So What's The Difference In The Pictures????

I put these two pictures in a post below and asked if anybody could find the difference between them.  So did anybody find the difference?

PICTURE A

                                                                            PICTURE B 

Probably not because picture A and B are the exact same picture posted twice. There is no difference… and that is my point. 

Picture A would be the on site result of the Cape Vincent zoning committee’s new zoning law dealing with industrial wind… a “defacto ban” as zoning committee member Mr.Cullen referred to it.  When they went to Syracuse their zoning attorney said they were doing a great job so I am assuming that he approves of a restrictive setback approach that would eliminate industrial wind turbines in Cape Vincent.  Picture A  depicts the result of that, unless they have something else in mind.

Picture B is depicts the on site results of prohibiting turbines directly instead of the setback approach. Same science, same research, same evidence, same studies to support prohibiting turbines directly as to support the setback approach.

So I can hear some of you saying…”OK Pundt, there are NO turbines in A so what is your problem?” 

My problems is that the real difference is picture A  does not address many of the big problems of industrial wind development.  Like the outrageous subsidies for no real return.  The pathetic capacity factors that make wind so unreliable and pointless as an energy source.  It does not address the unethical and faulty business model of the wind companies.  It does not address directly the commitment to protect the spectacular viewsheds of the region because all the setbacks are based on studies of other impacts. It does not address that wind energy is nearly a complete failure to address our climate issues. It does not address the  cumulative impacts that are  regional, since our A wind law result is for our little corner of the world and does not address the big picture. After all aren't these the very things other blogs have been repeatedly been screaming about?  The bottom line is result A is a cop out to appease Article X and not address the fact that the State is taking away your home rule rights.  Result A only addresses the local impacts that may or may not be addressed by setbacks, and makes no statement of the much larger issues.  The A result gives tacit approval to wind energy as viable as long as it has sufficient setbacks when in fact setbacks don’t address that it’s a tax payer funded scam! Result A further enables wind developers everywhere. It enables wind developers to put their scam in more remote pristine places like is happening in the West because the other issues might not be present like in a more population dense area like NY or CV. So once again as we are bitching about down state money interests politics pushing  the wind scam and on us in a more rural area…then we just push it further out of view to pristine places like certain places in the West for example because it’s OK if the setbacks are right.  That is a reckless irresponsible approach, to just make it somebody else’s problem, as long as MY house values don’t decline.  That is basically the CV zoning process mantra and it is not responsible in the larger view.  That is not the perspective I have from fight wind development both East and West.

My fear is also that if you start down the road of picture A  of zoning setbacks only and no statement on the wind scam itself and visual issues and the lack of science behind it, that as we run a round scared desperately  grasping for compromise and appeasement to Article X, with no definitive stand, then minds can be manipulated to end up accepting pictures like C below in our own town…or picture D to enable it to be some one else’s problem where the lame setback excuse don't matter.  You make it much harder for us to fight the wind scam here where we have large open pristine  areas and viewsheds by giving credibility to the idea that setbacks are all that matters and not standing up for the other issues that PROVE wind energy to be a scam.

                   

              PICTURE C      Well don't ya think just a few would be OK to appease Article X?

                                                                    PICTURE D  

Provincial setback thinking  leads to this!!! Just as long as it's somebody else's problem we don't have to address the REAL science that proves it's a scam! These two pictures are the direct result of zoning setback thinking like this ( see link below) that ignores  the actual evidence that proves wind is scam and that enables the wind developers to just keep peddling there useless invasive product on unsuspecting people and govts.
If our govt prohibits maybe it will set an example for another govt to wise up and prohibit instead of saying, well they seemed to use setbacks...maybe we can too, and the scam goes on!!!  Does the buck stop anywhwere any more on this type of insanity.  That is why we are in the mess we are in in this country...just keep endorsing what we know are basically big scams.

                         http://www.wwnytv.com/news/local/Cape-Vincent-Supervisor-Urban-Hirschey-Wins-Republican-Primary-129775248.html

 And what about science.  Those of us who outright oppose industrial turbines in CV are always accused of being irrational and using no science (which is not true).  But what about the setback crowd? How come you can’t see the science such as presented by. utility companies. grid managers, existing real world wind experience, and people like  physicist  John Droz who spoke in CV and has been presented on both the other CV blogs.  All these credible sources present very convincing evidence that wind in the large energy climate picture is a failure with NO actual science behind it including economically.  Like our large AZ utility APS that met its renewable "obligations" and just walked away from wind energy because they said it was unreliable, nor cost effective and did not meet peak demand. This is a utility that has to actually deal with wind energy 24/7/365.  So why are you ignoring THAT science? the John Droz  mentioned above is the same one  Mr. Hirschey tried to keep WPEG from inviting to CV.  I guess your “science” is a bit short sighted and biased, and goes only as far as you political allegiances, and not to address the much more serious energy issue. So much for your “science”.  The credible people in CV that truly oppose industrial wind have looked in detail at ALL the science and research…not just what matches their setback wind enabling  agenda.

