Schoharie County Wind Farm Notification (Catskill: live, development)

[JustSayNo]

NTBR-Good Job! These are the exact methods that work against ANY secretive and unsupported action by the a local government. Often times residents really have no idea wha their elected officials are doing on their behalf. In the Turbine instance, and your landfill instance, the first step is uncovering the action, than spreeding the word like crazy and letting the oficials know that they are out in the open now, and they can not hide.

Thank you for stepping up to the plate to keep your town in check, and it certianly was a good warm up for a turbine fight!

[NeedToBeRural]

If I buy one of the places that I am looking at in Schoharie County, then I will be at the barricades along with you. Country courtesy is to be cherished but when the very essence of what makes the land "the land" faces irreparable harm than politeness is a luxury that none of us can afford. The Town Board needs an education in its responsibilities, basic Government 101. They hardly qualify as the noble and ruling elite. Their arrogant and breathtakingly precipitous moves make them a liability in any case. They should be voted out. Their taste for the stupid makes them a permanent liability.

[GoldenCrow]

It's a big priority in my town to get the "turbine huggers" out of office and restore a sense of integrity and community to our rural town.

Because NY is a "home rule" state, those individuals elected to serve as town supervisors and town council members can make a significant impact in how the wind energy development issues play out in any given rural town.

One week is all that's left until election day. If you're concerned about wind developement in your area, be sure you know where the candidates stand on the issues, and vote accordingly! Pick up the phone & call your friends and neighbors, too. It's too important an issue to ignore.

[NeedToBeRural]

I understand that Ms.Bernacco has been voted out. What effect will her departure have on the ReUnion Power Wind Turbine horror? Obviously, I am hoping that the message was received that residents are prepared to assert civic responsibility even if this is not to her taste. What happens next? or should happen next?

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

I sent an email to someone over there so I will see what info I can garner.

Meanwhile...

Looks great for Merideth - Pro-wind is out -

The Daily Star, Oneonta, NY - The Newspaper for the Heartland of New York - Independents win Meredith

[green in the southernteir]

i am glad to see that my post has got a few replies it show that there are people out ther who belive in ther convictions and that are willing to reseach it.

Responding for Loookingforhome, I know strickly wind is not a solution for our energy crisus. the only true solution is that every one conserve energy. as an example you can cut you power bill by at least 30 dollars a month by switching all of your incadesnt bulbs to flourestants (this all depends on how many light s you have and what you pay for eletricty) (also the european union has out lawed incandesant bulbs becasue they are too inefciant). The biggest energy user in your house is heating. If you inprove your inslation in your house you use less energy. If every one did this and tried to cut energy usage by 10% there would be no need for wind mills because our current powere production could handle the load. As for the usage 10 years ago we did not worry about global warming, we were not having an enregy crisis and in the past few years the usage of wind mills and alternative enrgey has skyrocketed.

Responding to Bovinacow, sorry for my referance to turbines as windmills a commmon slip of the tounge (finger in this case).The town wher all taxes were eliminated as i was told they were elimnate was eagle, ny near arcade. As for the jobs you mentioned the local company near me does hire quilified induviduals who are sent for traing with GE. Even if the person comes from another area they still have to live locally still contributing to the local economy.So for every 7 windmills you ethier have a new resident /family or they will send a person to school for the maintence giving a local a job.Also all construction workers for my local comapany are local i have talked to workers themseleves and they are form the unions local. There are sight managers that are brought in with the company but they are few and many stay with the project once it is finished. Also on that note all windmills used by my local company are american made GE windmills.
Yes i know its takes non green material to make a windmill. But so does a power plant. Once a windmill is built it is much easier take down and recycle than a coal plant which contains hazordus materials and a nuclear power plant which conatins nuclear waste which never goes away. Also once the windmill is up it does not produce harmfull emissons unlike a coal plant which you have to mine the coal, trasnport it, and burn it. it may produce more energy but it also harms the enviroment. About the wind mills not spinning some could be down for manitnce and granted the turbines make more energy in the summer , but why would a company looking to make money(yes they are trying to make money they area company it what they do) put a wind mill in a place with no wind. i dont know about you but i still want to have snow in western new york in 20 years.
Ok so a cat cant kill an eagle but a car windsheild or a plate window sure can so why dont we just out law glass. Companys in new york state are required to do an enviromental impact studie before even they even break ground. Which includes migrations of birds. if there is a migration path=no wind mills. On the flicker issue my local company has tried there hardest to make sure the flicker does not fall onto a house. Remiding you this energy is still in the working progress. hell coal plants have just started to make there plants more efficant in the past few years . Also i just read all of your sites you just posted i see you took no facts from a pro wind site. your site gives specific cases of wind gone bad. I am 20 years old i know that their is a good and bad in everything in this world and if you want the truth you have to take step back and look at the whole picture. For the bird and bat page you listed they never give a defintion of an incident does it mean a bird die or had to swerve out of the way. Notice your flicker article only talkes of one town. ithank you again for being civil to me i know i am trying to fight against people who have some how obviously been wronged by some wind company and i am sorry that you feelthe way you do. Also i have to find the email of the company rep that came to my college and gave me this information for you to comunicte with. Please email me becasue i do not often time to check this site.

resoponding to justsayno, what the studies dont show you are how many MORE power plants were NOT built. our energy consumption go's up every year due to the fact that more people =more energy. the study also dosent show how much less co2 was put into the atmosphere. May i also ask you not look just at anti wind sites for your information.

chrisrunstofar, i completely agree with you that we need to look into other souces of renewable energy than just wind. wind alone will not save us form global warming. but on the local enviromentaly impact there are guidelines that the companies have to follow so they effect the area as little as possible. but with any form of energy ther will be change to the enviroment and waste its just how much more the form of energy will make up for what it replaced.


