The Jefferson County Board of Legislators should not approve the Galloo Island Wind Farm PILOT. This project is just the first step of a large scheme to develop offshore wind farms in lakes Ontario and Erie. Commissioner Richard Kessel of the New York Power Authority announced that the authority will be taking bids for offshore wind turbine farms this spring. The state's Environmental Quality Review Law requires that there be a review of the combined projects, but so far this has not occurred. Don't expect a review as DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis is willing to work with the developers. The DEC rarely stops a project. At the Nov. 24 hearing by the Jefferson County legislators, the board passed a resolution asking the transmission line from Galloo Island be laid underwater down to Scriba near Oswego so as not to impact valuable farmland. The wind farm developer never batted an eye and was not concerned with the cost. They knew about the proposed offshore wind farms because of a meeting held by NYPA at Oswego on Nov. 13. At that meeting NYPA showed maps of the proposed offshore wind farms and the Galloo Island underwater transmission line would go right through the proposed sites.
Once these wind farms are established, they will forever change the Great Lakes, and not for the better. The minimal amount of power produced will go downstate, or haven't you noticed all the major power lines go south. The millions of taxpayer stimulus money will go to foreign investors like Iberdola. There is excess hydropower already in NNY, and more research should be done to improve existing hydro. We should be looking at all other types of renewable energy.
Denying the Galloo Island Wind PILOT might be the last chance the Jefferson County legislators will ever have to change the course of events. They should remember that this fall local elections in communities along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River were won by wind turbine opponents.
Joseph E. Lamendola
No comments:
Post a Comment