And finally look at it from the wind developer’s point of view.  When a wind developer looks at the two pictures he is going to see one thing NO TURBINES ALLOWED.  He isn’t going to go over and kiss the town board and zoning committee on the forehead and say “  WOW I read your science and research , and you guys are absolutely right… I agree with your zoning law…but those prohibit people are really off the wall!!!”

That is what is really going to count in the A-10 , court debate.  So why not stand up and take the stance that applies ALL the science, and looks at it from a less provincial view .Stand up and stop sending a message of appeasing wind developers and politicians who are trying to take away our rights and destroy our communities, so appeasement doesn’t  enable them  to walk the scam right into another community or region essentially with our backing and consent.  That is also the idiotic backward thinking when people say Pundt other seasonals  shouldn’t have any say in CV, they don’t live here. And that is not all coming from the pro wind side either.  I am an American tax payer and concerned about our energy and climate problems.  Maybe you haven’t noticed that CV is actually connected to the rest of the world, especially right now and is a big player in the entire wind debate.  Just look at the world map on the other blogs and see who is watching over our shoulder. What we do here has BIG implications and I don’t think even the tacit  message should be wind energy is OK, and to hell with all you other people watching. To bad suck it up on your own. Small minds see small limited solutions that only effect their immediate interests!!!

Picture A and B look deceptively the same, but that my friends is the BIG difference between the two pictures if you didn’t see it.

Watch Out For the Blog Piranha - They Have Been Whipped Into A Desperate Feeding Frenzy

The blog commenters are in a snit and desperate panic over on  the Cape Vincent JLL blog today.

http://www.jeffersonleaningleft.blogspot.com/

They having to resort to outright bald faced lies to make their distorted points.

Since I can’t address the comments on Wiley’s blog I will address them here.

One person says I have a WPEG donors list and will soon release the list.  Well I hope you don’t stay up nights watching my blog  waiting for it.  I don’t have a WPEG list, I don’t recall ever really closely looking at one.  I was mostly involved in the legal stuff. I don’t have one to release, and if I did I wouldn’t release it anyhow  

So what is this…it’s a LIE!

Next is a person who claims that myself and other want to ban everything in CV, especially anything industrial. Now Wiley started them down this road.  He brings some of his faith blog piranha just up to the surface, and throws them just the right amount of raw meat that he knows will make them crazy and stop them from thinking, then steps back as they go into a mindless, spineless nameless feeding frenzy!

 Find anywhere that I have said I am opposed to ALL industrial uses in CV. You will be wasting time if you take that challenge.  I AM NOT opposed to ALL industrial uses or reasonable compatible businesses or growth. Neither are other people I talk to that are opposed to wind turbines.  This requires that you be mostly brain dead to make that gigantic leap of logic.  Of course Wiley knows full well I or others are not against ALL industrial uses but is not going to step in and tell the truth. to set the record straight.  He either doesn’t have the intellect to recognize these are outright LIES, or have the credibility to correct what he knows are LIES, or he would just a soon in desperation perpetuate the LIES, to keep up his blog readership because there is another blog in town, and people are reading it.

So what is this…it’s another LIE!

Now here is another comment.from JLL.

“The wind ban movement in the Cape is being directed by a man who only spends a few weeks a year in town”

I spend nearly 5 months in CV, not a few weeks and there is NO organized “ban” movement and I am not heading it. There may be some who agree with me and so be it.

So what is this…it’s another LIE!

But here is the real thing to consider when you choose to read the JLL blog and the comments.  Wiley blocks my comments and some in my defense…OK that is what it is.  But here is the thing. Note that there isn’t one name on any comments that attack me or others. One guy says to Google me.  Well you know WHY you can do that?  Because I put my NAME on things I believe in whether it be search and rescue or fighting the wind battle.

What Wiley allows and endorses on his  JLL blog on the other hand  is like the school yard bully who stands by providing cover while the other spineless kids who wouldn’t stand up on their own or say their name take shots and know they are safe and if the debate gets out of their intellectual capacity, they can run for cover and be safe on the JLL blog,   That would be because the real world is probably too scary if they had to come up with their own coherent thoughts and ideas.

But do you want to see what the real problem is…well look below at the chart.  This is a chart of my blog activity since it opened about 2 months ago. 

It is increasing at a regular rate.  People ARE reading although they may not be commenting.  Probably because JLL commenters know it’s the REAL world on my blog and not safe and they don’t get intellectually covered like at JLL.  They would be on their own without Wiley holding their hands. The real hoot is that Wiley several times said in his comments I should open my own blog. Well live with it.

Now consider this about JLL:

There is a lot of LYING going on particularly in the comments and sometimes in the posts when JLL says we want to ban everything in CV, or we are irrational, or do no science of research on our NO wind stance or are  radicals blah, blah, blah. He likes to say we are just having another NO wind hissy fit. None of that is anywhere near true. So why LIE about it. Has ne become that desperate?

