Most people in Cape Vincent have probably heard by now that BP has it's wind project development business up for sale. So does this mean their CV project is done???
Who knows? I have been anti wind since 2006 since this wind disaster hit CV and I for one would be one of the happiest people in CV if they left. The sooner the better!!!
Going on 8 years of BP screwing with our community and in the end they may discard the community like so much left over trash after their party. The community socially torn apart a govt over turned our community being the embarrassment of NYS and beyond...and for what?
However, if BP actually bolts from CV we still need to be vigilant. For one, there are still some big players out there in the wind business like Nextera one of the biggest wind developers in the world and or course Iberdrola right next-door in Clayton who might find bringing it's wind project closer to the lake or river might be attractive.
One thing I think needs to happen in CV especially if BP leaves and there is a gap in developers or no wind developer shows interest is for our town govt to get off it's butt and revise our zoning to prohibit wind development in Cape Vincent once and for all and stop screwing around with this inane appeasement of Art X. that has stripped away our home rule rights, and determine in Albany the future of our community.
We also need to exert our rights to home rule by passing a community bill of rights to defend our own land use laws without state or corporate intervention.
Sitting back slapping ourselves on the back as if it is all over would be the worst thing we could do.
I noted one commenter on one of the blogs suggesting if BP leaves it was the community efforts of CV people that made BP go away. And I am sure deluded Hirschey supporters will certainly credit the current govt as the big reason for BP leaving. You can bet that is coming!!!
That is just fantasy thinking, when in reality we may have just gotten lucky!! If BP leaves it will likely have nothing to do with us. Making the connection between CV's wind opposition and current govt. actions and BP selling it's entire wind business is rather a fantastic stretch. If BP leaves it will be for one reason only and that is a bottom line on profits across it wind business.
BP probably chews up and spits out communities like ours every day. We should get smart and ban that from happening here ever again, letting a our town become a profit line for some corporate giant and state and national political agenda.
WE need to grow some back bone and take control of our community's future.
And once again CELDF at celdf.org is the place to start that process.
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.
I've said before, this project is dead and the siting committee will never have a meeting. The appointment of the siting committee was nothing more than the state following through with Article X guidelines. It's over and in reality, it has been over sometime now.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should try and move on with more important actions that could help the Cape, including, as Art says, revising our zoning to prohibit this type of assault in the future.
Sorry Art. Article 10 is not over until the fat lady sings. The Article 10 process has made the PSC and the Citizens of the TI more aware. I would agree that using the experience of Article 10 should make all TI communities take a stand. The interaction with the PSC and the public process showed them what we are like up here in the Clayton-Cape area. You turned on the very people that have the ability to do what you want. Who else would ever help you? Team player's who strike out are given a chance after they prove themselves. You were traded to the opposing team.
ReplyDeleteOthers started work on that while you sat and did nothing pro active but an illusion of an attack on other's work at all turns. It has already been started and you were not included because you burnt too many bridges. Don't expect to step in as an effective leader and don't expect to be followed by the people who have the ability to make it happen.
5:24
ReplyDeleteI hope you are right that it is over. I still fear future development if we don't act decisively. After going on 8 years of being involved in this battle it would be nice to move on. But like I said if BP leaves it leaves the door open to some other potential wind development and I think we would be irresponsible for the stewardship of our town and scenic region if we didn't slam that door shut once and for all. And if BP leaves we need to do it now while we might not be under the direct threat of wind development. Establish a precedent that we intend to protect this community and it's scenic and environmental resources from all such rampant sprawling industrial or other invasive development. And we need to re-establish a clear firm stand to protect our home rule rights, and thus our community since I believe that is also a major part of this issue that needs to be corrected.
6:52
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first 3 sentences. However, we part ways when you say the interaction with the PSC showed them what we are like up here, and then your personal comments about me and the so called TEAM!.
What amuses me about comments like yours is that you people think the wind issue somehow just dropped out of the heavens only when the Hirschey govt took power and Art X came into play with BP as the singular player. Let me ask you...where have you been???? Do you honestly think your TEAM did it all by themselves???
For example did you forget that some of us were screaming about the mess wind would bring to this community way back in 2005 and 2006? Did you forget the efforts that I and a few others did had a great deal to do with that bringing the attorney general to CV and making the ethics issue a big deal, that Hirschey and his crew used to help propel them into office? Did you forget the 800 name petition that probably had a great deal to do with Rienbecks removal since he and that board trashed it, and putting Hirschey in office? Did you forget about who took the very first concrete steps to deal with the ethics issue way back in 2007 and 2008 by petitioning and meeting with the local district attorney? A petition Hirschey would not sign and a meeting he refused to attend.
It was too radical and extreme to be anti wind back then or directly attack the conflicts of interest...now it is fashionable since the blogs finally came online after a couple years into the battle and made it OK and comfortable to be anti wind and think about ethics. But even still most people hide behind an anonymous label but claim they are on the TEAM!.
Who first found out that state and local conflict disclosure laws were being violated? Gee who would that be???
Do you think that all started yesterday? I stood PUBLICLY and loudly anti wind and said NO and against the ethics violations, long ago when everybody else was afraid to and still entertaining the idiotic setback idea and most people were scared to death to go public.
And did you note the big deal that has been made about our comp plan to protect our community. I was one of the first people to bring that up in a public hearing way back in 2006 when most of the community didn't even know we had a comp plan or what the legal ramifications of it were. When I first explained this to Mr. Hirschey even he was unclear of the ramifications of the comp plan. Back in 2006 when I was making a big deal about the legal implications of the 2003 CV comp plan, Mr. Hirschey was going to a major public hearing on the first attempt at a CV wind law saying he thought the wind mills on Tug Hill were "majestic" and he had a private wind turbine on his property. Maybe he has learned over time. Now he is signing letters by the town to the PSC saying Art X is fair and impartial and even handed and balanced even though it removed our rights to home rule on this issue. Yeah...we are really showing them how tough we are down at the PSC...give me a break!!!
Now the Hirschey govt is running on ethics and supporting the comp plan in our community and everybody claims they are "anti wind".
You people have a real convenient and selective memory when it comes to your TEAM and what it has accomplished. Your TEAM has benefited a great deal from the direct actions of others and some of those actions weren't fashionable at the time...but they were right, and the very town govt you now enjoy is a direct result of many of those actions by a few of us who stood up and said it right out in public and refused to hide behind an anonymous label no matter how hard we got slapped around as a result.
Yet here we are 8 years later and you STILL can't put your name on a comment. Well yooooo whooooo GO TEAM GO!!!
We just don't know who the team players are!!!