Forum on Lighthouse Wind was welcome relief from rants by opponents of project

Editor:

Hurrah For Apex!

Tuesday evening’s forum conducted by Apex Clean Energy was a real winner for proponents of the New York’s Article 10 process. The Virginia developer certainly has kept its first stringers on board to see this project through. The forum at Lyndonville School’s public auditorium was a welcome relief from the stridency and boorish behavior that usually prevails when two or more S.O.S. types congregate.

Unveiling for the first time the proposed locations of the wind turbines, the presentation was a model for how public meetings should be conducted. Embarrassing rants by local politicians and assorted clean energy opponents were nowhere to be heard at this meeting. Just honest, rational assessments of the advantages and the disadvantages of completing this ambitious project.

The reduction in the number of wind mills from the original 70 or 80 to the current 47 is overwhelming good news for the entire Yates and Somerset communities. The doomsday scenarios painted by S.O.S. are quickly fading.

As a Yates taxpayer, I’m hoping the current Yates board will renegotiate the ill-conceived blank check given to the Supervisor to pay 50 percent of burgeoning legal bills aimed at killing the project. If he can’t get Yates’ share down to less than 20 percent, the Yates board should kill the deal outright. It’s clear that Somerset, with its fat coffers from the coal-fired power plant taxes era, is in a better position to pick up the entire tab.

Hopeful citizen,

Ralph E. Smith

Lyndonville