Cuomo, state government make lakeshore target for wind energy companies
Editor:
I fear not the wind. It is great on a hot summer day but not so great when it is blowing loose soil off farm fields at planting time. It is also annoying when blasting snow across open ground and creating hazardous driving conditions.
I do fear the government of New York state for the rules and regulations they foist upon us. Governor Cuomo wants 50 percent of the state’s electricity output to be from green energy sources by the year 2030. And the verdant shores of Lake Ontario are a prime target for the “harvest the wind” companies.
Apex Clean Energy has arrived with suitcases full of cash to persuade large landowners to host an Industrial Wind Turbine for the next 30 years. It is profitable for Apex and also for the host. But who else?
Apex used to send me flyers boasting of the monetary benefits of these giant machines. Will there be cash to Yates? Will there be cash to the LCSD? There certainly will be none to the Village of Lyndonville.
Apex admitted that there will be no reduction in the rates for a Kwh. Harvesting the wind costs mega dollars and they must sell the output to pay everybody with a hand out. Apex will also receive a subsidy from the American taxpayer at the same time.
Apex wants to install approximately 140 turbines in Niagara and Orleans counties. How MANY must be built to achieve Cuomo’s goal of 50 percent? In the meantime, the governor has agreed to subsidize the nuclear power industry.
Oh yes, proponents also talk of climate change or some euphemism to indict humans for destruction of the planet’s atmosphere. I can guarantee that my children are not worried about the production of carbon dioxide.
Who of the proposed leaseholders lists reduction of greenhouse gases as the primary reason to take farmland out of production? Not one would do it for free.
James Tuk
Lyndonville