I am trying to look at the big picture. i know our world is far from perfect and wind alone is not the solution but its a step in the right direction. every time you see a turbine you may see a monstrocity but every time i see one i see a future with a still existant polar cap, a non flooded new york city, a more regular weather pattern and a possibel future for my children.

[BovinaCowHateWindTurbines]

Very good ok....

[honeychrome]

I tried to come up with a clever 'green' paraphrasing of "All the glitters is not gold," but couldn't. Maybe because the adage doesn't need paraphrasing...

Many, maybe most, of us here are concerned with issues of global warming, energy dependence, sustainability, fossil fuel depletion, environmental damage, etc. and take many small steps every day in our lives to chip away at solving these issues or at the least mitigating them in whatever small ways we can. Many have been doing this for years. There is an admirable energy in the zeal of the young and 'newly converted' to an issue, but there is a dangerous susceptibility to manipulation in that zeal. The desperate sense of "We've GOT TO DO SOMETHING....NOW!" is easily leveraged by marketing, advertisers, etc. Look around- every other product is now touted as being 'green' or 'eco.' Do you believe that they all are? Of course not. You know that much of it is insincere, just a bid to make another buck playing on fears and a desire to feel like one is 'doing something.' These days I feel that if something is being painted with the 'green' brush it warrants twice the scrutiny- and most of the time it doesn't come up smelling so fresh and green. The same is true with energy.

Few here are arguing that all wind power generation is bad, but that there are many development schemes that are unproductive scams that are just a means to siphon subsidy and development dollars out of pubic coffers. Now there are industrial wind developments that I see and think, 'that is a forward thinking and sustainable project, generating some clean energy.' But there are also industrial wind developments I see and think, 'that doesn't make sense for a number of reasons- someone must have made their $$ on the deal and is long gone and now there are acres of damaged land and a bunch of turbines not doing much of anything.' Perhaps all wind developments are better than all coal fired power plants, but that doesn't mean that all wind developments are good.


And Green in the Souther Tier.... two words: spell check. (actually maybe that's just one word now....). I know, cheap shot...

[green in the southernteir]

sorry about the spelling errors my computer has no spell check and i have a bit of dsylexia. but please dont take my spelling into account for my stand on wind and glad to have you involved. Also i do my research on products and i not only buy green but i go one further and cut out the middle man. I grow much of my own food i do not use plastic bags as much as humanly possible. not to rant about my personal belifes and practices this discussion is about wind turbines and sustainbility and new york. and if you notice i know that wind is not the solution but part of the solution and it will take alot of work from everyone to get a leg up on global warming. never under estimatemate youth we may be quick to act but we know when were being fed bull.

[JustSayNo]

Honey-great response, as always, and exactly what I would have posted-but in a more rambling and unclear way

SouthernTier-while my first response to you was a tad jaded, and perhaps percieved as rude, I must say as a middle-aged adult I am very pleased to see a young adult thinking about the future, and the impact each individual has on it. Indeed as Cow, and GoldenCrow, and HoneyChrome and JustSayNo get older, we need the younger generations to step up behind us and carry on so we can get some rest

I urge you to please take in Honey's words carefully. We may seem against progress, we may seem old-school, but what I can promise you is that we have EXPERIENCE in life, we been there done that, and we have seen and felt the effects of governmental and corporate decisions over the decades. Through this experience, we have learned to not take anything at face value, to not believe everything we read. We learned to read between the lines of the press releases, the corporate propaganda, the commercials that BP and GE are ramming down our throats touting their accomplishments in saving the earth and the people.

From experience, we learned that the truth is somewhere in the middle-ALWAYS-and that it is up to each individual to find that truth. It is hard to do sometimes, not a mission for the lazy or apathetic, but it is imperative that society take off their blinders towards "the powers that be" and find facts to make their own decisions.

If you look carefully at Cohocton, NY, Mars Hill, ME, Fenner Wind Farm, NY etc. you will find the true experiences of people whom are threatened by the turbines and their existence. These people are not leaseholders, have not signed a a"keep silent" clause in order to get their money. Insteed, the non-participating landowners under the shadows of the turbines are telling people the true after-effects of building these HUGE towers next to their homes. The wind salesman that came to your school will never tell you the bad side of this scheme-that is Salesman 101 - only sell the positive if you want a sale. I think it is disgraceful that the wind Co.'s are putting up their tents and selling the snakeoil to college kids. They are trying to secure future support and votes to install a turbine in the future. They are taking advantage of the college students, knowing that the word "green" is being blindly followed in most cases by your generation. They are using scare tactics to make you believe that turbines are the way to secure your future, and your childrens'.

As a life lesson, one well learned, please begin to not take things at face value, really tear apart the turbine issue before you back it. As you say, we use anti-wind sites to gleen the truth, but you are only using and believing the pro-wind sites to make your decision. The truth is in the middle, and only you can find the truth by examing BOTH sides with an open mind and a clear head. Take both sides, and find the truth. That is what we have done.

Good luck, be well, and keep studying!