It's a Small World _ Save the River Picks Lee Willbanks As Director

A few weeks back I posted that I had heard a tip as to who the new head of Save the River (STR would be, and that I would comment on it if it was true.  Well, the information was accurate.  The new  head of STR is Mr. D. Lee Willbanks.  See the WDT article linked below.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20120609/NEWS03/706099921

As you can see in the article when Mr. Willbanks was asked about local wind energy proposals and he commented “He does not have a dog in the hunt”.  Really?   That’s a rather interesting reaction from the lead environmental group protecting the St. Lawrence River area under siege by industrial wind developers, especially after he worked for someone of State importance who was the direct recipient of industrial wind money .

Does that imply he is “hands off” on the wind issue that is a major threat to the St Lawrence Valley????  Wonder who gave him those marching orders???

Seems to me the invasion of invasive industrial wind proposals in Cape Vincent and the region that are a direct threat to an important bird migration flyway, and the scenic beauty of the !000 Islands might make him reconsider whether he actually has a “dog in the hunt”  After all, did he forget that STR proposed a three year moratorium on wind local wind development to fully study the cumulative impacts on birds and bats, after the Wolfe Island Wind Farm bird mortality numbers shook their tree a bit.  Based on that alone I would say his “dog is already hunting”

And for what it’s worth,  there are other interesting connections to Mr. Willbanks and local wind energy scene, especially in Cape Vincent.

First, his wife Judy Drabicki (referenced in the article) was the Wind Power Ethics Group’s (WPEG) first attorney as the CV wind battle heated up. They are / were the central wind “opposition” group in Cape Vincent.

She was recommended to us by two respected ornithologists since she had won a case or settlement in Ogdensburg against a little outfit named EXXON!!!    Ms. Drabicki was theWPEG attorney that handled the issue with the CV Planning Board , and Zoning Board of Appeals over whether wind turbines were utilities or not under the old CV zoning laws.  The CV ZBA appeal was lost before the ZBA and WPEG with Drabicki took it to an Article 78 court challenge.

In the middle of that preparation for the court challenge in 2007 Ms. Drabicki suddenly got cold feet on our case and the next thing we knew was being appointed as the Region 6  Director of the NY DEC.  She handed off our case to another lawyer to finish. 

Later her husband Lee Willbanks was hired  by former NY Sen. Aubertine as his legislative director in 2008.  That would be the same NY Sen. Darrel Aubertine who had wind leases on his farm in Cape Vincent with Acciona’s St Lawrence Wind Farm. and previously wrote a letter to the wind conflicted CV town officials to basically ignore their wind conflicts of interest.  That would also be the same Sen. Aubertine that when I mentioned his CV wind conflict problems and relationship to the CV Town Board and their conflict issues to the AG’s lawyers they all looked at the floor like I had asked them to drink poison.

Apparently Mr. Willbanks was an environmental counsel to Sithe Energy, an independent power producer.  That’s an interesting company as well.

Now these are just facts as they are, and just thought my readers should know especially in light of the fact that Mr. Willbanks is dismissing the very important local wind issue so easily and quickly and speaking for STR now.

So when Mr. Willbanks says he “doesn’t have a dog in the (wind) hunt.”  That is not exactly accurate.  I guess it depends what you are “hunting” and he is an interesting pick for an environmental group  that is surrounded by very controversial industrial wind proposals that could heavily impact the River and our region..

The Scam - Wind Lobby Powered By Fossil Fuels

This article came in an email to me this AM.  It's by Robert Bryce and is an execellent article and makes the scam pretty clear.

http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/10909/The-Wind-Lobby-Is-Powered-by-Fossil-Fuels

Just like BP in Cape Vincent.  A huge global OIL company tinkering with wind to suck up subsidies.  Anybody really think BP is so committed to the environment it's going to run around the world and put up wind turbines to replace it's oil business????  More scam.

This raises a related question.  The former CV Zoning Board of Appeals decided that wind turbines and wind farms where utilities, at least for the old CV zoning laws. Really!!!  It was a goofy uninformed decsion for which CV is like to pay dearly for. If you would like to see how goofy this decsion was consider BP in CV who this decsion will favor and apply to.

Think about it.   Is  BP, which is actually a huge global oil company, who has a few scattered wind farms really a "utility"?  I don't see any BP trucks running around CV servicing your electric service to your house or working on electric poles, and transformer boxes.

