Dear Editor,
In the interest of making sure the voting public has all the facts, I am writing in regard to the article in last week’s newspaper, “High Sheldon Wind Farm draws out-of-state visitors.”
Since Sheldon is a town that did sign on to turn itself into an industrial wind factory, it is not surprising that a Big Wind LLC would pay Sheldon Supervisor John Knab to do a speaking tour to try and sell their product in other areas of the country. No doubt the wind industry has a list of their “go-to” guys that includes all such towns.
Neither is it surprising that these folks did not visit any of the other numerous towns in the area that decided against turning their towns into a wind factory. They certainly would not want their visitors to get the whole story of what a devastatingly divisive issue this has been in Wyoming County over the past decade. I truly found it quite sad, however, that the article read as a wind industry advertisement might — as if this whole past decade of conflict had never happened.
The explanation that these folks’ visit was triggered because Sheldon is written up as “one of the most efficient and well-built farms the country has,” highlights was a boatload of pure bunk American citizens have been fed when it comes to industrial wind.
Sheldon’s wind farm again produced a pitiful 25% last year. And that’s the sorry excuse for “the most efficient and well-built wind farm the country has”? Any other piece of equipment, be it a machine, person or animal, that only operates 25% of the time would have been dubbed a “lemon” and put out to pasture a long time ago. Which one of you would buy a vehicle that only operated 25% of the time? You wouldn’t. You couldn’t afford to. It’s just that simple. But when the state and federal government are in charge of spending our money, economic reality doesn’t seem to matter.
Physicist and Malone Town Board member Jack Sullivan recently reported on the reality of wind’s failure to produce in his article “Some Lessons from New York,” that appeared in the Rutland Herald (www.rutlandherald.com online).
He explained, “Both Vesta and GE turbines have a manufacturer’s life expectancy rating of 20 years, yet no New York wind project is on track to sell enough electricity in 20 years to pay for itself.”
Mr. Sullivan used the wind industry’s 20-year life expectancy claim when equating that these giant, property-value-trashing, bird Cuisinarts can never pay for themselves. The inconvenient truth exposed in another report, however, says that, “turbines last only half of what the wind industry originally claimed,” making the fact that they can never pay for themselves even more evident.
(www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9770837).
These things aren’t “wind farms,” they’re “tax farms” — in the business of harvesting our taxpayer and ratepayer dollars, and transferring them into the pockets of rich, multi-national corporations. All of this enabled because of cronyism in high places, and short-sightedness, willful ignorance, and greed of those willing to suck on the teat of wind welfare at the rest of our expense.
For the sake of all American taxpayers and ratepayers — and our rural communities and the environment — let’s hope those currently being baited by wind salesmen across the nation are wise enough to know better.
Mary Kay Barton, Silver Lake
Source
In the interest of making sure the voting public has all the facts, I am writing in regard to the article in last week’s newspaper, “High Sheldon Wind Farm draws out-of-state visitors.”
Neither is it surprising that these folks did not visit any of the other numerous towns in the area that decided against turning their towns into a wind factory. They certainly would not want their visitors to get the whole story of what a devastatingly divisive issue this has been in Wyoming County over the past decade. I truly found it quite sad, however, that the article read as a wind industry advertisement might — as if this whole past decade of conflict had never happened.
The explanation that these folks’ visit was triggered because Sheldon is written up as “one of the most efficient and well-built farms the country has,” highlights was a boatload of pure bunk American citizens have been fed when it comes to industrial wind.
Sheldon’s wind farm again produced a pitiful 25% last year. And that’s the sorry excuse for “the most efficient and well-built wind farm the country has”? Any other piece of equipment, be it a machine, person or animal, that only operates 25% of the time would have been dubbed a “lemon” and put out to pasture a long time ago. Which one of you would buy a vehicle that only operated 25% of the time? You wouldn’t. You couldn’t afford to. It’s just that simple. But when the state and federal government are in charge of spending our money, economic reality doesn’t seem to matter.
Physicist and Malone Town Board member Jack Sullivan recently reported on the reality of wind’s failure to produce in his article “Some Lessons from New York,” that appeared in the Rutland Herald (www.rutlandherald.com online).
He explained, “Both Vesta and GE turbines have a manufacturer’s life expectancy rating of 20 years, yet no New York wind project is on track to sell enough electricity in 20 years to pay for itself.”
Mr. Sullivan used the wind industry’s 20-year life expectancy claim when equating that these giant, property-value-trashing, bird Cuisinarts can never pay for themselves. The inconvenient truth exposed in another report, however, says that, “turbines last only half of what the wind industry originally claimed,” making the fact that they can never pay for themselves even more evident.
(www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9770837).
These things aren’t “wind farms,” they’re “tax farms” — in the business of harvesting our taxpayer and ratepayer dollars, and transferring them into the pockets of rich, multi-national corporations. All of this enabled because of cronyism in high places, and short-sightedness, willful ignorance, and greed of those willing to suck on the teat of wind welfare at the rest of our expense.
For the sake of all American taxpayers and ratepayers — and our rural communities and the environment — let’s hope those currently being baited by wind salesmen across the nation are wise enough to know better.
Mary Kay Barton, Silver Lake
Source
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