Schoharie County Wind Farm Notification (New York, Union: how much, house, buy)

[green in the southernteir]

I cant belive you people are so against change. These wind turbines are one of the best things that could happen to the econmy of western new york. First companys that spend millons in the area in studies of the enviroment to minamlize bird and bat death. It is a myth that the windmills kill hundrds of birds. They actually kill 1.5 birds per windmill per year. If your worried about to many birds dying go kill a cat. Next they are about as loud as refrigarator running. Thye also do studies to make sure that houses are not in the shadow of a windmill so they do not get the strobe affect. Also the power does not go directly to New York City. It is put on the grid and elctricty goes where it is needed and feeds the town local suroundings. Ok back to the economic point most windmills go on farmers land becasue they seem to own the most. On average the land owenr gets $6,700 dollars annually and up to $10,000 in a good production year. If you are in an area just near a wind mill they will pay you $3,000 just for being near it. In one case i have found the company has given the twon enough momey to get ride of all town taxes for the next 20 years. And besides the jobs offered when they are built for every 7 windmills you see there is a full time manintenece postion.
I have lived in the country all my life and have seen the after affects of power plants and how much they have hurt the enviroment. You may see them as ugly i see them as a soultion and a future.

If any one has a problem with this please email me and will get you the information to support my statement.

[looking4home]

Calling BovinaCowHateWindTurbines and JustSayNo! Hey, Green, you might have forgotten to include on your argument for the turbines about another kind of "green" are getting to let these flim-flam men put these monstrosities on their property. Wind energy is not the answer - if it were it would be used on a wider scale by now. It provides a small amount of power but not enough,IMO, to off-set the damage it does to the landscape and to a community. These wind salesmen aren't going to tell you the truth about it. There's still too much money to be made. It hasn't been very successfully used in Europe or elsewhere, so why don't we learn from them and not make the same stupid mistakes?

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

Originally Posted by green in the southernteir

If any one has a problem with this please email me and will get you the information to support my statement.

Wow sounds like you got a crash course in wind "turbines" (they are not windmills) from one or more of the wind energy companies web sites.

Not trying to bash you here but everything you have stated is flat out wrong. I could point you to real facts but I guess I am more interested in all that information you have to support your facts. Instead of emailing you why not have a healthy discussion here since you believe you have the facts about the "windmills".

I am curious which town will have its taxes paid for by a wind energy project, does that include school taxes as well?

Originally Posted by green in the southernteir

"company has given the twon enough momey to get ride of all town taxes for the next 20 years."

And here is some recent news about the "jobs" you claim it creates in your backyard. Very few permanent jobs and no local jobs except for a couple of night security jobs are actually created. The maintenance jobs need to be done by qualified people that generally come internally through the wind energy company from other site projects, Or from Europe.

www.windaction.org | Ironworkers Local 33 Letter to Steuben County NY IDA

"This is a formal request to have this letter read and entered into the official minutes of The Steuben County IDA meeting on September 27, 2007.After years of planning and anticipating, wind turbines are finally going to be a reality in Stueben County. The skilled construction workers, who live, pay taxes, shop and help support the local organizations and economy are being cheated out of the opportunity to work on these projects."

www.windaction.org | Where is the benefit of this windfarm?
"ScottishPower is quoted as saying: "Whitelees gives Scotland the perfect opportunity to lead the world in renewable energy." So, where is the benefit to Scotland from this windfarm? The turbines are made in Denmark, the whole thing will be controlled centrally by a handful of engineers and maintenance will be done by a small specialist team. Are these jobs worth allowing 35 square miles of Scotland's landscape to be industrialised and 100 miles of roads carved out of the moor? I think not. Why are we forced by government policy to subsidise this destruction while serious doubts still remain about the efficacy of windfarms?"

And guess what... There is nothing green about a 425ft "windmill" - There is no such thing as pure "green" energy. How much energy do you think it requires to construct a 425ft tower? Are they using bio-diesel in the manufacturing of the tower and turbine and blade?

What about transporting to the site and all the "non-green" energy to put the thing up. They have used all of their green credits way before they even spin once. And they don't last long enough to ever make up the difference.

Did you know they have over 700 gallons of petroleum products to make the turbine spin? They often leak, and cause environmental damage. Also they need to have their oil changed so to speak every year. Which in a wind "farm" of say 30 turbines would be about 20,000 gallons of oil pumped into the "greenie windmills". And hey those trucks that deliver the necessary oil don't run on solar power I believe. And very often there is not enough wind to spin the green giants and it varies year to year - can't depend on them at all, especially to replace any type of conventional energy production. When the wind don't blow the power don't flow. When in instances where they have not been spinning for a week or more they have and need a natural gas or diesel generator to start them spinning once the wind starts blowing enough and that's a fact.

It is true that cats kill more birds that wind turbines, but cats don't disrupt or change migration patterns. Cats kill song birds, I have never heard of one killing a Golden Eagle, but I have read of turbines killing lots of eagles and other large predatory birds.
www.windaction.org | Maple Ridge Wind Power Avian and Bat Fatality Study Year One Report FINAL REPORT

I wont even comment on the noise and shadow flicker issue, it is so well documented here on CD and elsewhere that you really need to get the facts when it comes to those issues. You comments are so off base that a response is futile.

www.windaction.org | Evaluation of Environmental Shadow Flicker: Analysis for “Dutch Hill Wind Power Project�

So your up at bat - start swinging those facts at us and convince the people here who have actually dealt with this issue how you are right. I can promise you that every factoid you dig up from a wind energy company can be easily disputed.

www.windaction.org | Don’t exaggerate renewable energy benefits

Where are your real facts? Inquiring minds want to know...

