Corning Leader: Opponents demand investigation into wind farms

[CWW]

Opponents demand investigation into wind farms - Corning, NY - The Corning Leader

JSNews2 days ago
You do not have to dig very deep to discover that industrial wind projects do almost nothing to reduce global warming or property taxes. I encourage you to discover the real truths about Industrial Wind Turbines rather than make ignorant comments about people whining, when in fact these people you label whiners are looking out for your best interest, too.

Dale R2 days ago
CWW -- keep up the good fight! It's people like you who will make a difference in the long run against the greed infested, fraud filled wind energy scam. We're fightng them tooth and nail here in Texas, too. Some day the average American will understand what a colossal hoax the wind energy scam has been. Just like the collapse of Enron, this house of cards will also come crashing down.

JSNews2 days ago
Anyone have ideas on how the truth about Industrial Wind Power can get to the masses?
Right now, the vast majority of people think that Industrial Wind Power is good and green, will save our planet from CO2 emissions, reduce our need for foreign oil, on and on.......I thought so, too, until about five weeks ago when I started to research for the truth. Most people do not realize what a scam Industrial Wind is. Somehow, someway, this madness has to stop.
In principle it is simple. Take away the massive energy subsidies, tax credits and carbon credits (read all of our taxpayer and ratepayer monies) and the Industrial Wind companies would be gone with the wind; unreliable as it is.
The problem is that so many people and those that are in government of all levels have been bamboozled and or have been corrupted by energy and wind lobbyists giving out misinformation and withholding information.
So, how do we stop the madness?

Virginia2 days ago
Energy subsidies, tax credits and carbon credits are all the industrial wind power people are interested in. They don't care about environmental factors or whether the people whose land they take will benefit. It all comes down to stealing the working peoples money. Our government in Washington is just as much to blame as local officials, maybe more. They dole out money to these people. Money that comes out of our pockets. I live in a small county in SW Virginia. I am so proud of our small -town board of supervisors who voted against wind farms.

Sarah2 days ago
People have such a misconsept of what is actually happening with these wind turbines. The people that have positive opinions for them have definitely not done their homework. Everyone says that they will lower taxes. If that is the case, then how come mine went up? And over $30,000. assessed value. I have done nothing to my place. People also don't realize that if the wind companies were made to pay their share of fair taxes on each turbine erected, we wouldn't be paying the taxes that we are paying now. Especially school taxes. I urge all of the people that think these wind turbines are going to be so great and save so much money to do their homework. Check out the web sites, read them carefully. Not just the ones from Cohocton but all of the ones from other places that have put them up and see what the people living with them have to say about taxes, etc. I'm sure that after you read them you may have a different opinion. You should be thankful that there are people that are willing to fight for your rights.

Gerry2 days ago
Wind is nothing more than a feel good energy source. The return is to small to invest any amount of tax payers money in. Face it this is another Enron scam that destroys communities and runs property values. For a cost of one of these wind turbines farmers could put a methane digester in , or a palletized to handle paper waste grass and wood. What about upgrading hydro plants? When turbines come on line it usually the time when demand is low, coal plants are but in there idle mode and pollute even more. Hydro is shut down, for wind makes no sense. Turbines kill rap tors.

Constance2 days ago
It is old (and now, common) knowledge that wind turbines have no substantial postive effect on anybody or anything. It does not generate enough electricity. Wind turbines have hurt communities economically; and pose a great safety threat to citizens, animals and the environment. Wind farms are also supported by costly,dishonest and unethical means. Informed and concerned people have decided to stop this wind power madness-----it is the only LOGICAL thing to do.

