Italy needs your help

Wind developers intimidate town

To the editor:

On Tuesday, Sept 9 at 7 p.m at the town hall, and on Saturday, Sept 13 at 9 a.m. at the town barn, the Town of Italy will hold public hearings to solicit comments concern¬ing the proposed changes to the comprehensive plan and the zoning law so that they can create a "wind incentive zone" in the town.

Unfortunately, I get the feeling that the Town Board of Italy doesn't think it has much choice but to approve the changes.

As the wind marauders rampaged across the state over the past few years, the Town of Italy held a unique position as one of the few town councils that treated the idea of wind development with integrity and foresight. Several years ago the town held public hearings, and what it heard was that the people of Italy did not want 400-foot machines lined up along its ridge tops.

So the town did what heretofore had been unthinkable - with the blessing of its citizens it declared a moratorium on wind development, drew up a comprehensive plan and zoned the town so that huge industrial factories with monolithic towers would have to go somewhere else. For three years the the town worked on its plan, dotting the i's and crossing the t’s so that all would be done just right.

The wind developer was not put off- the company simply made up a case and sued the town. In the end it doesn’t matter that the Town of Italy "won" the lawsuit because it cost over $100,000 to "win" and the wind developer, with a smile on his race, told them he'd sue them again and again until they finally gave in to his demands.

We can all see the Cohocton towers now, although we won’t hear them until they are turned on. They are not "sculptural" and they do not "blend into the landscape." They are hideous, and every day more evidence turns up to prove that in the end their contribution to the renewable energy effort will be worse than useless. I fear that unless the Attorney General steps in and investigates the bullying tac¬tics of Ecogen LLC and its partner, Babcock and Brown, Italy is going to do exactly what the wind developer tells them to do. It is barbaric

It is also ironic, because every single state bureaucrat I've spoken to about wind projects has emphasized the importance of home rule and working with local officials. Italy did everything right—so why is it turning out so wrong?

Please attend the hearings. The Town of Italy needs to hear from people in surrounding towns who will be affected '. by the wind incentive zone, as well as its own residents who have repeatedly demonstrated that they don't want the wind projects. If you cannot attend, writer submissions will be accepted up until September 19 at 5 pm.

And just as important, please contact State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the Capitol Building, Albany New York 12224-0341 and ask him for his help.

Ruth Matilisky, Prattsburgh