Cape Vincent Councilman Schneider Thinks BP Is Acting As If Their Wind Project is "Inevitable" - On the Path We Are On, It Actually Is Inevitable!!!

In the WDT article referenced in the last post Cape Vincent Councilman Clif Schneider made comments about BP’s actions in the Art X process.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130111/NEWS03/701119837

“Town Councilman Clifford P. Schneider said developer BP Wind Energy, in its correspondence with the town government, talks about its proposed project almost as if a wind farm in Cape Vincent is inevitable.

This is not a done deal,” Mr. Schneider said. And it’s not inevitable.”

I hate to tell you this Clif but you already are an agent in a process that is all about making BP’s wind farm inevitable!!!

Councilman Schneider might want to re-think that statement considering the context of the Art X system in which he and the board have chosen to operate under. Apparently Clif fails to comprehend a critical fundamental issue of this process.

What he fails to see is that the he and the town board surrendered their right to stop BP’s wind farm from being inevitable. They did that by choosing to participate in the State’s Art X process. That is something Clif and the board and all you people who support this Art X direction better get your head around and quickly. Honestly, what do you think Art X is…a process to STOP wind farms and other electric generation? There would be absolutely no point for its existence otherwise.

Clif and the town board opted to give away any right to veto power to stop BP’s wind farm from being inevitable by participating in the Art. X process. Art. X is a State regulatory scheme to site and regulate electric generation projects, not deny them. And as CELDF lawyer Tom Linzey says, once you opt for only the right to regulate you have opted to enable the developer to develop, and you might get to regulate the project a bit to maybe lessen the destruction it will bring. Regulate…that is what the word means! It does not mean deny!

Think…in order to regulate, or participate in a process that regulates, there must be something TO regulate which therefore by logic says you have surrendered the option of denying the project and accepted the premise the project will exist so it can be regulated. When you give away the right to veto all you have left is the right to regulate. Therefore under the Art X scheme, and the town’s participation in it, some form of BP’s project is inevitable. Apparently Clif fails to recognize this fundamental concept. That is what the entire process was set up to do for God’s sake! Wake up from your version of Art X dreamland Clif! Too many are thinking Art X is a process to denial and it isn’t and that is the idea you are erroneously leading your supporters to believe!

Now the question you have to ask yourself as a CV citizen and willing participant and supporter of the board and Art X regulatory scheme is whether what you voted for by putting this town board in place including Mr. Schneider was for them to only regulate an inevitable wind project. Seems to me there has been an awful lot of hoopla talk out there for some time now about getting BP to go away by denying their project. Wasn’t the last election supposed to be an anti wind referendum where the majority expressed their opposition to wind in our community…or did I miss something? If that was the case then why are we so deeply imbedded in the Art X process that is all about approval and regulation, and not defending our community rights to prohibit???? Well I hate to tell you denial ain’t going to happen when you use Art X as your only defense which is a process for approving and regulating wind farms and other electrical generation…not denying them. Remember when Cuomo came to Watertown last summer and was asked about Art X what he said? He told us that we as communities have to be “reasonable” And you can damn well bet he didn’t mean to use Art X to kill his precious wind agenda and the wind farm proposals that make it possible. “Reasonable” means you might get a crack at a little wind regulation in your community…not denial!
The sad fact is the State and BP hoodwinked you into thinking that participation in the Art X process was a potential path to denial, when it clearly isn’t, and that is how they subtlety trapped you into going along to only regulate BP’s inevitable wind project when you think you can deny it using this process. Every letter to the PSC is only an effort to participate in a process to regulate, not prohibit. Look at all the agency heads who will be on the Art X board. Those are all regulatory agencies!

Councilman Schneider’s issue is that he was once an employee of one of those regulatory agencies the NYDEC. He IS a regulator, and I believe has badly colored his thinking that regulation and institutional thinking is the only way to proceed. Under this thinking you don’t deny or prohibit…you regulate! To truly defend this community we need a radical break from that path.

At that is why BP is acting as if their wind farm is inevitable, because they know Art X is designed to make it that way. Maybe not all 124 turbines…maybe 50, 60, or 80, or some slightly lesser disaster. And that will be your prize for being willing to participate and regulate.

Does Clif actually expect BP will start acting as their project isn’t inevitable? Really???? Get serious! The serious question is will Clif convince our board that maybe 60 or 80 turbines has averted a disaster and is the best regulation we can get? He is already promoting the BP solar ideas as compromise, and suggesting CV is not opposed to a large renewable project of some kind, even though it would violate our comp plan and zoning. So like I said if you are intent on saving this community you better quickly get your head around these realities of regulation vs. denial of BP’s project and what it actually means. That is why I have been fighting hard against the board’s participation in Art X because it is not a path to deny BP’s project…only regulate it…and that won’t be only a few turbines as our law might allow. I wouldn’t even want those, especially with BP as the owner. Even one industrial wind turbine violates our comp plan. And our zoning took the wrong tact too by opting for only regulation of wind and surrendering our most precious right to be able to prohibit what we think is not in the best interest of our community.

As I said in the last post, I applaud Planning Board Chair Dick MacSherry for publicly asa town officer getting to the truth that BP should leave town and I don’t think that should be only an alternative. I suggest we get behind him and encourage him to pursue efforts that will actually re-establish our right to veto BP’s wind nonsense in our community, instead of just some half assed regulation of an impending inevitable disaster using the Art X process.

At least Mr. MacSherry’s thinking shows the seeds of comprehending the difference between the Art X process of only regulation and instead retaining our option to defending true community rights to veto and we should support and encourage that thinking before it is too late!

A disaster is a disaster no matter how you spin it…you either chose to only regulate it…or you choose to do everything you can to stop it. The difference is dramatic!