charlie from cohocton1 day ago
Why has France and Denmark stopped subsidizing "windfarms" ? They have found out that they are not reliable, are not cost effective and if they do produce electricity, it costs 3 to 4 times more than fossil fuel or hydro power. The wind industry has run out of suckers in Europe. That is why they are here in the USA. Our State and Federal Government have been hoodwinked by the foreign wind companies. This is not about GREEN POWER. This scam is about money...billions of our taxpayers dollars going overseas with nothing in return for these "windfarms". Why do you think Iberdrola is so hot to purchase Energy East? They could care less about giving us ratepayers cheap, clean, reliable power. They want to inundate the Eastern seaboard with "windfarms". That is where the money is. BIG MONEY! It is time to wake up people, we are being scamed big time. Wind Farms grow GREEN DOLLARS dollars for the Foreign Investors.
Alexandra1 day agoI am in the process of putting the 15 years of wind energy production records into pdf form and am going to email them to windaction.org, wind-watch.org and send them to any reporters that write about wind energy if they have an e-mail. Anyone is also welcome to distribute them to whomever they wish. If you wish to have a copy... e-mail me at bobweit@msn.com." />

JSNEWS... I am in the process of putting the 15 years of wind energy production records into pdf form and am going to email them to windaction.org, wind-watch.org and send them to any reporters that write about wind energy if they have an e-mail. Anyone is also welcome to distribute them to whomever they wish. If you wish to have a copy... e-mail me at bobweit@msn.com.

Katherine Bush 1 day ago
As Deputy Supervisor for the town of Springwater, NY, I cannot get over the fact that Harold McConnell chose NOT to recuse himself from voting on the Eminent Domain Resolution even though he publicly admitted he had dealings with (then) UPC in the past AND was asked by a fellow board member to do so. My disappointment in Mr. McConnell for the choice he made has nothing to do with being FOR or AGAINST wind. The fact that he chose to vote was inexcusable. In future, he may want to take a peek at his TOWN LAW MANUAL pages 181, 182 and 183 before making such an important decison.
jonezi1 day ago REC's are a gimmick where certificates are issued representing an amount of electricity produced by a wind project - power already generated and sold to the utility company. The REC is then sold to a customer who can claim they are buying "green" power, even thought that power was already bought and used by someone else (and would have been whether the credits were issued or not). Meanwhile the REC buyer has not cut consumption of coal or gas generated energy at all or reduced any emissions. Yet they claim to be purchasing 50 per cent or whatever of their power from renewable sources. This is typical of the Enron smoke and mirrors approach to business, and that approach permeates industrial wind development - the hype doesn't match the facts at all. -Yet another reason why we should run as fast as we can in the other direction! " />
REC's are a gimmick where certificates are issued representing an amount of electricity produced by a wind project - power already generated and sold to the utility company. The REC is then sold to a customer who can claim they are buying "green" power, even thought that power was already bought and used by someone else (and would have been whether the credits were issued or not). Meanwhile the REC buyer has not cut consumption of coal or gas generated energy at all or reduced any emissions. Yet they claim to be purchasing 50 per cent or whatever of their power from renewable sources. This is typical of the Enron smoke and mirrors approach to business, and that approach permeates industrial wind development - the hype doesn't match the facts at all. -Yet another reason why we should run as fast as we can in the other direction!

Lenny1 day ago
Charlie from Cohocton is right on with his comments.
If polititions really wanted to use renewable energy they would take away all wind tax breaks and put all that money plus more into building nuclear power plants. They are the most efficient, use a small amont of space (land) compared to even a small wind factory, are the safest and run 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
Why would a farmer or other land owner be so greedy to take $5200 (in my area that is what Invergy pays the farmer) and risk the anger and health of his neighbors. Why would a farmer be so greedy or ignorant that he would not hire an experienced attorney to go over the 36 pages of legalese in the contract. Do they know that they are giving the energy company complete control of their land for 30 years and that they need to ask the energy company for permission to plant trees or put up a building because it may effect air flow to the turbine. I know that much from only the first 2 pages of the contract. Don't you think you pay enough in property taxes on your land, but you would be willing to still pay those high taxes and give the land rights to the energy developer? Have you gone into a wind factory to hear the sound? I have a turbine 1560 feet from my house. I have 5 turbines that I can hear within 5/8 of a mile. I can hear the furthest one inside my well insulated house at times. My wife has had headaches and my 13 year old son has told his teachers, principal, psychologist and us that his head is spinning 100 miles and hour. Before you say wind turbines are needed or safe or what ever, please do a LOT of research and go out and talk with people that live inside a wind farm. Don't just buy into the global warming hoax. Do you know that there is about 55,000 pounds of rebar in the foundation of the turbine? Do you know there is about 300 yards of concrete? Do you know there is about 395,000 pounds of steel and other materials above the ground plus the fuel to move all the dirt, dig in the electrical conduit system and the hundreds workers needed to erect a wind farm. If you believe in the carbon footprint deception don't you think that producing the turbines adds a lot to that problem?

