Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Monroe Co. Rejects GLOW

Rochester, NY - Monroe County Republican legislators have passed a non-binding resolution opposing the GLOW (Great Lakes Offshore Wind) project being promoted by the New York Power Authority and Gov. Cuomo. The Republican majority in the legislature (16 to 13) is what passed the resolution while all 13 Democrats did nothing - voters will be reminded of this come November. This NO Glow resolution is a Memorializing Referral (resolution). So signatures "Lend Support" to this Monroe County opposition to the presence of wind turbines off the shores of Monroe County in Lake Ontario as part of the GLOW project. It's non-binding. The article in this morning's Rochester Democrat & Chronicle newspaper by Steve Orr is found below. Monroe County now joins Jefferson, Oswego, Wayne, Chautauqua counties in rejecting the NYPA's GLOW project or any other project seeking to industrialize the Great Lakes.

Legislator Rick Antelli of Greece, NY sponsored the resolution beginning last July after hearing members of the Great Lakes Concerned Citizens make a presentation in Greece to area residents on the problems an offshore wind farm would create. Originally Antelli's resolution could not gain enough votes to carry a majority but in November he recirculated the resolution and it finally did produce a majority vote. Another nail in NYPA's coffin!

A BIG thanks to Greece, NY legislator Rick Antelli!

On July 20 the Greece town board voted unanimously against GLOW. On July 22, representatives of the Great Lakes Concerned citizens made a presentation to the Webster town board and at their August 5 town board meeting they voted unanimously against the GLOW project. Our same group spoke to the Irondequoit town board on July 27 sharing the same anti-GLOW message and spoke again on October 19 at a packed Irondequoit TB meeting. At the Oct. 19 town board meeting after listening to numerous Great Lakes Concerned Citizens and many others in attendance speak against GLOW - the Irondequoit town board (including 2 Democrats) voted unanimously against the GLOW proposal. Greece, Webster and Irondequoit have now joined many other Great Lakes lakeside towns and counties in opposing the GLOW project after each municipality did their own independent research on GLOW and came to the same conclusions.

The heavily Democrat controlled city council of Rochester didn't care to listen to our anti-GLOW message when we approached them nor did former Rochester mayor, Democrat Bob Duffy - now Lt. Governor. We had just sent a letter offering to speak to Democrat Tom Richards who was made Rochester mayor after Duffy resigned to become NYS Lt. Governor 3 weeks ago but now Richards has resigned after only 3 weeks over problems involving the Hatch Act. Do you think Democrats have problems??

Unfortunately, the Niagara County legislature is still stalling on considering reversing their original vote to support GLOW and the Erie County legislature has their head in the sand. Several Great Lakes Concerned Citizens made their presentations at the Sept. 21 Niagara County legislature meeting in Lockport, NY and the legislature has taken no action since then which is unfortunate for their constituents and helpful to NYPA. NYPA is hardly a friend of Niagara County and several entities there have expressed their outrage to legislators over the possibility of wind turbines in Lake Ontario. Waiting for NYPA to announce the GLOW project location(s) is dangerous and helpful to NYPA and the developer(s) and not the county near where the project is located. Hasn't Erie County seen enough with the failed Steel Winds I project in Lackawanna, NY and failure to see even the start of Steel Winds II that was supposed to be completed in 2010? The cost & availability of natural gas has pulled the rug out from under wind energy, among many other things, and people are finally beginning to realize nuclear is an ever better non-polluting cost effective energy choice.

The November elections will see more wind advocates kicked out. Thanks to so many anti-GLOW committee members that have contributed to the fight against the GLOW project and the encouraging actions like the one just taken by the Monroe Co. Republican legislators is encouraging. We can and will defeat the GLOW project and any similar offshore wind project.

Al Isselhard
Great Lakes Concerned Citizens
Great Lakes Wind Truth
Wolcott, New York

Read the D&C Article

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