If a BP wind farm hits town and your electric goes out in an ice or thunder storm, next time call BP becuase somebody thinks they are a utility and see what response you get.  Tell them that since they are a utility in town and under our ZBA zoning decsion that you expect them to come right out and fix your electric problem.  So what service area does BP control, and where are their large regional transmission lines. 

BP is not a damn utility.  They are independent power producers that sell power to utilities, same as the other wind developers.

Anyone who builds a house in CV, when you are ready to hook up to electric, call BP since they are considered a "utility" by the CV ZBA and see how that goes!!!

Bottom line once again like Bryce points out in his article...for this all to work it has to be a scam and you have to buy into it just as some members of our former ZBA did.. 

Cape Vincent- The Commodity!

This post subject was sparked by an email I received recently.

 Numerous times in this Cape Vincent wind fiasco people have mentioned to me that they might sell their home or summer residence if wind turbines invade the community. Is it already too late?  Some of us really don’t have that choice.  People who do are lucky although there will probably still be a loss. I can’t walk away, and  I know a lot of people who can’t as well.  It’s why we fight so hard in our chosen ways.  It’s not about the money either.  It’s about long emotional ties to this area even if it is only seasonal ties.  My little cottage along the River is full of ghosts, pleasant ghosts, starting with the constant presence of my parents who first brought me to Cape Vincent, and the long long string of family and friends and experiences attached to this place.

My Mom, circa 1940's

Photo from an old friend,  , Fishing in CV circa 1930's 1940's

So what’s it worth? Years ago before AZ somebody once asked me where I lived.  I told them I camped out in Rochester during the week until I can get back home to our small cottage on the St. Lawrence. Money didn’t draw me here and money won’t take me away, or have the ability to magically dissolve what this place means.

For me to sell out would be just like somebody cutting of one of my legs or arms. I am a seasonal resident of 60+ years, and I can’t imagine what it would be like for a long term resident to have to leave at the insidious hands of the wind developers.  That is what the wind developers took from many of us. That is what the BP community destruction machine and its slick huckster project managers bring to our community.  They swallow community’s whole and slobber at the mouth and give an obscene burp at the end like we were a satisfying meal they just devoured. How many of these wind developer dealers have blown through our communities?  They pack up their spreadsheets, their wind studies, and  piss on their lease holders, and walk away, to find an easier more gullible and uniformed sucker community that won’t stand up to their obscenity.  Or they trade and bargain us off like a commodity, at a dirt cheap weekend swap meet or yard sale.

 Oh maybe we could walk away too in a physical sense, but it would still haunt us for the rest of our lives. Nothing would really be gained or healed.

Having these thoughts and discussions it occurs to me that too many people on BOTH sides of this CV wind disaster see CV as a commodity.  The pro wind side…we realize what their agenda is, and they sold out the emotional and physical beauty of CV  in a heart beat over their kitchen tables to some magic trick salesman who reassured them he was their new best friend.  They even had to hire a shill like Marion Trieste to reassure them they were doing the right thing. Wear a green shirt, it’s good for the environment, and you can all sit together an look like weeds the community can’t get rid of!   For the developer it’s all profits and greed and share holders and spread sheets.  What’s the price of electricity today?  What will it be tomorrow, next week or next year. What the latest on the PTC subsidy?  If we have to buy some poor suckers property and life we destroyed that has to move away how will that affect our  bottom line?  When we  rape CV who can we sell the power too?  After all some wind executive somewhere at BP desperately needs another Porsche, the 2012 model is already getting boring, and the 2013’s will be in the showroom soon!

For us…we have economic studies, we talk about selling and what price we could get…what will the loss be?  The worry about the impact on the tourism dollars, we worry about property values, and appraisals.  How should we develop CV, what businesses should be here, and where will the dollars come from to keep the school open?  What can I do or not do with my property investment?  After all it’s my RIGHT!!! You can’t tell me what to do with my property or my money. I will sue, what will a lawyer cost?   We have polls to see what the community thinks about wind development, and other development.  How can we attract families and business, and tourism and more dollars to CV and who pays the most taxes, and how do we protect the tax base, and what is the latest assessment on our homes and cottages?  Where do we put commercial and industrial zones to bring in more money? Can we get more Canadians to come across the River and spend money?  Should we give a PILOT agreement to a wind  or solar developer and how much should that be? Is it worth it?  Which broker do I list my house with?  Can we market properties in CV more effectively.  We can surely protect ourselves with Property Value Guarantees if the wind developers overrun our community.  In fact if we were smart we could list those PVA’s as a derivative and bundle them and sell them as a commodity to Wall Street and the Banks.   What comp plan and zoning are best to protect us but let us develop?