Jim B10 hours ago
I've read all 49 comments and could not find one cogent utterance in defense of the turbines. Amazed that so many caring, generous and intelligent people are blackballed from the political process because of the thunderous act of betrayal on the part of our elected officials. SCIDA should draw special scorn for their shabby "business" practices and cowardly enforcement of specious rules that allow no opportunity for discussion from concerned citizens. Corporate wind energy is a shame. But we've all been at the teat of entertainment while these creeps have grown like mold in your basement. We wake up only after we have been run over...are we awake now? For evil to succeed good people need do nothing.

[spadlet]

I don't understand why people think they are evil. Fair enough is the scepticism about them being the saviour of everything. I certainly got annoyed when some Socailist Alliance representative said they should be put 'everywhere' at a hustings. But any bad effects are more about inappropriate siting. The visual impact only lasts as long as the wind turbine is there, it's isn't permanent.

Serious damage is when they are located in sensitive habitats that are totally destroyed by the creation of the access road, construction traffic etc. It shouldn't have a significantly detrimental effect on a field used for sheep/cattle etc pasture.

Surely they are more a benign electricity generation method, when sited properly, rather than a particulary good or malignant one?

[LMagic007]

Surely most if not all power generation technologies have positives and negatives. Yes I think CWW's post here, seems to highlight rather extreme views and appears grossly biased and thus unfairly representative of fact in every instance. Sounds like a voice we've heard before.

[CWW]

LMagic007 Moderator,

The press report is about demanding a DA criminal investigate on wind development corruption. Surely, when laws and continually broken, enforcement authorities have a responsibility to hold a grand jury investigation. If that is an extreme view for you, maybe you are missing the basic point.

James Hall

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by CWW

LMagic007 Moderator,

The press report is about demanding a DA criminal investigate on wind development corruption. Surely, when laws and continually broken, enforcement authorities have a responsibility to hold a grand jury investigation. If that is an extreme view for you, maybe you are missing the basic point.

James Hall

Oh, right. All of the stuff you quoted was peoples' reactions, which appeared to be about wind turbines in general. If you had said something about the link you posted being about corruption within the wind turbine industry I would have taken the time to follow the link and read the article (which I have now done and found very interesting, thanks ). As it was I got the general impression that it was another page of people arguing about whether wind tubrines should be built or not and thus didn't check out the link.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by CWW

LMagic007 Moderator,

The press report is about demanding a DA criminal investigate on wind development corruption. Surely, when laws and continually broken, enforcement authorities have a responsibility to hold a grand jury investigation. If that is an extreme view for you, maybe you are missing the basic point.

James Hall

Indeed they do. I agree totally that any corruption from any activity in any industry should be dealt with appropriately.

It's evident the views in the post are quite strong and in some cases the language used does seem somewhat biased rather, than balanced and rational. There are generalizations in the article that cannot be seen as totally accurate in all cases. It also has to be borne in mind that the renewable energy penetration is still quite small, although growing very fast. We have a long way to go before renewables like wind energy will be seen as main stream energy technology and there will be its share of teething problems as with other new technology.

e.g.; of some generalizations;

industrial wind projects do almost nothing to reduce global warming or property taxes.

what a colossal hoax the wind energy scam has been

It is old (and now, common) knowledge that wind turbines have no substantial postive effect on anybody or anything.

etc..........

I don't entirely agree with these statements, because they are blanket statements. If wind energy can one day provide 20% of energy, I think it's well worth the pursuit.