If it’s not out right LYING then the facts get distorted about us. And when Wiley knows it’s LYING he doesn’t correct it he just perpetuates it.

And finally he provides cover for his attackers and himself so that if I or anyone who might think similarly as I do tries to correct the LIES  he blocks that process so accurate information that might show the truth never gets out there.  This is the level he and is faithful sheep must stoop to to protect themselves and apparently our new govt.

What are they / he are afraid of?  They are afraid that if you back off from the JLL hoopla for a couple seconds and distortion gravy  train and engage your brain independently you might just figure out what is going on and see through some of the LIES.  

Now consider…is this really a blog that you want to be reading as an accurate source of information on the critical issues we face in CV???

There seems to be a lot of LYING going on the blog of  one of the most rabid supporters of our new town board and zoning committees, and it NEVER gets corrected to seek the truth.  Members of our new govt  read this blog, some faithfully, and sometimes use this blog to comment. They used it to showcase their campaign at times before the last elections.  I don’t expect they would defend me, but the big question is…why are they participating and quietly endorsing  a blog where they clearly KNOW what is being said especially by commenters is an outright LIE! 

That poses an interesting question now doesn’t it?  To see if any of our responsible town officials who want to “heal” the community will step forward.   Let’s see if they realize that the LIES that are essentially being told on their behalf for their agenda is NOT a way to heal anything.  Watch closely and let’s seem if there will be any leadership by example by  our town govt on this one.  Remember that many of them read the JLL blog every day…they see EXACTLY what is going on, on their behalf. 

One CV govt was supported by LIES…we don’t need another one. So let’s see who does the responsible thing.

Now remember what I said about this in a previous post.  The more nasty and frequent the attacks get, the closer we are getting to the truth, and the more absurd the LIES have to become.

Somebody out there is squirming and getting real uncomfortable. I say read ALL the CV blogs. Just make sure you engage your brain when you do.

You Just Can't Get Away From Them - They Are Like Annoying Insects!

 It doesn’t matter where you go there always seems to some ass----! wind developer willing to screw up more pristine land for NOTHING.  I saw this tiny article crammed way down in the corner of our paper here in Flagstaff.  And WHO ELSE could it be…why of course our same good friends BP that are trying to screw up Ca BP e Vincent. This wind farm is not near Flagstaff but is NW of Kingman, AZ an area about 120 west of Flagstaff where we have camped numerous times.

Some might say, “Well who cares it’s out in the stinking desert.”  Well then let’s put them in Lake Ontario since there aren’t a lot of people out there either. The desert and our remote US lands are NOT the nation’s trash barrel, although some idiots that have never been there and understand the unique fragile environment think so. They are YOUR public lands. 

                                                  The US deserts are not ugly wastelands. 
                                  Wind developers and solar developers should not be crapping
                         up these places any more than they should Cape Vincent of the 1000 Islands.

California  Poppy Preserve in the high desert N. of Los Angeles

The endangered Desert Tortoise.  They are losing desert habitat at an alarming rate.

Looks like they just lost 47,000more acres.  Of course I am sure some will

go the the public hearing to complain!

The environmental conditions this creature must deal with are

 already severe. If you pick one up he may urinate,

 and that will eliminate much of his stored

water supply, and he could die soon after as a result

                                                The Virgin Mts. near Mesquite NV.

This wind farm will encroach on a wilderness, as well as the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and it starts to encroach on the lower reaches of Grand Canyon.  47,000 acres for WHAT?  Absolutely NOTHING. Screw up 47,000 acres with 283 useless wind turbines for a tax scam for an unethical foreign developer with a record of environmental disasters, for this wind complex  that will do NOTHING to solve our energy of climate issues. NOTHING!!!

That is why many of us out here in the WEST call the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)…the Bureau of Land Manglement !!!  Since your tax dollars are helping to make this wind farm possible AND you tax dollars are going to the BLM who is supposed to protect and manage that land and you would think should know better…we the American tax payer get DOUBLY SCREWED.  Actually it’s worse because if we decide to sue to protect our public lands we are going to pay for that too.  SO….

             BEND OVER ONCE AGAIN!!!!!

Since the BLM leases some public land to ranchers and miners etc…and now tax scamming wind developers apparently… I saw this sign on a fence post out in the Mojave Desert.

BP claims 500 megawatts for that 47,000 acres. But figuring capacity factors of about 25% that would equate to a paltry unreliable 125MW.  For comparison, the town of Cape Vincent encompasses about 36,000 acres according to our CV Comp Plan, and that includes the CV islands.  For more comparison the Palo Verde nuke plant in AZ near Phoenix is rated at 3800MW and sits on 4000 acres.  Wind Farms are such a pointless waste.

On a desert trip I saw this visitor come into our camp. 