 I realize some of these are legitimate concerns. I am not stupid or anti development as long as it protects the community’s spectacular beauty and the emotional and human investments many of us have here.

But what is Cape Vincent and this community really worth? Where is the Blue Book listing on CV? Can we put it on a commodities exchange somewhere and sell it to the rest of the world?  Can we look up the latest bid and ask price on a market somewhere, or on the CNBC ticket tape that runs across the bottom of the TV ?   LOOK …symbol CV…there it is!!!!  It’s up a whole dollar today at the market close!!!   Should we put it up for auction at a prestigious auction house NYC?   Should we list CV on a commodities exchange in NYC or Chicago and let a bunch of traders play havoc with it?  What is the commission if we can sell it? 

It occurs to me that some of this is somewhat obscene, and that ALL OF US might be better off if we stopped trying to treat Cape Vincent and the Golden Crescent as a commodity to be bartered away or negotiated over in some form or another, and instead start looking at what we really have that is precious and unique in beauty and what has the potential to and has sustained us on a more human and emotional level. Where is the detailed committee study on that impact?  Who sits on that committee, and what pollster do we use to measure that impact?  Which is the best lawyer to advise us on what we can and can’t protect in emotional and human resources?

  Like I said some of us just can’t walk away, and what the wind developers have already taken from us in emotional and human treasure is beyond comprehension, and will likely never be recovered.

And if you don’t get that fundamental concept of what has been taken from us in CV , you need to pinch yourself to see if you are still functioning as a basic human being.

Those thin little met towers you see sticking up all over town are like thin hypodermic needles that injected some  insidious fatal poison in our community veins, and when they pull the plunger back they suck the life and physical and emotional beauty right out of our communities.

Instead of calling our real estate brokers… we all need to speed dial your conscience… and start realizing the obscenity of what these repulsive wind developers have taken from us and driven us to become, and what they could still do to us. 

                              BP is actually bringing emotional violence to the well being of

                                  this community and to ourselves and it is unforgivable!

                  And you can't put a band-aid on what has happened with a new comp plan, zoning law,  or 
                              economic study as good as they might be.  That won't stop the bleeding!!!

The Cape Vincent Republicans Have Some Explaining To Do!!!!

A few weeks back I posted comments on who was politically to blame for the wind fiasco.  Was it those damn liberal Democrats like Obama or was it the responsible fiscally prudent conservative Republicans?  I pointed out that former Republican NY Gov. Pataki brought this wind disaster to NY via NY's Renewable Portfolio Standard that opened up NY to wind developers like kids in a candy store.

My point was that people are deluding themselves if they think this is a partisan Dem. Rep. issue and you can't design an effective fight against it if you think in these ridiculous partisan terms like a bunch of sheep. To blindly follow the Republicans was the CV blog mantra in last fall's elections in CV.  This is a engineered big power and big money agenda, and with all such things it is not controlled by partisan politics, it is controlled by giant corporate money...this time it's energy money!

The other day a friend who reads my blog sent me an email that confirms what I have been saying. Now apparently conservative Republican Karl Rove is right on board with that terrible liberal Obama on the wind issue by supporting the life blood of the wind developers...the tax subsidy called the Production Tax Credit.

http://theenergycollective.com/josephromm/86669/karl-rove-says-extending-key-wind-tax-credit-should-be-priority

I'm not sure if there could be any worse of a defection against supposed principles than Rove picking the pocket and suckering  his Republican sheep like this.  What a scam. And he is saying this tax give away is a PRIORITY.

And just who the hell  is this Karl Rove fella?  Is he some little obscure nut case Republican that we can marginalize off to the edges of the political debate ?  Well no, not exactly.  He is only THE most prominent Republican strategist on the scene today.  When he says jump, the Republicans all line up like good little soldiers and say "how high Karl????  So are our rabid CV Republicans going to line up as well and start support the PTC for wind? 

