Case # 07-M-0906 Iberdrola acquisition of Energy East
Those of you Commissioners who have reservations about the Iberdrola takeover of Energy East have every reason to be concerned. From where I sit, in Barre Center, Orleans County, NY, I see the future they have planned for us, and it is disastrous. Iberdrola employees have been courting our local public officials and large landowners for many months here, and are intent on erecting wind turbines in our town the minute your PSC gives the OK to the Energy East deal. However, there is not enough wind in our town to drive a single utility scale wind turbine. I have researched this and satisfied myself that this is true – such turbines require a Wind Power Density of Class 4, with some newer turbines possibly functioning in Class 3 wind, but Barre has only Class 1 and 2 wind. No one at Iberdrola will dispute this, but neither will they explain why they still want to erect turbines here.
Glenn Schleede has analyzed the economics of wind development in New York, and from my understanding of his writing, it appears that Iberdrola’s “investment” of $2 billion will net them $1.75 billion in federal and state tax shelters and subsidies. Owning wind farms in New York will allow Iberdrola to shelter nearly all the income it will earn from Energy East. New York taxpayers will have to make up for this lost tax revenue, at a time when we are already staggering under an intolerable tax burden. There is absolutely no benefit to New York ratepayers from allowing Iberdrola to own wind farms and Energy East. The benefit is solely to Iberdrola.
There is also no benefit to the environment from Iberdrola’s proposed wind farms. Iberdrola’s CEO has admitted that the electricity the wind turbines generate is not reliable, nor will it ever provide more than a tiny fraction of the renewable power that New York is striving to achieve through its Renewables Portfolio Standard. It will damage the health and welfare of the people who have to live with these enormous industrial machines in their midst. In our part of the state, town officials are permitting 420 ft. tall turbines to be built as close as 300 ft. from one’s property line. These requirements are absurd, but the officials have been so heavily influenced by wind industry operatives that they have completely abandoned their obligation to safeguard the welfare of their constituents. Thank heavens the State Attorney General’s office has finally mounted a serious investigation into the corruption that is allowing such actions to occur.
As a ratepayer, I am extremely troubled to see how Iberdrola treats its customers. Last year the company bought Scottish Power, and despite the fact that this unit accounted for one quarter of Iberdrola’s phenomenal 78% growth in revenue, Iberdrola will be imposing rate increases on Scottish Power customers this year. Apparently, Iberdrola cares more about its shareholders than it does about its customers. That is where the PSC comes in, for you are all that stands between us and utility companies – private entities that function as monopolies – taking advantage of us to enrich themselves. In a couple years’ time, it will be very obvious whether you have lived up to your responsibilities, if we see our rates increase. You have the opportunity to prevent this, and you have the obligation to do so now.
I might be less concerned if my dollars were staying in the US, but to see my hard-earned money going to a Spanish corporation, and very likely to an Arab nation in the near future, truly makes me outraged. The government of Abu Dhabi will be supplying some of the capital that Iberdrola needs to fund its phenomenal growth in the next few years. Rather than making us energy-independent of the Middle East, allowing Iberdrola to take over major electricity distribution companies in the Northeast will make us even more vulnerable to the economic and political whims of foreign nations, including those not friendly to us.
This would be a huge mistake, and one from which we will not easily recover. Please do not allow this to happen. New Yorkers have often been a bit more sophisticated and independent-minded than our neighboring states, so it does not surprise me that our PSC is the only body standing firm against this ill-considered proposition. Please continue to stand firm for us, and expose this tax shelter scheme for what it is – a great deal for a foreign corporation, but terribly harmful to New York ratepayers.
Thank you.
Andrea Rebeck
Andrea Rebeck, AIA
Andrea Rebeck, Architect
4652 Oak Orchard Road
Albion , NY 14411-9509
585-590-1199
rebeckarchitect@yahoo.com
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