 I thought it was a wind developer at first so I jumped back in horror. and got a shovel to remove him from the area.  I was confused because I remember stories of Acciona's Todd Hopper pulling out his shirt and mussing up his hair trying to fake he was just a regular guy and to blend in.  So I thought maybe this was just one more sneaky wind developer hack trying to blend in to the desert. Then I thought I could write  a wind law with setbacks so he will go away.   ButI calmed down when upon closer inspection I saw it was a just a tarantula.  So I let him go about his business, and I went about mine.

Unlike wind developers tarantulas are relatively harmless and respectful of their environment and others.  



See If You Can Find The Differences!

Remember when you were a kid and there was a kids magazine that had a brain teaser that asked you to pick out hidden items in an illustration or picture?  I guess you might have to be my age...don't know if that magazine is even around anymore.   Look very very carefully at the two photos below of our beautiful area scenery and see if you can pick out the differences and comment on it.  Is there a difference?  See if you can find any.  The answer will be in another post coming soon.

PICTURE A

                                                                       PICTURE B

Can Wind Turbines Cause Warming???

This interesting  article below was sent to me via email.  I noticed it was on ther blog JLL as well.  The basics are large areas of industrial wind farms could stir the air enough to mix the warm and cold layers particulalry at night.  The theory is this could lead to an overall warming effect in the atmosphere.  This remined my of something I saw in California once near Ventura when I read the last few lines of the article.

In the citrus groves near Ventura I once saw what looked like small wind turbines among the groves.  Actually they were giant fans that stirred the air at night during cold snaps to prevent frost damage to the crop. Basically the same effect as described in the article for large wind farms apparently.

Being in emergency services I know that helicopter pilots are not happy about the turbulance that can be cause near wind farms.

                       It also remined me of this spectacular picture.  Photo by Aeolus

Last Updated: 9:56PM BST 29/04/2012

Wind farms can cause climate change, according to new research, that shows for the first time the new technology is already pushing up temperatures.

Usually at night the air closer to the ground becomes colder when the sun goes down and the earth cools.

But on huge wind farms the motion of the turbines mixes the air higher in the atmosphere that is warmer, pushing up the overall temperature.

Satellite data over a large area in Texas, that is now covered by four of the world's largest wind farms, found that over a decade the local temperature went up by almost 1C as more turbines are built.

This could have long term effects on wildlife living in the immediate areas of larger wind farms.

It could also affect regional weather patterns as warmer areas affect the formation of cloud and even wind speeds.

It is reported China is now erecting 36 wind turbines every day and Texas is the largest producer of wind power in the US.

Liming Zhou, Research Associate Professor at the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University of New York, who led the study, said further research is needed into the affect of the new technology on the wider environment.

"Wind energy is among the world’s fastest growing sources of energy. The US wind industry has experienced a remarkably rapid expansion of capacity in recent years,” he said. “While converting wind’s kinetic energy into electricity, wind turbines modify surface-atmosphere exchanges and transfer of energy, momentum, mass and moisture within the atmosphere. These changes, if spatially large enough, might have noticeable impacts on local to regional weather and climate.”

The study, published in Nature, found a “significant warming trend” of up to 0.72C (1.37F) per decade, particularly at night-time, over wind farms relative to near-by non-wind-farm regions.

The team studied satellite data showing land surface temperature in west-central Texas.

“The spatial pattern of the warming resembles the geographic distribution of wind turbines and the year-to-year land surface temperature over wind farms shows a persistent upward trend from 2003 to 2011, consistent with the increasing number of operational wind turbines with time,” said Prof Zhou.

However Prof Zhou pointed out the most extreme changes were just at night and the overall changes may be smaller.

Also, it is much smaller than the estimated change caused by other factors such as man made global warming.

“Overall, the warming effect reported in this study is local and is small compared to the strong background year-to-year land surface temperature changes,” he added.

The study read: "Despite debates regarding the possible impacts of wind farms on regional to global scale weather and climate, modelling studies agree that they can significantly affect local scale meteorology."

Professor Steven Sherwood, co-Director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said the research was ‘pretty solid’.

“This makes sense, since at night the ground becomes much cooler than the air just a few hundred meters above the surface, and the wind farms generate gentle turbulence near the ground that causes these to mix together, thus the ground doesn't get quite as cool. This same strategy is commonly used by fruit growers (who fly helicopters over the orchards rather than windmills) to combat early morning frosts.”

Will Our New Comp Plan Be Watered Down???

Funny... just as I posted the post below about view I noticed over on Pandora's Box of Rocks that she has a post about Comp Planning.  Her husband sits on the zoning committee, and whatever they come up with must be in accordance ( by NYS law) with the new CV Comp Plan. 


Looks like she is softening us up for what's coming in the Comp Plan.  That it won't protect the very thing we hold as precious in CV...the spectacular scenery!!!  Well if that's the case then it opens the door wide for the zoning law to be weakened in terms of protecting our viewsheds. If you dilute the Comp Plan or make it so pointlessly vague, then you can get away with anything in your zoning and justify it.  Here comes the back peddling!!!  A quote from the PBR post


"However, although zoning ordinances can regulate development if adopted prior to project construction, even special zoning provisions may not necessarily entirely prevent wind energy development from occurring (Salkin and Donohue, 2005)".