Jeees!!!! the whole world has gone bizarro.  Wiley that staunch Rep. and the Cape Reps. has been telling us the Reps are the only savior against the wind disaster and the PTC that supports it. Then suddenly a few weeks ago he was supporting solar which needs the same PTC, and now the CV zoning is promoting solar which need those PTC to survive.  WTF!!!! I get repeated emails from Cape and other Reps. about how terrible Obama is especially in his support on the renewable energy tax scam.  Then here is the supreme high Kahuna of the Rep. party getting right on the wind, solar tax gravey train with AWEA.  How about you Rep. Birthers that send me all this junk crap email about Obama not being born in American, blah, blah blah and other stuff start sending me some emails explaining Karl Rove and this BS!!!! That should be interesting.

Now this is probably creating a rather interesting dilemma for those staunch Republicans now that Rove has defected over to the renewable gravy train. Especially the ones in CV that tried to convince us the Rep vote was the ONLY way to defend afgainst this wind fiasco.  I guess you will have to start thinking for yourself.  Now the sheep have nohwere to go since the head shepard just defected!

The only time in my life I register with ANY party, no less Rep so I can support the Rep candidates in CV, and Wiley at JLL and K at Pandoras told us it was the ONLY way to vote on the wind issue...and this is what we get?  Patty Richie their favorite has defected too apparently, and now Rove, and the CV Rep. board is supporting solar which needs the same Production Tax Credit.  So what's next, and are these people really the best source of political advice????
There is another very important implication here for CV. Over and over in the past weeks I have been told I absolutely have to write a letter to whomever in Congress against the PTC subsidy.  I am told things were looking good.  The CV bogs and many of their commenters were convinced that the PTC was dead, and wind was dead, and it was all looking up. I just laughed inside. So why does BP buy up useless Acciona leases if wind and the PTC is DEAD.  Something doesn't add up. BP is not that stupid.  They are one of the largest corporations in the world.  They didn't get there being that stupid! They probably know something we don't and Rove probably just confirmed it. You people weren't paying attention.  The other day JLL ran the results of a poll that the said a vast majority of people responding were against subsidies like the PTC.  Well I guess that poll was slightly out of touch, if the defacto head of the Rep. party is willing to cozy up with the Dems on the renewable subsidies.  Rove knows votes...I would follow HIS POLL if you want the truth on where this is all likely going.

 My bet is the PTC is going to pass Congress probably late in the year as part of some last minute election hoopla designed to convince you this is all bipartisan and  responsible and it will bring lots of JOBS to a sagging economy!!!! Now if you are a good loyal Republican you have to stay with your party and get right on board!!!  Which means you are crawling right in bed with the Obama/Rove renewable agenda. Good luck with that!  Hey...in a post a few weeks back and in numerous CV blog comments i tried to warn you!!!

Now I distinctly remember on both CV blogs people telling me I was out of touch with the CV political scene because I was reluctant to support the Republican candidates.  That guy from AZ couldn't possibly know what is going on.  Really...well at least I was willing to ask some questions and didn't get completely suckered by the Grand Pubba of the Republican party!!!

Now let's see other blogs to explain this one for us!!!

The New Cape Vincent Zoning and Comp Plan - Credit Where Credit Is Due

Despite my criticisms in certain areas of the new land use documents when dealing with wind, fracking, and solar, I would like to be fair and call it as I see it on the rest of the effort put into these documents.  Basically I think they are very well and thoughtfully done in most areas.  I would like to say that despite my disaggreements with some people on the committees, and some approaches, I applaud the time and committment these citizens put into this effort. In the end it will be very interersting to see how this all plays out.

This does not change my overall views, but credit where credit is due!

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!

PROHIBIT HYDROFRACKING!!!!

The draft of the new Cape Vincent zoning law is available on the Town of Cape Vincent Website.

One thing I find really baffling is that  we have been  told over and over that we can't prohibit industrial wind turbines and all their negative impacts because that would be irrational and radical ...but apparently it is ok to prohibit hydro fracking for natural gas????? 

After all this you can't prohibit anything hoopla....you have got to be kidding me!!!!!

Now I am not opposed to prohibiting natural gas hydrofracking in CV, that to would be a disaster for our beautiful community, but why aren't we using setback zoning to restrict hydrofracking like we are for industrial wind?  Why does industrial wind get a pass and even a place on our zoning map where it can be developed?

Listed under prohibited uses in the new CV zoning law on page 13.

"Exploration and extraction of  gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons.  This includes, but is not limited to, hydraulic fracturing or current state of the art extraction processes."

We get allowances for solar and wind in our new zoning, but no hydrofracking for natural gas.  Geee that almost smells like a "green" agenda. 

Wait a minute I thought we couldn't outright prohibit anything in our zoning??????