There is also allot of whinging and whining from people about tax credits by people that simply come across as ignorant, particularly about the history of tax credits for the fossil fuel industry over generations and overlooking the imperative for the world to develop clean affordable energy for the long term.

Obviously governments and industry feel that the case against renewable energy and wind energy in particular is weak, otherwise they would not approve the developments. Thus you can blame your government if you are dissatisfied. Hopefully, you did not vote for them.

[brianidaho]

I have nothing against wind power as such, however, wind power generation should be treated like any other industrial process.

1) Eliminate subsidies and tax breaks. Long term, this will be the best thing for the industry since it will force them to be competative with other power generation methods.

2) Ensure that they are sited in areas zoned industrial. Calling a collection of turbines a "wind farm" is dishonest-they are an industrial process and should be treated accordingly. They don't belong in rural areas sandwiched between residences. If they are so "benign" locate them in densly populated urban/suburban areas.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by brianidaho

I have nothing against wind power as such, however, wind power generation should be treated like any other industrial process.

1) Eliminate subsidies and tax breaks. Long term, this will be the best thing for the industry since it will force them to be competative with other power generation methods.

2) Ensure that they are sited in areas zoned industrial. Calling a collection of turbines a "wind farm" is dishonest-they are an industrial process and should be treated accordingly. They don't belong in rural areas sandwiched between residences. If they are so "benign" locate them in densly populated urban/suburban areas.

1. Fossil fuel power generation has received tax breaks ever since the industry began. Level the playing field first. On top of which the clean renewable energy targets imperative further increases the need for favored treatment for renewable energy. Carbon tariffs the sooner the better.

2. That's the farmers choice to allow them on their land. They get paid well for them. The rest is subjective opinion. The required wind resource is not in built up areas.

[CWW]

brianidaho,

We agree. Regret that the "true believes" in the worship of the wind religion miss, ignore or totally shut out the empirical evidence that clear demonstrates that industrial scale wind technology produces so little useable electricity that investing in such an unreliable method is the true IRRATIONAL action.

Why can’t proponents of alternative energy focus on practical and meaningful methods? The wind industry in the US is the next evolution of the Enron scheme to defraud the public under the myth that that just calling itself “GREEN” makes it immune from scrutiny.

Sell REC credits to another state for electric generation that never was created is violation of the law and a fraud be any definition. (Steelwinds Lackawanna, NY)

The comments posts just illustrate that the people who live and are affected by industrial turbines sited so close to their residences are real victims of corporate/government scams to change the electric ratepayer for all the subsidies that will go in the pockets of foreign companies like Iberdrola.

Folks, PLEASE use your God Given MINDS and see through the press releases and examine the economics and the inefficiency of industrial wind turbines in areas where the wind patterns do not have sufficient velocity to produce significant electricity.

LMagic007, as moderator examine the evidence available on the CWW site and review the Citizen Power Alliance site that takes a pragmatic viewpoint on alternative energy so that technology that make sense will receive broad based support while protecting the general public and the taxpayers.

In our area many politicians support the wind industry because they are profiting from the cash that is being passed around. The next wind bubble will make Enron look like small by comparison.

James Hall

[brianidaho]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

1. Fossil fuel power generation has received tax breaks ever since the industry began. Level the playing field first. On top of which the clean renewable energy targets imperative further increases the need for favored treatment for renewable energy. Carbon tariffs the sooner the better.

2. That's the farmers choice to allow them on their land. They get paid well for them. The rest is subjective opinion. The required wind resource is not in built up areas.

I agree with you with respect to leveling the playing field with respect to tax breaks, they should be eliminated for both alternative and fossil fuel production methods. I disagree with the carbon tariff however...it's another con job designed to line someone's pockets, while penalizing those who actually produce something.

With respect to the farmer's choice, zoning is a suitable method of control. I'm a strong supporter of property rights, however they are not absolute in all cases. For example, if a farmer wanted to site a hazardous waste site on his property he would be prohibited due to the impact on others. No difference with power generation. Would you be as in-favor of your neighbor for example locating a coal-fired power plant on his property?