If you can't prevent wind turbines and can only regulate them accodring to the PBR post, and that would be by either a "defacto ban" as the current zoning law is on wind or, by prohibiting them, then by logic you are going to get SOME to REGULATE.


And that is my fear...and that is where I think this is all heading!!!

Stop Whining About Your View!!!

                                        What?  You don't like your new country view? 

                        Sorry, suck it up, your new zonning law doesn't protect your view!!!

                                                                 Turbines on Wolfe Is.

Recently the town’s new zoning lawyer was reported as saying he can’t defend language in a law that would restrict or eliminate industrial wind turbines because of the way they look or that somebody doesn’t like them in their view.  Apparently he is not willing to defend Cape Vincent’s  many beautiful scenic view sheds. He just threw out much of what our current Comp Plan and Zoning actually are attempting to protect… VIEW. 

How does that play out for implementing a Property Value Assurance Guarantee  (PVA)  that the town board and zoning committee has been endorsing.  Seems to me that you just threw most of that right out the window!

When you talk about property values or what makes one property more attractive and valuable than the next, ever hear a realtor say the 3 things that make a property valuable or attractive for sale is   …Location…Location…Location!  Well in very large part what is factored into the value of  location is VIEW,  the very thing the zoning attorney says he won’t defend in a zoning law.

So if your zoning laws or Comp Plan won’t protect the VIEW because the attorney says it’s not defendable then what happens? You would no longer have that recourse to back a PVA claim.   If a person wants to move because they are disturbed by the view of wind turbines and can’t sell their home because nobody wants to look at the turbines, then what?  That is not a valid reason and the law and attorney  is saying so.   Seems to me the wind developer would say VIEW is not a valid reason to make a claim on a PVA and the attorney  and our laws would be backing up the wind developer!  The wind company could say that there are no guarantees in your zoning laws that protect your view, so when our turbines went up and screwed up your view and made your property nearly worthless…suck it up!!! We are not going honor a claim on that premise that your view is defendable and in fact we know were we can get an attorney that will defend our position!!!!

BP Ad In WDT - Better Go Back To The Blackboard!

I noticed this ad by BP in the WDT.  They sayin the 1st year the PILOT will be $1,700,000. But read their foot note carefully.

"* Based on a previouly approved tax structure for Jefferson County assuming the wind farm generates approximately 200 megawatts".  

So what's wrong with this picture?????

As I remember 200MW is what the full "nameplate capacity" or full capacity  of their new proposed wind project.

Now what do we know about wind farms?  In our area they are actually producing far less than max output because of their capacity factors of around 25% of potential output averged over a year.

So I guess BP would have to go back to the blackboard on this one.  A capacity factor of 25% would mean an actual annually averaged output of 50MW!!!  That would be 75% less output in reality.
Oooppps!!!!

And the ad has the same wind developer propoganda crap you see everywhere...same here in AZ.  The little girl in a field with wind turbines way in the distance.  So innnocent, so pure, so benign, so sweet.

AAAaaaaaaaa   PPPPUUUUUKKKKKEEEEEE!!!!!!

WHY ARE SOME PEOPLE LYING ?

Why are some people lying about the beliefs of others and myself who want to "prohibit" turbines".  Isn't that what we discovered the wind companies do?   So why are they using outright lies to support their agenda?What is the point of that?  Maybe we should ask that question as well along with what industrial uses are appropriate for CV.

There are suddenly some people in Cape Vincent that are supporting industrial solar as a solution.  In addition there are some that are claiming that those of us opposed to these ineffective industrial energy solutions like wind and solar (solar actually being WORSE and I will make that case in the post below  ) are absolutely opposed to anything in Cape Vincent, particularly anything industrial.  I can’t speak for others on this account but I was in support of the Metalcraft Marine in CV,for example  and applauded all the people who made that small industry possible including Mr. Hirschey.  I would not be opposed to other small industrial uses that can be mitigated to not destroy the unique scenic beauty of our region and make sense.   I have said before these are outright LIES and distortions and I don’t know why these people need to repeatedly use that approach to support  their case, or why people would use a source of information or consider it credible that does that.

Again, Why Solar In CV? - Solar Primer III - Get the FACTS

Wiley at JLL has claimed that CV is one of the sunniest places in NYS and he is getting that information from a Clayton based firm called Fourth Coast Inc. But that is like what a wind developer once told me that their wind farm would produce electricity 75 – 80% of the time. Meaning a 100MW wind farm could produce 1MW on any given day and still say it was producing electric power. It says NOTHING about actual performance.  It is a meaningless statistic and people should know better.

Is solar actually a good fit for Cape Vincent?  Look at the weather I posted below for the next 7 to 10 days for CV, Flagstaff, AZ, and south of Las Vegas NV. in the Mojave Desert where several large solar plants are operating or planned right now.  Not real encouraging for CV!!! 

