The New York Power Authority's proposal to locate wind farms in the waters of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie has created a stir in communities all along the two lakes' shorelines — except in the Rochester area, where it's been largely a nonissue.
That may be about to change.
Power Authority officials are due in Rochester on Monday to pitch their year-old plan to local businesses and the local media, a move likely to focus attention on the issue. At the same time, at least a few local fishing and boating aficionados have begun to speak out against the proposal, under which as many as 200 turbines might be built a few miles off the Monroe and Wayne county shoreline in Lake Ontario, and hundreds more elsewhere in New York's two Great Lakes.
Members of the Genesee Charter Boat Association, for instance, met last week and passionately voiced concerns that offshore wind turbines would have a negative impact on tourism, navigation safety and Lake Ontario's multimillion-dollar sport fishing industry. They intend to ask Monroe County legislators to go on record against the idea.
"It would be a shame to ruin this great natural resource with windmills," said association president Sam Zucco, who operates Dream Catcher Charters. "People come from all over to fish here. It's not just the fishing they enjoy, it's the serenity and peacefulness of the lake. I don't think they want to be looking at hundreds of windmills."
These same sentiments have become commonplace in the counties east of Rochester.
Lawmakers in three of those counties — Wayne, Oswego and Jefferson — voted in March by a combined 49 to 4 to express opposition to the Power Authority plan.
To the west, political leaders in Erie and Niagara counties have endorsed the plan, citing its potential green-energy and economic benefits to a project whose construction budget could easily surpass $1 billion. At week's end, 87 Erie and Niagara companies had signed on a public registry of firms interested in working on the project as contractors or subcontractors.
Only 13 Monroe County companies have followed suit, though authority officials will try to recruit more at a business-oriented information session Monday at Monroe Community College
But to date, there's been no legislative action in Monroe County, and little public discussion by elected officials.
"I know it's been a bigger deal in those counties. It hasn't been a real issue in Monroe yet," said Dan Quatro, the Republican majority leader in the Monroe County Legislature who represents a shoreline town, Webster, and serves on the county fishery advisory board. "I have only received one constituent e-mail on it. They were against it. That was quite honestly the first I've heard of the issue."
Officials in towns on the Lake Ontario shoreline have said in recent weeks that they'd had virtually no feedback, pro or con, from residents.
Fishery board president Daniel Walding said the Power Authority proposal hasn't been fully discussed at meetings yet.
A spokesman for Mayor Robert Duffy, Gary Walker, said Thursday that city officials are awaiting more information on the proposal before giving it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
"The county's taking the lead on it. When they get some more information about the nature of this thing, they're going to fill us in and we'll make a decision then," Walker said.
A spokesman for County Executive Maggie Brooks, Noah Lebowitz, said Friday that county officials are planning to meet in coming days with the authority. "We're very early on in the process. I assume somewhere down the road we'll come to a conclusion," he said.
Power Authority president and chief executive Richard M. Kessel has promised that wind turbines would not be built where they're not welcomed by the local community. But he also has urged people to keep an open mind until proposals are submitted by would-be developers.
Those proposals, due June 1, should lay out the location and size of possible wind farms, as well as many other details.
The authority has roughed out areas in the lakes that it considers suitable for wind turbines. One zone, a few miles off the eastern Monroe County shoreline, could accommodate up to 100 turbines or so, according to data published by the authority. Another zone off eastern Wayne County could handle as many as 125 more.
Maps also show a smaller zone off Niagara County and a much larger one at Lake Ontario's eastern end. The largest zone of all is at Lake Erie's eastern end.
Though these might be the best areas in terms of water depth and other factors, developers can propose building in other locations, the authority has said.
The location could be key to the turbines' acceptability to sailors. Keith Burhans, vice commodore at the Rochester Yacht Club, which hosts a variety of national and international sailing races, said courses are generally set up a mile to 2 ½ miles offshore. "If 500 windmills are spread over the length of the lake, density isn't a great problem," Burhans said. "But if they are lined up a mile around Rochester, that's a big problem. Anything fixed in the water is a hazard to navigation."
Sam Dattilo, owner of Advocate Charters and a director of the charter captain's association, said "there's no question they would be a hindrance to navigation, for all boaters, especially at night.
"How do you navigate around windmills?" he said. "It could be very dangerous for us, especially with customers on board."
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