Greece Town Board strikes down turbine proposal

Greece, N.Y.

The New York Power Authority’s Great Lakes Offshore Wind Project (GLOW) was unanimously struck down at Tuesday’s Greece Town Board meeting.

The project, which would install wind turbines off the shores of Monroe County, came with much opposition from local residents.

Greece resident and member of the Great Lakes Concerned Citizen group Suszanne Albright of Edgemere Drive has opposed the project from the beginning, and after months of speaking out against the project, she says the decision Tuesday was “very exciting.”

Albright says her primary concern initially was the possibility of a decline in property value. But now, she says, it is about much more.

“This isn’t even about me anymore, it’s about the Great Lakes,” says Albright. “What would be left of our lake? It would become a mud pit. Our lake provides drinking water. What would happen to our drinking water?”

If the project were to be proposed miles from her home, Albright says she is ready to fight it.

“We need to do everything we can to protect it. Even if it were proposed in Lake Erie, I would still be fighting this fight.”

Monroe County Legislator in District 7, Rick Antelli, drafted a resolution against the project that was sent out July 12.
”I’ve done my homework and there are no economic benefit for the residents in Monroe County,” said Antelli.

Antelli says wind power energy is something that he believes is still in the development phase, with unclear benefits to the community.

“The Lakeshore Monroe County is something to be treasured, and should not be used as a location for an experimental project.”

It is unclear as to what the next steps will be after the Town Board’s decision to oppose the project.

“There is a lack of information out there. We don’t know what the process is going to be and it’s a big area of concern,” says Deputy Supervisor, Jeff McCann. “The power authority has said that they would not try to locate these turbines in communities that did not want them, we’re hopeful that they will be true to that word.”