing our fire department. How are you going to pay for the new tools they need prior to these turbines being put up? Maybe UPC will donate a silver plated bucket to our firefighters inscribed with the words “I think I can” along with a sling shot big enough to launch this bucket 265 ft in the air filled with some foam to fight the oil fire. I use humor to emphasize this point, but … it is not funny. Your lack of attention to this point so far demonstrates just how unprepared you are and are apparently willing to remain.
Although I am positioned in what seems to be an adversarial stance against the Town Board, I would like to offer justification for being so. If you correctly recall, at the January 23rd Open Public Meeting that was held at the school, I stood up and asked several questions. At first, I was accommodated with polite but vague answers. Because I was not satisfied with the responses given, I pressed further with more pointed questions that were without a doubt well within my right to ask, being I have been a resident in this Town for eighteen years. My more pointed questions led to not just vague answers at that point, but rather a consciences effort to silence me.
I take no ego trip in calling public officials to accountability, instead I consider it my civic duty that was given to me as a benefactor of sacred privileges from those that have given their lives in military service to secure and protect them. My relatives, and probably yours, died to insure that we would have the freedom to live in a Country where our government would have the solemn responsibility to represent the people fairly. As you know, one of the checks in this democratic society we live in is for each citizen to call their government to accountability. This maintains balance and preserves stability.
I submit respectfully and without malice: You have been credited in public by the wind turbine supporters for all your hard work on this project, yet when I questioned Wayne Hunt as to his personal understanding of the economic issues surrounding this project, he had no answers. I challenge you to present to the residents of Cohocton a balanced presentation of all facets of this wind turbine program. Show us that you are seeking to be diligent to protect, preserve, enrich and honor our American way of life. Protect the rights we have and do not allow your Town to become the victim of a corporate enrichment scheme. It goes without saying that you are obligated to present us with a fair, open, transparent and professional assessment of this issue at the up and coming public meeting.
I have challenged Wayne Hunt and Jack Zigenfus to come out into the public and debate these points with me in a respectful point by point discussion and have been declined. If your position is defendable, come out and defend it in public, point by point with me. You can put all the shows on you want in which the public is not allowed to participate to try to promote this program, require that we submit our responses in writing which are never addressed, but each time you do you are losing credibility. As a citizen, I demand that you present us with a fair, balanced program in which both sides are represented. I call on those members of the Town Board that are conscientious, to exercise your responsibility to reign in other members who have left the principles of democracy and have replaced them with a self seeking agenda. This is not what the blood of your forefathers was spilled all over the world on foreign soil for.
This in not “LONG, LONG AGO … IN A KINGDOM NOT SO FAR AWAY ON THE ISLE OF LIVING” as portrayed by a misinformed and deceived supporter of “Yes!” in The Valley News, this is Cohocton in the here and now where there is no dictatorial King (or at least there is not supposed to be). Some are resentful at my aggressive stance on this issue. I am only aggressive in direct response to the dictatorial stance of my government.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Strasburg II
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