Ban Fracking, Promote Solar- So Where Are All The Detailed Studies To Support That Conclusion?????

So I wake up this AM and look at my emails.  There in the Inbox is an email asking me to participate in a  survey on tax subsidies for renewables like solar and wind.  Don’t know how credible this poll is but Wiley at the  blog JLL is hyping it as well, as he has taken the renewable subsidies to task before. One would have to assume by his comments now and many times in the past he does not agree with the tax subsidies for wind and solar.  The poll apparently shows that among the respondents something over 90% don’t favor subsidies for renewables

Now it occurs to me that the new Cape Vincent zoning law and comp plan are promoting solar.  What????…wait a minute…here is what Wiley reported on his blog from the briefing meeting held last night on the new comp plan and zoning

“During his presentation, the Joint Comprehensive Plan Chair Clif Schneider said the new plan identifies industrial wind development as a threat to the well being of the community while it welcomes solar power.”

As Wiley likes to say…HOLY CRAP!!!  They welcome solar!!!  Would that be the same solar that requires those same tax subsidies?????  Well I’ll be damned…yes it is!!!  Oh wait just a minute.  Isn’t that new town board we just elected 4/5^ths REPUBLICAN, and isn’t it Wiley that has been implying that the Reps. are going to save us from this wind and renewable tax subsidy scam ????  Well aren’t the Republican’s in general against this renewable subsidy “gravy train”?   So why do we have a Republican town board endorsing solar in our land use plans that will require the SAME tax subsidies FROM YOU as wind to be viable when in fact solar will be even less effective????  Oh yes an when we invite commercial solar into our community is the newly green board going to give them one more subsidy give away in a PILOT agreement????  Wanna take a bet on that?

So why aren’t Wiley and all his commenters  who regularly crank  against renewable wind subsidies when JLL gives the cue,  taking this zoning and comp plan committee and the Republican board to task over solar as they have with wind?  If you look at the facts as I posted several weeks ago, solar (assuming we are talking solar voltaics) are more costly than wind and have lower capacity factors according to the Energy Information Administration. And that is in sunny locations not NY where there is a lot more cloudy weather.  In fact solar has absorbed slightly more in American tax payer subsidies per megawatt than wind that Wiley protests about regularly.  In fact it wasn’t too long ago that he was sounding as if he supported solar in CV.  I guess now we know why. His favorite town board that can do no wrong was jumping in bed with solar and that tax scam and apparently he knew it.  Wiley can’t be serious and support solar, and the absurd tax subsidies that support it after all his pissing and moaning against subsidies for wind…Really????  So what is the scam here and where is this solar thing going?  A commercial or community solar installation perhaps for a town board who apparently is beginning to show its  “green agenda”

This board and their zoning committee seem really confused about energy policy in CV and nationally.  They tacitly give approval to wind energy, but not too much, because it is not their favorite,  by making at least some allowances for it in our zoning to appear “reasonable”.  Then they endorse solar that has even worse energy performance, suffers from many of the same shortfalls as wind yet will require the exact same subsidies.  Then after all this hoopla about we can’t ban anything, they ban hydrofracking outright and I am betting they did that with far less research and study than they have done on wind!!!

I sure don’t remember ANY studies in CV regarding the impacts of fracking as they did for wind.  So what exactly was their fracking BAN based on???? Wind got bird studies, economic studies, sound studies, a Zogby Poll, and on and on.  Did I miss the numerous fracking studies that were used to formulate a quick out of the blue ban on fracking?  Hell I don’t even remember virtually ANY community discussions on fracking until I saw this zoning law.  And these are the people and board that is rational and was going to follow all that research and science!!!

Geees, I am not in favor of hydrofracking in CV, but at least natural gas could have a big energy return, for the impacts.  Far greater than wind or solar.  And experts are saying it could be the needed energy bridge for far less climate impact till we get to a renewable future.

Then you have zoning committee member Bob Brown saying they banned fracking because it posed a threat to the water table and communities down river.  OK Mr. Brown lets see the reams of studies on that rational.  Well wake up Mr. Brown, the wind power you made room for in your zoning and refused to ban is just as  significant a threat to the region as well.  Are you kidding????  How about a little credibility and consistency, instead of random decision making by cherry picking energy sources. 

I guess the excuse is that solar is less of an impact. OK I guess I get that point. But have they ever been to a major solar installation…probably not.  They cover lots of habitat…and I mean they COVER IT…not spread out like wind turbines.  But solar like wind is going to have virtually NO impact on our energy or climate issues for very high costs and high tax subsidies.  They are looking at this from a small provincial view point. In other words solar is an energy tax fiasco like wind but it won’t look as bad in my town so it’s ok, and never address any of the larger issues.  This is responsible leadership?

Now I have been told these are very smart men and women, and we should have unwavering and unquestioning faith and follow along. So is this support of the solar debacle just like the wind debacle an example of their decision quality????

Now you can begin to see why I was asking some pointed questions BEFORE the elections, since I had seen the very same inconsistency in decision making before, as is being demonstrate here today.

We are told we can’t ban anything, that that would be radical and nuts as an approach…then turn right around and ban fracking on little information as far as I can tell since it is somehow a bigger perceived disaster than wind. Really  Then not ban wind that has at least the same negatives or more than  fracking, then support solar which is even more an energy scam as wind for the same subsidies…are you dizzy yet?????

And the real kicker is that I have been told over and over again that my wind ban idea would be based on no research or science, just an emotional response that would not hold up.  Aaaahhhh really?????  So where is the science behind picking solar over wind, when in fact it basically the same renewable energy tax fiasco as wind.  Yup that is the careful deliberate scientific research and decision making in land use decision making we were told we could depend on!!!!  And once again where are all those studies about solar being a viable energy resource or climate solution, or what type of impacts will it have on the community.  Damn I’m sorry I missed those committees, and studies, and meeting since I actually live in a passive solar house in AZ.

And maybe Wiley will back off Bill Owens support of renewables and their tax subsidies now that his favorite town officers have given him the pat on the head and approval  to go with the solar fiasco!  Probably won’t be long before K at Pandora endorses all this nonsense.

I don’t do any research and you can ban anything…boy that is really rich!