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From the “Valley News”, March 8, 2005
What does a “yes” vote for wind farms mean?
When my wife and I found out about the proposed Bishop industrial wind farm we were curious about the details. I have to admit we were both concerned upon discovering some basic facts, such as these towers would rival the Xerox Building in height, none of the residents in Springwater would benefit from lower utility bills, in fact, if you purchase power from these machines it will cost more, the additional high voltage power lines to connect the power plant to the existing grid will go right through the center of town and up the east hill, or maybe all the way to Wayland, and of course decreasing property values, noise, wildlife, blah, blah, blah. Surely there must be something good about these things, why else would they even be considered? Then it hit me, jobs not local jobs, because the three permanent positions the Bishop Wind Farm might create would most likely be filled by experienced persons in the industry, and l don't know any local wind turbine mechanics or wind farm managers, but jobs that would help boost the economy. These massive machines, made by Vestas, costing 1.5 million dollars each must be creating industrial jobs somewhere, and I was right...Denmark!
Denmark? Why are we buying wind turbines from Denmark when the U.S. economy is struggling, and there are at least ten manufacturers’ of industrial utility turbines in this country? Why would an American Corporation like PPM Atlantic Renewable be buying turbines from overseas and shipping them across the ocean, when American companies like GE are building them right here? Because PPM Atlantic Renewable is NOT an American Corporation, they are owned by Scottish Power in Glasgow, Scotland. OK, well I guess people in Scotland and Denmark need jobs too, and from the looks of it Vestas, who make the wind turbines in Denmark and Scottish Power, the utility giant in Glasgow are doing very well. Scottish Power, according to their annual statement made $920.000.000 dollars profit the last quarter of2004, and boasted that 60% of it came from the United States, that's 552 MILLION dollars from right here in the U.S...WOW...That's a lot of money; works out to be $6,130,000 dollars a DAY! These wind machines must really make a lot of electricity, right? Nope, fact is if you clear cut every hilltop in the southern tier and put a wind farm there, it wouldn't add up to 5 percent of our electric usage. Then how could a company like Scottish Power make 6.13 million dollars a day profit? Taxes, our taxes, American taxes, yours and mine, Federal, State, and Local. Turns out the current tax incentives and energy producing credits provided by our government make it real easy to profit from "Green" energy. What a sweet deal, foreign companies that don't have to look at these things or deal with the environmental and economic impact of these eyesores, can just sit back and collect those tax monies from the good old USA. The only thing green about the proposed Bishop Wind Farm is the boatloads of U.S. dollars going across the Atlantic to Denmark and Scotland.
What does a yes vote for wind farms mean? You tell me. >
John Goyette Springwater, NY
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