Read this tonight, but the Legislature approved the PILOT:
Important Considerations Re. PILOT for Galloo:
The company that Jefferson County will be partnering with is not a large concern with ample assets to guarantee the payments to Jefferson County and Hounsfield. It is an LLC (limited liability corporation) set up solely for the development of Galloo as a wind factory.
Guarantees of payments promised by this LLC will not be made if current levels of federal and state subsidies are not maintained. If we sue to obtain the promised payments we may ultimately take title to a broken, uneconomically sound wind turbine facility. What then?
Contrary to information put out by the wind industry, wind turbines will not lower fuel use or emissions, but due to winds variability and unpredictability will lower the efficiency of the system so as to actually increase fuel use and emissions.
When it becomes generally known that wind will not help to solve global warming, the huge subsidies now available to wind developers will be curtailed and the developers or subsequent owners will not be able to live up to payments promised in the PILOT. Twenty years is a long time.
The power that will be generated is not for our region of New York State, as is apparent from the plan to transmit it to Oswego, however, it will very likely cause our electrical rates to increase. This will make it more difficult to attract legitimate businesses to Jefferson County.
Jobs were an important consideration to some of the Legislators with whom I have spoken, However, the criteria must be net job creation. How many jobs will be lost in construction and maintenance of cottages, fishing, camps, marinas, etc. with the increased industrialization of the area? Studies of the overall economic impact of the project need to be done before a good decision can be reached.
I have also heard comments to the effect that, “we are not giving up this opportunity for the sake of rich people on the Lake.” The issue of Galloo should not be framed as class warfare. We are fortunate to have many lakefront dwellers return to the area each summer. Some of them may even be wealthy, but most are not. Many are families who have returned to the area for generations. They pay taxes as if they are in residence for 365 days a year, even though many are not. They pay school taxes even though they don’t send their children to our schools. Some of these people may not vote here, but if we choose industrialization, please understand that many of these people will vote with their feet – they will go elsewhere.
The tendency of people to leave the area – not just summer residents, but year round residents as well will depress real estate values. This will also affect assessments and the portion of the tax burden shouldered by those who are affected by industrialization.
As for jobs, these are outside the control of the developer. These are financial people with no particular expertise or capabilities to erect wind turbines. They will hire one or more contractor companies to build the facility and it will be the contractors who will determine how many and what type of workers will be hired from local labor pools.
Galloo is one of the last truly wild and natural areas remaining in Lake Ontario. Let’s do the right thing. Joni Mitchell had it right: “That you don't know what you've got, Till it's gone, They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot.”
Respectfully,
Albert H. Bowers III, Co-Chair, The Coalition for the Golden Crescent and 1,000 Islands
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