Thanks

[JustSayNo]

Ouch, I knew my turbine-toting radar was buzzing this morning-and this is why.

Cow has covered it all. Step into my parlor said the spider to the fly. Let's see if our new contributor can get the "facts" to us so we can all see the way, follow the green brick road to salvation, and finally see the light.

I would also like to add that we are not against "change," we are against corporate mongors taking advantage of un-elightened townspeople and town boards, making billions and leaving the hosts with mess (similiar to most parasites), all the while making patenetly false statements and lies and not contributing to "the greening of America" one kilowatt bit. Turbines have been in Europe for 20 years, and each coutry sadly admits that not ONE tradional power plant has ever been shut down. In some cases emmissions are HIGHER becuase of the turbines and their intermittent supply and unpredictable capicity. They stress the grid more than they contribute.

Keep researching friend, but try going somewhere other than the corporate wind sites-they are fiction-there is FACT out there.

This ought to be good, time for the popcorn, too early for a beer.

[NeedToBeRural]

I looked at some lovely places in Richmondville/Fulton last week with my real estate agent but then, to my horror, saw the signs. Forgive my ignorance but I have read nothing whatsoever of the Richmondville/Fulton wind tower scam previously. What is happening with it? I dearly love the area and want to move but not if my home investment goes crashing and the beauty of Schoharie County is further diminished by these repulsive structures. We have been trying to reach the listing real estate agency about the status of this "project" but they have not returned calls.
Please tell me what is happening with this and who may I call on the Town Board to express my un-inclination to invest in restoration if this terrible mistake happens.

[chrisruns2far]

There are some great reference links in the prior posts that add to the case that wind power is the solution to our green energy needs. I used to be a big supporter of wind power development because of my concerns about global warming and the need to reduce and replace fossil fuel consumption. I have seen the ecological damage done to landscapes by wind farm development such as additional roads constructed, errosion, logging (clear-cutting), bird kills, etc. Wind farms are industrail landscapes inspite of the claims of minimal footprints on the ground by wind developers. There are far better alternatives to develop and generate green power for our national energy uses such as solar, geothermal, wave, super collider particle energy accellerator to name a few. We need to re-establish the 1990's levels of federal funding for research and development of alternative energy sources.

[NeedToBeRural]

The intelligent comments and excellent observations by the previous contributors against Wind Turbines add yet another reason why I would like to buy in Schoharie County. People with intelligence and love and loyalty to/for the land as neighbors! But please..what is the current status of this scam and who are the specific offenders to call. Have the real estate brokers been convinced that throwing their weight against this reckless land destruction is in their interest as well? I am still awaiting a response from my broker's calls in.

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

Originally Posted by NeedToBeRural

But please..what is the current status of this scam and who are the specific offenders to call.

Some recent news and contacts if you are interested.

"Town officials continue to push towards the adoption of an unnecessary wind law to accommodate Reunion Power. Despite being provided with an independent legal opinion (see below) to the contrary, Town of Richmondville Supervisor Betsy Bernocco and Town Board members, continue to insist they must pass a wind law that would permit industrial wind generating facilities in all areas of the Town"

Schoharie Valley Watch

Delaware County is very Wind Friendly - The IDA wants to show they are bringing economic development to the area, and the bigger politicians are in with the wind energy companies. Every town for themselves if you want to preserve what you have. Without Federal and State tax breaks wind (power)? would not be a viable energy source because it is unreliable and extremely costly.

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

Originally Posted by NeedToBeRural

The intelligent comments and excellent observations by the previous contributors against Wind Turbines add yet another reason why I would like to buy in Schoharie County. People with intelligence and love and loyalty to/for the land as neighbors! But please..what is the current status of this scam and who are the specific offenders to call. Have the real estate brokers been convinced that throwing their weight against this reckless land destruction is in their interest as well? I am still awaiting a response from my broker's calls in.

You might wait a while for that call - real estate agents have been deceptive and quite disengaged. Makes no sense if wind energy comes to town they need to find a new job.

However in Bovina and Andes the real estate agencies came out very strong against commercial wind energy and eventually and after a year long cat fight we banned the green giants....

[NeedToBeRural]

My donation to Schoharie Watch is on its way. I thank BovinaCow, Happy DawgLady and all the others for your courage and commitment to fend off this permanent disaster. I was involved ( successfully, I am happy to report) in fighting off a huge WMX mega landfill in a town where I once lived. Like Richmondville and Fulton, this corporation operated in secrecy: benign "front-men," secret briefings to town board members, quiet leasing and purchases of land and promises of host benefits, big jobs, senior citizen centers, free energy, etc when it became public. The community was classic "Cerrel report: rural, not wealthy, trusting. The classic victim. One of the techniques that worked for us was unrelentingly keeping the scam in the public eye. Mass mailings, town board appearances, Open meeting law adherence and most importantly, the promise (and delivery)of lawsuits and investigations of the financial doings of the Town Board. Every financial dealing by them must be watched and monitored. The history of the power company must be examined in exhaustive detail. They frequently are subsidiaries of other wholly owned subsidiaries. Too much focus is not what they want nor does the Town Board. the polluters tend to move on to easier prey. The Town Board envisions criminal charges. The Town wins. The environment wins. We all win except the despoilers.