Hope you aren’t  planning on running much solar for the next few days. PV panels will work on cloudy days but not very effectively…oh yeah then there is night too!!! Now I understand you can’t look at just 10 days out of 365 so let’s look at more information from an averaged annual point of view below. What about some weather facts?

Las Vegas NV

Avg. Annual precip - 4”

Annual Average possible % sunshine - 85%

Cape Vincent

Annual Avg. precip  -  38”  This precip has to come from somewhere and that would be cloudy sky!!!

Average annual possible % sunshine – 46%

Look at Yuma AZ way down in the SW part of AZ near Mexico

Precip - 3.2”

Possible sun  - 90%

What about 4^th Coast? Here is what shows up on Google for Fourth Coast:

Fourth Coast Inc - Solar, Wind and Geothermal Installers, Municipal ...

www.fourthcoast.com/Cached - Similar

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

Fourth Coast Inc is located in Northern New York - Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency and Conservation for residential, commercial, government sectors in ...

It appears that 4^th Coast is at least in part promoting personal solar and wind solutions, and I have no problem with that…remember as you read that I live in a passive solar house in N.AZ.  Their Website is informative…however you have to look at ALL of the site that Wiley has posted.  They are a site/company  promoting renewable energy, including wind according to Google.  That by itself is not necessarily bad but they are involved with not only personal systems apparently but it says commercial as well. That is that could be a  game changer.

But the important part to notice in this header.  They are a certified solar installer, and authorized dealer of solar equipment. So this is the choice Wiley makes  for unbiased information about solar input in Cape Vincent  and about the effectiveness of solar energy????

No I am not trying to marginalize 4th Coast, they may be a good company for solar or wind equipment, but do you think they might juust be a little biased??? That would be no different than asking BP if wind is a good energy and climate solution and do their turbines work well to that end. .  Are you kidding?????   Or talking to Carol Murphy’s Alliance for Clean Energy as to what they think about wind and solar.  That at would be the very same Carol Murphy that Wiley has been ranting against on for months, as a poor source of information.  If you use the link below to look at their site you will see right up front they are promoting solar for NY.

http://www.aceny.org/

So let’s look at some less potentially biased information about solar energy from the neutral U.S. Energy Information Administration that deals with energy FACTS as they are in reality.

Look at the information below.

Solar Capacity Factor  ( % of maximum capacity it will actually produce averaged annually:

23%   Actually worse than wind.  Research says solar capacity factors in the NE US are more like 14-17%  So in the NE 85% of the capacity is not available when averaged over a year…85%!!!  What if you ran a business and on average 85% of your work force didn’t show up????

Capital cost for PV solar:

Highest, more the double onshore wind!

Subsidies:

Over $24 per megawatt of production.  Worse than wind!

And the question is, does solar energy that is still intermittence actually shut down any polluting coal plants or dangerous nuke plants.  That answer is the same as for wind…NO, that generation  is not taken off line for either personal or industrial solar.  So why when you examine the FACTS are we suddenly so enthusiastic over solar, that in some ways makes even less sense that wind.

So why are we jumping on solar when in fact many of the base factors are WORSE than wind…and probably even more so if you factor in the NNY weather?

Let’s sum it up

1. Terrible capacity factors and production.

2. Outrageous subsidies. We have been throwing tax money at solar and wind for decades 

     and they still can’t contribute more than a miniscule amount to our energy production

      and nothing to our climate problems.

3. Marginal weather in CV.

4. Will not take us off domestic of foreign oil or give us energy independence.

5. Highest capital costs.

6. No climate impact since big power plants still  have to run in the background

7. Large surface area and habitat coverage for very little return.

So tell me again why JLL is  promoting this, especially on an industrial scale and especially when it is virtually the same as wind.  Does he have friends at 4th Coast?

Why is JLL using a solar equipment provider and installer who has $$$$ incentives as his source of information TO YOU.  I would be careful who and what you read if I were you!  We should be asking  4th coast what their actual numbers are for averaged annual solar capacity factors for CV, not how sunny it is.  Even in the sunniest places in the US like the SW deserts are only producing solar capacity factors of 20 – 25%.

As I have said I see no problem with personal solar or wind if done right and zoned .  But I think personal solar in NNY is very questionable economically and production wise.  Remember my pervious two posts you can go back and look at for information about my neighbor and his ACTUAL experiences with PV solar on his house if you would like some REAL info on the subject. Cost $42,000 before subsidies, $24,000 out of pocket.

5.1KW capacity, when cloudy it produces 1kw or less.

If you really want to conserve energy then there is one way to do it.  Get off the grid using personal solar and wind power plants and conservation so big power plants can actually shut down and not have to run in “spinning reserve”  I also know people who live of the grid out here, in AZ since we have so much remote land with NO grid..

