Cape Vincent Shouldn't Throw Stones At Clayton!

Over on the blog Pandora's Box of Rocks there is a discussion about Clayton town supervisor Justin Taylor and his "friendly" emails to "Jenny" the Iberdrola project manager of the Horse Creek Wind Farm.

In light of Taylor's cozy emails with Iberdrola, someone wrote the TI Sun with a comment that was asking what is going on in our NNY communities with wind development, and ....

"who is working for whom?" 

Cape Vincent resident Dave Lamora left this comment in response on the Pandora blog:



What's going on here? Andrew Cuomo and his energy policy makers want to site industrial wind turbines in upstate New York.

Who is working for whom?-any public official who willingly subjects their community to participating in the ART.X bureaucratic, review process is working for the coalition formed between corporate developers and our New York State Government.

The email exchange between Taylor and "Jenny" from Iberdrola had to be exposed through a FOIL request since apparently Taylor was not informing his community of Iberdrola's communications with him from "Jenny".

In my opinion Taylor got taken for a ride by Iberdrola.  To elaborate on Dave's point...these are the kinds of wind companies that Cuomo's Art X is all too happy to assist take away our home rule community rights.

Apparently demonstrated by his behavior Mr. Taylor the Clayton supervisor is just all too happy to help NYS, and Iberdrola  take away our home rules rights as well.

Yet some in Cape Vincent are real quick to throw stones at Taylor's behavior. I think they may want to examine their own first.  I am certainly not excusing Taylor's behavior...It stinks!!!  But maybe their is more commonality between Clayton and CV govt than meets the eye!

Don't be so fast to judge!

Both Taylor and Hirschey and the CV board seem more than willing to play along and appease  Cuomo and the Art X process for companies that would at the blink of an eye destroy both communities and an entire region.

Taylor may be tinkering with quiet out of sight emails, but the Cape board thinks the rules or Art. X are FAIR AND IMPARTIAL!!! 

It still astonishes me why any govt official or body would allow their community to be subject to a system that has already taken away our fundamental community rights.

Even if Cape Vincent wins and no turbines are placed there, they would have done that at a terrible price in the bigger picture by validating the entire process that stripped away community rights based in home rule.  It will STILL BE a terrible terrible precedent because it just gives the State the justification and validation to remove more rights, or on another screwball idea they think is politically critical enough to once again strip away community rights for some other corporate client!

So WHO IS helping WHO!!!

And a friend passed on a very interesting thought to me.  What if CV does get saved near the river and lake, but as a deal Cuomo will allow a HUGE project spanning several towns just a little ways inland as his pay off????

Now remember CV you can't bitch about that.  Because our zoning law to appease Art X and Cuomo has that EXACT philosophy.  Don't ban wind or be anti wind just play along and appease and allow turbines pushed back away from the river.  They have already set a precedent that such a project pushed away from the river would be perfectly OK!!!  And of course if this happened it would all be "fair and impartial !"

Think that will be a winner????

Be careful what you wish for by not taking a stand and appeasing the Art X system!