Cumulative Evidence

Readers may wonder why I am concerned about the town's statement to BP and the NYPSC about the Art. X rules being fair and impartial.  I think this is important to grasp.

Well let's start our examination here in the top of their letter making the fair and impartial statement.  You can see it all at the NY PSC website with public documents filed on BP's CVWF.

April 19, 2013

Mr. Richard Chandler
Director, Development
BP Wind Energy North America, Inc.
700 Louisiana Street, Floor 33
Houston, TX 77002

Re: Case 12-F-0410 Cape Vincent Wind Power, LLC

Dear Mr. Chandler:  (this empahasis is mine)

Attached you will find comments from the Town of Cape Vincent pertaining to BP's Preliminary

Scoping Statement [PSS]........   Note WHO the letter is addressed to.  Although it is obvious that the NYPSC will read it, and it is posted as an official document at the PSC website, it is the WHO this letter is addressed to that makes their "fair and impartial" comments even more astonishing!  It IS NOT addressed to the NYPSC or the Art X board. They are in a discussion directly with BP!!!   The letter is addressed to Chandler and BP!!!  Why is this important?

 Well... what you have here is the town officials telling Chandler and BP, that the town thinks the Art X rules are fair and impartial!  OK so while we are at it why don't we just tell BP that we thought that the handling of their Gulf oil spill went quite well!!!   As a person who supports our town board, and a person who opposes the removal of home rule in your community, and a person who has suffered at the hands of BP for 7 years in our community... would  you honestly march up to Chandler at a BP open house and tell him you thought the Art X rules that allow them to basically make the justification to preempt or negotiate our town zoning laws is fair and impartial?

 Rules you can be assured BP and the wind industry had inordinate lobby money and influence upon while you were basically excluded!   So again why does this particularly concern me?  Is it just this one isolated statement?  

Well consider this statement made on video at a public town board meeting by our town supervisor.   It is verbatim from the video.  And this is NOT an attack...Mr. Hirschey made this statement, it is public record, no one forced him to say it.  these are his words which as a public official are fair game for close examination.

  "To get through this very, very contentious and difficult issue about the wind turbines. Yes, no, or where?  And somewhere along the line, at some point there will be compromises, and there will be decisions one way or another.  In my own mind.  I don't know if that's...whether you agree with it....    ... somewhere that is going to happen" 

  So we have a town supervisor saying in his mind there will be compromises in the wind issue, and that somewhere that is going to happen... and now we have him along with the majority of town officials signing a  letter to BP saying the Art X rules that BP will use to try to negotiate and preempt our laws is  fair and impartial.   BP will use these rules they and the wind industry, and renewable organizations like Carol Murphy's ACE NY  lobbied, and threw money at, and those rules are fair and impartial?  

Now if YOU were truly impartial, and read these statements from our supervisor and the town officials over time, would any red flags go up?  AND keep in mind that virtually none of our town board or officials have publicly declared an anti wind position, only a willingness to participate int he Art X system, and them call those rules fair and impartial!   What would be your conclusion?  And mind you these are only a couple of the questionable statements that have surfaced over time by our town  to appease the Art. X system.  

We will examine that closer in an up coming post.