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According to a recent mailing, Richmondville and Fulton are working together with an out of area utility company to allow 35-40 wind towers in the West Fulton Road area. This mailing also suggests that the town board is trying to change zoning laws that will allow wind towers to be placed anywhere. Until this mailing, I had no idea that this was going on. The public has not been informed of either the benefits or the negative impacts of potential wind farms. Take this into consideration for anyone considering the Schoharie Valley area.
Location: North of the Cow Pasture and South of the Wind Turbines
856 posts, read 2,921,747 times
Reputation: 2280
I found this article - the disease spreads - Upstate New York is just a tax shelter for these get rich quick LLC scammers - snake oil salesmen of the 21st century - "Get yourself a genuwine wind turbine and save the planet."
Good luck get involved get rid of wind
This is a classic one - but a little familiar
"Town of Richmondville officials “educated” themselves about the complex issues and impacts associated with the building of industrial wind turbine facilities in rural areas, not by consulting independent experts but by watching a DVD produced by Reunion Power. While this process requires months of bipartisan research, the Town Board became experts after a few days of biased information."
National Wind Watch | The truth about proposed Schoharie County wind turbines (http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/08/06/the-truth-about-proposed-schoharie-county-wind-turbines/ - broken link)
This is what happens when private land owners, town board members (often with turbine leases themselves or family), "wind companies" put together these deals bypassing any zoning or laws, they pay no taxes, they totally destroy communities all for the good of the planet?. A wind company comes and copy and pastes a law with the name of the town on top - that is not an exaggeration I have seen multiple towns with the exact same "law". Mostly for the good of a very few people on both sides. The farmer/land leaser gets a measly 3000 per turbine and the wind company gets a 2 million dollar tax shelter per turbine. You lease holders should watch "High Stakes Poker" at night you might at least get paid better. And also none of the power generated will go to Schoharie County it goes to keep all those flat screen TV's running in NYC. And this is fuzzy math but if you think of all the flatties in NYC and the amount of proposed power that will be generated it is probably a wash.
The "other" towns folk I guess is too dumb to consider such a complimicated issue so why vote on it. Lets just build them and gets our own.
Your neighbors in Stamford and Meridith are getting the shaft as well
Pretty soon they will have a pig roast to make it all better and show how they knows you country folk. and edumicate you on the 425ft "windmills" - you will get a free sign to put on your lawn to show how you are saving the town, the planet and how they will bring Imus back. Additionally Reunion has been actively pursuing wind in Schoharie County since at least 2005... They got booted from Cherry Valley (very rare) and moved on down the road to you.
Last edited by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines; 08-06-2007 at 04:35 PM..
Reason: grammers
Our city was recently proposed with a new kind of wind power, not the humungous ones with the huge blades, but equally tall ones with a long top casing that turns around the tower. Ever heard of this? Supposedly, it eliminates the noise and bird desimation.
Location: North of the Cow Pasture and South of the Wind Turbines
856 posts, read 2,921,747 times
Reputation: 2280
Inquiring minds want to know - If it is a commercial wind project then perhaps it is the newer 275ft turbines. I guess if a bird or a bat flies a 100ft or so higher then mortality rates would decrease. Birds and bats are attracted to not only the flashing light at the top but they fly in patterns following the leader so to speak. So size does not matter in this case? If they happen to run into it then lots of birds to pick up - I have seen this
Bovina Industrial Wind Energy Project - Delaware County, New York (http://www.allianceforbovina.org/html/bovina-wind-news.html#birds - broken link)
Last edited by BovinaCowHateWindTurbines; 08-06-2007 at 06:32 PM..
Oh NYS State of Mind, I am so sorry that you and your neighbors are the latest victims of the closed-door "screwing" by the wind companies. Intersting Opinion piece linked above. Cohocton folks have your back, and us Delaware-County folks are right next to you, literally and figuratively. Stamford and Roxbury just let the fox in the hen house, much to the pain of many. BUT, Andes, Bovina, Cherry Valley have fought and won. Merideth and Cohocton are not giving up. There is presidence now, Article 78 suits filed. You guys are not helpless with this. You have to gather and fight. it can be done. BovinaCow gave you some good links. Look at Cohocton carefully, they got shafted, but out in the open-their Board pretty much said **** and deal right to their faces. Mars Hill ME was ramrodded like you guys. No one knew until it was too late and they had no time to fight. They are paying a heavy price now for it. Check out the thread in the Maine forum, and do a serch on this forum for an older, VERY long thread to get yourself up to speed with this.