And finally about my house look at the chart below from 4th Coast.  It shows that home heating is one of our largest energy uses and accounts for the largest chunk of our energy bills. That is why my house is design as it is.  It is passive solar to provide heating so that means I actually shut off the stream of nat. gas at times so I don’t use it as a fossil fuel and it therefore it is not polluting.

I will be watching to see if Wiley at JLL and his commenters actually put up some solar panels or go off the grid and  put their money where their mouths are.  Walk the walk not just talk the talk. After all 4^th Coast is right nearby and sells and installs the equipment, so let’s get crackin!!!

Heavy Information - Take a Break

                                      A lot of heavy information posted here the last couple days.

                                         Take a break and enjoy a few pics from our spectacular scenic region.

Cape Vincent Corn

Season's over...Sailboats up for the winter, Henderson Harbor.

Fall maple leaves, Cedar Point State Park, Cape Vincent.

                                                The Bounty on the St. Lawrence River

                            Navigation light in the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence River.

Artilce X Draft Regulations

Here is a Website where you can view the Artilce X draft regulations.

Note the section on Local laws and Ordinances

http://documents.dps.ny.gov/public/Common/ViewDoc.aspx?DocRefId={23F7B64C-93E0-4094-BC15-1B0944BA2458}

More Wind History - But Applied Directly To Today's Cape Vincent Wind Situation

Many of the local Cape Vincent wind historians show a laundry list of the events.  I am going to go further to show what I think are important focused portions of the history that we can learn from and show how they actually apply to today, based on my past experience in the battle.  Some of this is long but to understand it takes time and analysis you may not  get other places. 

On the Cape Vincent blog JLL  today he is referring people to a wind history. Not sure who has written this wind history, but it hits the key events well.  I know that K at the CV Pandora blog does pretty good CV wind histories as well.

These are overviews sometimes from people sitting on the outside. Would you like a little closer examination of a piece of wind history?  If so take a look at the link, documents and commentary below. 

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091204/NEWS03/312049958

Now look at the actual details of the law suit. The only one WPEG ever won. Can we learn somthing???

If you don't want to examine the court document below, go on to the commentary that follows for an explanantion  But if you want an actual  LEGAL wind history from the point of view of a good attorney, and what legally matters and what doesn't, then read on. You won't see this in other histories.   Note also that this attorney was sharp enough to include the petitioners names on the petition, not just WPEG.  WPEG's last "expert" attorney didn't do that and that got the case dismissed.  The yellow highlighting is mine from when I was studying the case. .

Before some of you go postal that I am revealing names and secret information, these documents and names are all public information.  If you get that upset go talk to the WDT because they have already reported many of the details.  I am just showing a closer perspective.

In Nov. 2009 Mr. Hirschey was elected Cape Vincent supervisor ousting Rienbeck, and Mr. Bragdon was elected to the town board replacing Joe Wood who was stepping down.  However, they still had no majority, because Mason. and Mason and Orvis were still in majority control. That was very close to what I predicted the election results would be, that WPEG would not get control of the board as they hoped.

This left Tom Rienbeck in a panic because he kept promising a wind law but never came through.  The 2008 wind law committee’s law was too restrictive because of Clif Schneider’s good sound work the he managed somehow to get into the law. We had numerous sometimes heated discussions on this law since good or bad it would take at least 2 wind conflicted votes to pass it which I thought was a disaster, and I was convinced that Rienbeck was not going to pass ANY LAW anyhow that restricted the wind developers in any meaningful way.  I was confident that when push came to shove he and the pro wind board would kill it some way…which he did, by just letting the 2008/09 wind law committee’s work fade into oblivion.

But now Rienbeck’s term was up in less that a month and he wanted to ram a wind developer friendly wind law down the community’s throat before he left office and still had a super majority. Problem is that it would require 1 wind conflicted vote of that old board, and 2 if you wanted a super majority. What is interesting to note is that Rienbeck’s’ wind friendly desperation law  stripped all Clif Schneider’s very restrictive sound work right out of it.  This verified what I said earlier that Rienbeck would not pass any law that was wind restrictive, and now we could see that and what he really wanted despite the previous work of the 2008/09 wind law committee. I had said that committee was a pro wind feel good sham suggested  by the Albany wind lawyers OWH. . The ploy to get around the conflicts was in part that if a law came out of a committee that was good for the wind developers, then it could be said that the “community” via this wind committee had tremendous input and deliberation and the conflicted board should vote on it because it was not their law they were just ding what the community wanted.  They were only passing what the “community” had recommended, and not for their own gain.  Very clever, but that dog don’t hunt!!!  What I said was that anything too restrictive would be killed one way or another by Rienbeck and his board, and that was exactly what happened.

