The Springwater Preservation Committee

Springwater Preservation Committee

The Sham goes on

Springwater’s Town Board obviously intends to jam the Bishop Wind Farm down the throats of the overwhelming majority of residents of the eastern side of town, which makes this article an exercise in total futility, but anyway:

At the June 20^th Board meeting two Board members were asked to explain what specific positive benefits, in their opinion, would flow to the Town of Springwater from the development.

Mrs. Perkins could not cite a single specific benefit to the town, but responded that she favored the project because it was part of a national effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (oil). It’s admirable she recognizes we have a problem, but who doesn’t? Wind power contributes absolutely nothing to solve the dependence on foreign oil. Virtually no oil is used to generate electricity. By the developers own admission wind power will not eliminate the need for a single conventional generating plant. The need to import 12 million barrels of oil a day (60% of need) is totally due to our gas powered cars and trucks. A recent editorial in the Democrat and Chronicle pointed out that California has 14,000 wind generators, which produce less than 1% of the electricity used. Thus, wind power doesn’t even begin to solve the non-oil part of the energy problem.

Mr. Gnau was at least more specific and cited his concern for the rights of property owners; that if the land isn’t used for the wind farm it would eventually be divided up and sold to individuals for new residents and also that some unspecified income would come to the Town from in lieu of tax payments.

We all agree property owners have rights but they have never been absolute or unlimited. I do not have the right to destroy my neighbor’s right to the quiet enjoyment of his property or devalue it. There are already many laws on the books that limit property rights. Just ask the Supervisor how many approvals were required to build a sewage treatment plant. How about a landfill or open pit mine? Why not declare it all as an Industrial Park? Larry may be right that the alternative might be for the owners to subdivide and sell off small parcels (although there is no reason it couldn’t continue to be farmed). But even if divided, is the Town now opposed to allowing new residents (foreigners) or our own children to settle here? How American is that attitude? And even if it did happen, the Town’s assessment and tax revenue would increase significantly and likely by as much or more than they expect to receive from the wind farm. To my knowledge the Town has nothing in writing and no guarantee as to what will be paid to the Town in lieu of taxes, so how do you make a decision in favor of the project when you don’t even know how much they will pay? Why should our Town give a huge tax exemption to non-resident, outside wealthy investors at all? Why shouldn’t these projects pay their fair share of taxes just like the rest of us?

Finally, Supervisor Walker continues to provide misleading information. From the June 20^th meeting: Mr. Walker has repeatedly stated that NYS Dept. Of Environmental Conservation (DEC) would be involved in the proposed project and would require environmental review in accordance with SEQRA. FACT - DEC has no jurisdiction over the proposed project and therefore cannot require compliance with SEQRA. When asked if wind generators could be excluded, Mr. Walker’s response was it would end up in court. FACT - Towns all over the state have excluded specific uses from their communities, including several that have excluded industrial wind farms. No court has overturned these exclusions. The only uses that cannot be excluded are adult entertainment, low income housing and cell towers.

In view of the futility of trying to reason with certain self absorbed Town Board members I offer them my deepest heartfelt non-appreciation.

A FINAL THOUGHT - Wind Power will do at least as much to solve the energy crisis as man with flatulence on the moon.

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