The best thing to do is plug in, dig in, research, share, and let your officials know NOW that you will not go quietly as a group
This issue in our town is currently over, we passed a ban, but the wound is still very deep, very open. Our small town was divided BIG TIME by the wind companies and their almost successful attempt to bribe their way in here. As cow mentioned, most times board members have leases, or family members have leases, and $$ blinds the mind. A few thousand $$ while helpful for taxes and electric bills, simply turned the lamb into the wolf, and tore a wide divide in our town-just when we were getting better and improving.
Stick around, a lot of us have gone through, or are going through this, and we are here to help each other and support each other. Together we CAN make a difference, alone we are nothing
Last edited by JustSayNo; 08-07-2007 at 10:59 AM..
Reason: typos, as always
Just when you think that it can't get any worse. I knew when I moved here that the local government was backwards thinking but I never figured that the could be so underhanded...and stupid. After I received the information card I called the Town of Richmondville. Partly to see if they would answer any of my questions, partly to let them know that the rest of the community knows what they are up to. I was told by someone who answered the phone at the Richmondville offices that 'the private landowner can do whatever he choses to on his property' and that there would be no public hearing on the issue. She then said 'at this point there is only a test wind turbine that will be in place for 18 months to determine if the area is suitable' . But in the next breath stated that there is talk of 35-40 turbines for a 10 mile stretch.
Thank you for all of the information. I don't know if there is a grassroots effort in our county at this point. I would imagine that there is, because of the mailing (though no organization took responsibility for it). Also because we are finally seeing some information about it in our local paper. I hope that they will make themselves known, as I know that many of us would like to contribute to their effort. During my call I mentioned the mailing and she told me that they hadn't any idea who was behind it, but she didn't sound pleased. The onionheaded officials make the mistake of assuming that the rest of us are sitting in our trailers drinking our lives away, not paying attention. How quickly they forget how determined DCC was in the Gilboa Dam issue. And how small minded they are to forget about the influx of big mouthed 'out of area' "citidiots" and "god damn downstaters" who have settled here recently, who are highly 'edumicated', lol.
And thank you for the link to the MH issue in ME, the video was very powerful and informative.
My extreme pleasure I was where you were a year and half ago. We had just moved, and DOH there is a meeting about wind turbines.....WHAT????? We carefully researched zoning laws and comprehensive plans to ensure the small Southern Tier town that we were choosing was going to provide the rural envoronment that we wanted to live in, help grow, and be a part of. We carefully looked at industrial building, gravel pits, mobile homes, landfills, cell phone towers, heck in our zoning it clearly states nothing over 4 stories or taller thatn the church steeple!!
Anyhow, it turned out OK for now, but again the wounds are deep and there is less waving on the roads and chatting on the sidewalks Now I have to see those damn yard signs that make me puke everytime I drive just because of GREED, short-sightedness, and ignorance, and under the table deals-including a site CLEARED prior to the first public meeting. There is a HUGE cleared, devasted spot hidden on top of one of our mountains........it is truely scary to see the clear cutting in person, just what ONE turbine would require.
Indeed, ya'll are just dumb farmenrs that will dance for a dollar, sitting on your porch and drinking your day away. What the heck do you know bout the city slickers that want to "save the world" Just shut up, take you pittiful money, sign the gag-order to keep ya quiet and tend to your chickens They forgot they we are actually hard working, edamacated, folk up here with the cows and corn, and indeed the dreeded weekenders and citiots care greatly about the FUTURE of our town, as they plan to ive full-time some day up here.
Keep looking, keep reading, and there is a grassroots effort, below is at the end of the opinion piece I posted earlier. Shoot them an email, and hit the ground running!
"Sponsored by Schoharie Valley Watch, a non-partisan, citizens action group dedicated to open government, public awareness and maintaining the rural quality of valley life.
Email: SchoharieValleyWatch@gmail.com "
.......it is truely scary to see the clear cutting in person, just what ONE turbine would require."
I can relate to that. An adjacent property owner has logged off the hardwoods on the hill above my property this summer. I've walked through the woods before and during- I think/hope they've finished and have yet to see the end result. Supposedly this logging/mill operation is all about 'responsible' logging, and they very well may be, but I felt physical pain walking around there when they were only half done. There is no way to see the land as anything other than wounded, scarred. This is all second growth (1700 it was still old-growth, by 1850 all the hills around where I am were completely cleared and the forest covering some of them now is barely mature) and to see it all cut in a month..... a shame. But I understand the owner's position. They tried to sell and couldn't, so I guess they sold off the hardwoods and will try and sell again at a lower price.