So WPEG was in a justified panic with less than a month to put their candidates in office and have any impact on any wind law.  They sued the conflicted members of the old board in an Article 78 proceeding trying to keep Rienbeck’s  wind friendly law from passing because of conflicts.  For once they finally went right after the conflicts of interest, as they should have for a long long time. Funny that some members of WPEG and others like Dick MacSherry would have allowed their restrictive 2008 law to pass with wind conflicted votes (even a WPEG attorney as well as I thought that was a terrible  idea) if they could have gotten their way, but now they were challenging the  every same conflicted votes they would have allowed to pass their restrictive their law.

 How about a little consistency and no hypocrisy?  And people wonder why I was so frustrated with WPEG especially when they claim to be all about ethics, and ran their last 2011 candidates on ethics.  I guess ethics would not have been a big concern if they had gotten their law passed.  The frustrating thing was they would have let this ethics lapse pass…at the same time it was obvious their restricted law wasn’t even going to pass anyhow!!! So why wrap yourself up in that ethics mess at all, especially when your name is the Wind Power ETHICS Group!!!! They had such  tunnel on this restrictive set back sound wind law and on only one approach that I guess they couldn’t even see the obvious.  So are they doing the very same thing with THIS 2012 wind law,  Do they once again have blinders on caused by Article X and over commitment to only ONE approach and now being supported by the marginalization of anybody who sees it differently. Keeping in mind that the new 2012 zoning committee would not even take any of my no wind approach input.

Of course the other thing that sticks in my ethics craw is why former WPEG town officers including the petitioners on this suit, who now sit on the town board, have appointed previously and currently conflicted Karen Bourcy to the planning board, and another conflicted member to which I am not aware of any legal public disclosure.  You don’t see a damn thing said about that from Hirschey friendly supporters or blogs now do you!!! Are we looking at another lapse of judgment here?

 So why is this important now??? Because these same people and their judgment ( which may not have been very clear in the past ) and  their supporters are the same ones driving the current wind zoning process saying the zone out by set backs process is the ONLY way to approach this issue. Keeping in mind that the previously law attempt was also a set back attempt and they were real confused about ethics related to wind laws. Keeping in mind that the attorney back then had to clear it up that a conflict was a conflict and it didn’t matter what the wind law said!  His clear message was that you either go after the conflicts or you don’t but you have to be consistent, you can’t have it both ways.  AND he pointed out something CRITICAL.  He said (I’m paraphrasing here)  “ How can I defend you if one minute your are against conflicts, and the next you aren’t because you think they will pass your law”. You gotta decide what you want”   He said “ I can’t defend that, and the other side would tear me apart in court with an approach like that.”

A couple people in the meeting said that yeah but we have the BEST sound “experts” and we will bury the other side in court. Our attorney pointed out that if you go to court and you think you have it all wrapped up with your experts…that is a real risky approach based on his fiest hand experience in many court cases..  Although I had several debates with this attorney over time, ad we didn’t always agree I thought he really had his act together.   My response was…”well thank you Mr. Attorney for finally bringing some sanity to this debate, that has been what I have been trying to say for months!!!”

  So maybe it would be wise to pay real close attention now to our board and committees and their “experts”.

Now I had no part in this law suit. I was out of WPEG but still talked to the players, even on this suit. However, as I read the court petition it was very familiar.  Much of the stuff in the suit was from a lot of documentation and research I had previously sent this lawyer on the CV conflicted wind mess. . But calm down… no I wasn’t the only one, but I sent him a lot of stuff and explanations of the CV fiasco.  Previously Mr. Hirschey then WPEG’s leader  directed me to forward all my research on the conflicts etc to this attorney.   I thought he was the best lawyer WPEG had ever hired, and I enjoyed the times I worked with him.

Here is something not many people know in the CV wind history.  In fact when the Wiley / King cartel passed their illegal voter law to try to prohibit seasonals from voting I called this attorney right away, and asked if his firm would take the case if any seasonal was actually aggrieved. I had at least two backers with me. I don’t know but I think we may have been the only ones who sought serious legal council and were ready to take action on it.   They said they would defend us if somebody actually attempted to keep us from voting. In the end he said that since the board of elections and the NY AG declared the law unconstitutional and guaranteed us that we could vote with out incident, he said our problem apparently was solved, but would pursue it if we were actually denied.  Knowing this attorney I doubt they would have taken on a case they thought they couldn’t wind.

Ultimately under the direction of this attorney WPEG got a settlement that the old board would take no action on any wind law until the new board was seated in Jan. 2010, and they attacked the conflicts in this suit.  Actually this is the only law suit of 3 WPEG would win against the conflicted town officers.  Good attorney that was a litigator…not an environmental attorney, and a direct attack on the conflicts that are the root of the actual problem and always have been.  No court debate over sound or birds or SEQR studies.   Geee I don’t know is there any message here, maybe one we could use in the future????  In the wind history the 2 times we put a big legal dent in the pro wind armor it was with this attorney, and that is jut part of his story …and WPEG on their last suit let him slide away. GO FIGURE!!!

 I am not an attorney, and I and others are accused of being amateur attorneys.  Well I can judge performance and what works effectively, and you don’t have to be a genius or “expert” to figure that out.