Apex ignores clear opposition to project in pushing for MET tower in Yates

(Editor’s Note: This letter was originally shared during a public hearing Aug. 10 in Yates for a proposed meteorological tower.)

Editor:

First, I’d like to thank the board for providing an open hearing so that we have the opportunity to share our thoughts with you.

I encourage the board to deny this application from APEX for an additional MET Tower. The basic fact here is that they want MET Towers to help them better place industrial turbines in excess of 600′ in our beautiful community. What APEX is clearly ignoring is that this project is not wanted by the great majority of our community! Why would we willingly do anything to help them with an unwanted project?

We were told a few years ago at a public meeting in Somerset by project manager Dan Fitzgerald that APEX would not place a project where it was not wanted. That was clearly a lie. How else do you explain the fact that APEX has ignored five different surveys, two town elections, and the resolutions passed by three counties, and two town boards?

I’d also like to point out the following organizations that have come out in opposition or expressed concerns regarding the siting of this project in Yates and Somerset: The American Bird Conservancy, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Orleans County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, the Hawk Migration Association of North America, the Niagara County Board of Health, the Genesee-Orleans Board of Health, the Rochester Birding Association, the Genesee Valley Audubon Society, the Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists, Save the River, the Nature Conservancy, The Niagara Chamber of Commerce, and the WNY delegation of the NYS Senate and House.

It’s time for APEX to acknowledge their mistake; they chose an area that is too populated; an area rich in wildlife, natural scenic beauty, and tourism. A place too close to the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and a place in the middle of one of the largest migratory bird flyways in North America.

It is time to heed the concerns expressed by so many. It is not time to build a second MET Tower. It is time to leave.

Donn Riggi

Lyndonville