But back to turbines.... My parents spend a lot of time at my place and pass through Andes, Bovina, Stamford, etc. to get there (they take different roads every time!) and this past week commented that they were seeing three different yard signs- one pro-wind, one anti-wind and one specifically pro-wind but anti-industrial wind development. Sparked an interesting conversation/debate.
On a related issue- anyone know the current status of the powerline issue? And for that matter, where exactly is threatened by eminent domain seizures?
I'm really sorry to hear about what's happening in your town. You've already had some great advice from the other posters, and the only thing I'd like to add is that you need to remember that you're not alone in this, even though there may be many times that you'll feel that way.
I recently heard my rural town in WNY refered to as a "sacrifice zone." If the wind company and my greedy neighbors have their way, over 2/3 rds of our beautiful town will be covered with turbines that could be nearly 500 feet tall.
The first big problem that I see are the lame zoning laws that are being muscled through in these small towns. Most are rural towns that are desparate for any kind of income. They are listening to the wind company salesmen when they say it's ok to put these huge structures right next to a neighbors house & property.
The second is that no matter what sort of crap you year from the salesmen from these large, multi-national companies that have invaded rural NYS, it would be SO MUCH better if these utility grade wind installations were locally owned -- 5 times more economic development impact than those owned by large corporations who simply want to maximize shareholder value and shoehorn as many turbines into an area as possible.
And once they do succeed at packing turbines into an area, noise from the whirling blades, flashing lights on the tops of the turbines in the night sky, strobe effect when the rising & setting sun shines throught the blades...the wind salesmen say this won't effect your property values!
Unfortunately, we'll have to add Fulton to the growing list of NY towns that have been targeted for large industrial-grade wind developments:
Acadia
Alabama
Albion
Alexander
Allegany
Altona
Andes (banned)
Arcadia
Arkport
Arkwright
Ashford
Attica
Augusta
Bangor (banned)
Barre
Batavia
Beekmantown
Bellmont
Bennington
Benton
Bethany (banned)
Bombay
Bovina (banned)
Brandon
Bristol
Burke
Butler
Canandaigua
Cape Vincent
Castile (banned)
Centerville
Chateaugay
Cherry Creek
Cherry Valley
Churubusco
Clayton
Clinton
Cohocton
Cold Spring
Covington
Darien
DeRuyter
Dickinson
Eagle (under construction)
Eaton
East Concord
Ellenburg
Enfield
Fairfield
Farmersville
Fenner (20 in service, more proposed)
Forestville
Freedom
Fremont
Gaines
Georgetown
Gorham
Greenfield
Groveland
Hamburg
Hamilton
Hamlin
Hammond
Harrisburg (Maple Ridge Project)
Hartsville
Herkimer
Hobart
Hopkinton
Hornby
Hornellsville
Howard
Huron
Italy
Jasper
Johnsburg (Barton Mines area)
Jerusalem
Kendall
Kortright
Lackawanna (8 in service)
LaFargeville
Leroy
Little Falls
Lowville (Maple Ridge Project)
Lyons
Machias
Madison (in service, 7 - 1.65MW)
Malone (banned)
Manheim
Martinsburg (Maple Ridge Project)
Meredith
Mooers
Munnsville (under construction)
Nelson
Nicholville
Norway
Nunda
Oakfield (banned)
Orange
Orangeville
Ossian
Pavilion
Perinton
Perry
Pomfret
Prattsburgh
Richmondville
Ripley
Rose
Roxbury
Rushford
Sardinia
Sheldon (approved)
Sinclairville
Smithfield
Sodus
Somerset
Stafford (banned)
Stamford
Stark
Stockbridge
Stockton
Tompkins
Tonawanda
Villanova
Walton
Warren
Warsaw (banned)
Watson
Wayland
Webster
Westfield
West Sparta
Wethersfield I (in service 10 Vestas V-47)
Wethersfield II (proposed, 59 1.5MW)
Wheatfield
Wolcott
Yorkshire
This list is a few months old...there are probably more.
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Now I have to see those damn yard signs that make me puke everytime I drive just because of GREED, short-sightedness, and ignorance, and under the table deals-including a site CLEARED prior to the first public meeting. There is a HUGE cleared, devasted spot hidden on top of one of our mountains........it is truely scary to see the clear cutting in person, just what ONE turbine would require.
They forgot they we are actually hard working, edamacated, folk up here with the cows and corn, and indeed the dreeded weekenders and citiots care greatly about the FUTURE of our town, as they plan to ive full-time some day up here.
Life in a "Sacrifce Zone"
