The Article X legislation provides for an intervenor fund. Wow, yippie skippy!!! An intervenor fund as I understand it is money charged up front to the applicant (like BP in our case) to provide funds for stake holders in the process who might want to provide experts, including legal experts, and this fund can be used for that purpose. As I understand it that also includes stake holders like local environmental oppositions groups as well. But it can not be used for litigation against the A-10 siting decision.
Now when I first read this, having along with other people involved with WPEG spent considerable money on previous experts and lawyers I thought...this is interesting! Here you have the applicant providing funds basically for the opposition to fight the applicants project. Wow such nice guys!!! Then I thought hhhmmmm REALLY???? What's up with this??? Like our parents always told us...If it looks too good to be true, it probably isn't true or good!!!
So why would wind industry lobbys sit still for this intervenor fund to essential bring in expert testimony against their own projects? That seems to me to be a real dicey idea since wind energy has so many obvious negatives and so little science behind it. So my reaction then was WTF!!!
Well of course!!!! Then the answer was obvious. Spend all the money you want folks because we know the Article X board is going to site our project anyhow, and this PR money is well spent to make you feel all warm and fuzzy that you have had an actual impact on the siting. Hey, we have been overly fair. We even gave you money to fight us, so you lost, you had your day in court so to speak now stop bitching and shut up!!! Pretty clever!!!
In the end I think the intervenor fund is going to be just like what I believe about pointless public hearings and has been verified to me time after time.
Yup...we hear you alright!!! But that's all, we just hear you, nothing more. Well I can go talk to my neighbor's dog and hears me too and I will probably get more response!
Like the A-10 law it rode in on, this intervenor fund is likely to be one more scam that isn't worth a damn in the end.
Of course the absurdity of this is that this intervenor fund is immbedded in a law that can just strip your home rule rights away anyhow no matter how much money they provide for you to spend. And they say Las Vegas games are rigged...YIKES!!! So when you come right down to it what is the point at all of an intervenor fund? It means nothing. If it was a fair process without the preemption of our zoning ax hanging over our heads it might have some meaning.
This should give you one more hint as to what Cuomo and Article X means when they say you have to be "reasonable" What a freaking scam!!!!
What they are saying is..."Hey since we are going to lop off the head of your community anyhow, we at least will make it a little less painful and won't make you pay for it up front. That really would not be very classy on our part. But God borrows money from BP when he needs it, so good luck trying to protect your community in court
But hey...lets POWER New York!!!! Gives new meaning to that word POWER doesn't it.
STOP, The regional wind energy industrialization of one of New York State's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive areas, the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River and the Golden Crescent of Eastern Lake Ontario. If you don't think you are seeing the most recent posts click on the current month in the archives to the right.
Yippy skippy.....and I thought I was the only one to use that term.
ReplyDelete