Nothing embodies Big Government more than Big Wind

As I read Orangeville Supervisor Susan May’s locally-published letter on why Orangeville “needs” Invenergy’s Stony Creek industrial wind project, I was truly astounded.

Let’s be real, Ms. May — all the money you are so happy to report that will be coming to Orangeville has been picked from the pockets of New York State taxpayers and ratepayers. By enabling this fraud to continue to be perpetrated on all New York State citizens, you are stealing from all of us!

New York State is already broke. At the cost of $475,000 per “green” job created, and the resulting 2.2 jobs lost in the rest of the economy as a result — all for a politically-driven, inefficient, non-performing boondoggle of Enron’s brainchild, industrial wind — it’s clear Ms. May’s short-sighted payoffs are costing us all dearly in the long run.

Ms. May quoted $120,000, to be divided amongst three school districts at $40,000 each, as if it were something to be proud of. Peoples’ homes stand to be devalued by at least that amount — per home! Big Wind LLCs refuse to enact Property Value Protection Plans for that very obvious reason.

Despite ongoing lawsuits, warnings from contract holders in neighboring towns whose drain tiles and damaged homes remain un-repaired following construction, and the laundry list of other ongoing problems too lengthy to list here — Ms. May talks as if all is wonderful in the Land of Oz. While in reality, her town has already been completely devastated by Big Wind before a single machine has even gone up.

The only thing that has ever been reliably generated from industrial wind facilities is the kind of complete and utter civil discord now evident in Orangeville. The job of good government, headed by competent leaders, is to foresee and prevent this kind of divisiveness. Unfortunately, greed has driven the decisions of the Orangeville Town Board.

Republicans like to bill themselves as the party of small-business working-class, who support smaller government, and despise dependence on entitlements and the welfare state — right? Not in Orangeville.

All five Orangeville Town Board members are registered Republicans (Mr. Boxler flip-flopped to become a Republican last election cycle). They pretend to rail against big government, when in fact they are on the take from it. Why work for a living when you can get a windfall owning land fit for multinational wind developers — at your neighbor’s expense!?

Nothing embodies Big Government more than Big Wind. Good, self-reliant people need wind like their children need to inherit the massive national debt — to which wind subsidies are a substantial contributor.

While our corporate-led state is ultimately responsible for the garbage they continue to allow in this continual blood-sucking of New York State taxpayers and ratepayers — Ms. May and her cohorts on the Orangeville Town Board have joined ranks with the worst of the wind welfare leeches. And I for one, am ashamed that they call themselves Republicans.

Mary Kay Barton lives in Silver Lake.