UPDATE ON WINDFARM ACTIVITIES DECEMBER 29, 2003

The Town of Prattsburgh has remained steadfast in its refusal to regulate the wind projects. State Legislators have remained steadfast in their belief that the town must regulate the project. One good piece of news is that Global Winds Harvest, which is undergoing SEQRA review, must now do an Environmental Impact Statement, which will give us more time to present our concerns to interested and involved agencies. Please refer to the UPDATE on SEQR process which is in the process of being added to the webpate.

Advocates for Prattsburgh has a president and a board of directors and a treasurer and is actively doing fund raising. A lawyer has been engaged.

Global is trying to get NYSEG to allow Global to use NYSEG’s right of ways for overhead transmission lines instead of putting their cables underground. Please contact Lucille George ligeorge@nyseg.com with your concerns. Her number is 607-324-3524 X 246. If possible I would recommend snail mail. Her address is 7760 Industrial Park Road, Hornell, New York 14843. We are hoping that if they hear from enough people they will deny Global’s petition. Overhead transmission lines would not be a pretty sight, especially if, as feared, they would cross people’s land.

The library in Prattsburgh is hosting an informational meeting on wind turbines in late January. Ecogen has been invited to speak and someone from Sierra Club will be there. They do not want anyone from Advocates for Prattsburgh on the panel. This may be Ecogen’s attempt at “public information meetings.” If indeed the library is hosting this event, then public money is being used to promote commercial concerns without allowing a dissenting voice. It is very disturbing. It is also disturbing that the school allowed Global to come in and talk to the children. These company reps are not educators, they are salesmen, but the children would not know that.

It is extremely important that every concerned land owner check your deed to see if you and your neighbors have restrictive covenants. There are many people, especially in the Walker Road and Rosy Hill Road area who have these covenants in their deeds. I’ve explained it before but here goes again. If your neighbor has a restrictive covenant and your land came from the same person who devised that covenant then you have the right to legally tell your neighbor not to put up a wind turbine. If no one calls your neighbor on this, then they will go ahead and do what they want. This is such an easy way to stop the turbines. Please check your deed and your neighbor’s deed. You can do this in Bath at the county offices. E-mail me rmatilsk@physics.rutgers.edu and I will refer you to someone who can tell you how to proceed.

We need to keep the turbine issue in the newspapers. We need to stress that the state is spending millions of dollars, our electricity rates will go up and very little electricity will be produced by the turbines. There will be an insignificant decrease in emissions. I have just learned that the old turbines used so much electricity just in their construction that it negated the electricity produced by the turbines. The new turbines that will be erected in Prattsburgh are an unknown. They may last 15 or 20 years and they may not. If they don’t then it will be the same situation.

The more I learn about these projects the more stupid they seem. This is not just a case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). This is a case of asking why is New York State bent on spending so much money on projects that will not come close to solving the problem of air pollution? Why is the State ignoring the need for individuals and corporations to conserve and cut back? Why is the State not using the money more creatively to actually clean up our air?

12/29/03