WOW - We Oppose Windfarms - Court Cases

NY Residents Vent Over Power Line Plan

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 15:30:52 -0400

Disgruntled citizens and state utility regulators urged the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday to halt a plan to make it easier for companies to build long-distance power lines through communities that don't want them.

Their ire, vented at a public hearing in Manhattan, was aimed the Energy Department's announcement that it intended to designate two large sections of the Northeast and Southwest as "National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors."

Wind Power Struggles in Cohocton

Mon, 14 May 2007 02:12:29 -0400

Bath, N.Y. -- Judge Marianne Furfure heard arguments on May 8th brought by Cohocton Wind Watch, an anti-windmill group that says the Town of Cohocton did not comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act when it changed its zoning regulations to make way for a project propsed by developer UPC Wind.

UPC Wind wants to build fifty 500-foot wind turbines in the hillsides scattered in and around Cohocton. They will lease farmland from local farmers and then sell that power to local energy distributors.

German Dilemma: Who Owns the Wind?

Fri, 11 May 2007 10:38:36 -0400

With a growing number of wind power stations in Germany, a new kind of legal case is rearing its ugly head. The crime: stealing wind.

It's an offense not mentioned in the bible or the statute books. But in a broader sense it is about theft, even when the booty itself is invisible. But it is still a major problem for the German legal system, including a court in Leipzig that is currently hearing a case involving a dispute between the operators of two wind turbine facilities. Who owns the wind?

Group goes to court over wind farm

Mon, 07 May 2007 10:35:04 -0400

BATH – A legal action aimed at stopping a Town of Cohocton wind energy project will be heard Tuesday May 8 in state Supreme Court in Steuben County.

Judge Marianne Furfure is scheduled to hear arguments brought by Cohocton Wind Watch. The anti-windmill group contends that the Town of Cohocton did not comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act when it modified its zoning law to allow a project proposed by developer UPC Wind.

Centerville Citizens Challenge Wind Farm Law

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:29:42 -0400

A group of landowners in the Town of Centerville filed suit Friday alleging the town board worked hand-in-hand with Noble Environmental Power, LLC, to craft a local law that accommodates Noble’s proposed Centerville Windpark, but without looking at the environmental impacts. The project would add at least 60 wind turbines, each about fifty stories high, to Noble’s Bliss Windpark in the Town of Eagle. Sixty-seven wind turbines have already been approved in Eagle. A comparable wind farm is planned by Noble in the Town of Farmersville in Cattaraugus County.

Wind farm proposal in Clinton County

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:05:10 -0400

For people who call the town of Ellenburg home, these green pastures are sacred ground. Barbara Kramer, the Vice President of Neighbors of the North Country, said, “It is my utopia. Do you know what that means? Paradise. And this is paradise. And it is going to be devastated forever. ”

Neighbors of the North Country is a group opposed to Marble River Wind Farm, a project to build 400 foot tall wind turbines throughout Clinton County. But the project manager, Charlie Turlinkski said the 109 turbines built in the towns of Ellenburg and Clinton alone will create enough power for 60,000 homes.

Why I Voted against Windpower

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:26:17 -0400

John F. “Jack” Sullivan
Town Councilor
Malone, NY

July 22, 2006

To whom it may concern:

To some, my vote against wind power in Malone was a vote against progress; however, be assured that this decision was based on hundreds of hours of study and research, as well as numerous mathematical calculations backed by years of business experience and a graduate degree in physics. This vote was against the degradation of local property values, destruction of some wonderful viewsheds, lowering the quality of life of some local residents, and the accruing of millions of dollars of NY taxpayer dollars by a few wind developers.

Tilting at Windmills

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 14:27:11 -0400

Look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants rise up, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes.

— from "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes

Wind farm development lawsuits directed at Town of Cohocton

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:58:56 -0400

COHOCTON - The Town of Cohocton is involved in a tug-of-war on the issue of wind farm development - with the most recent disagreement now in state Supreme Court.

The lawsuit - started in May - was initiated by James Hall, a Cohocton Wind Watch member, against the town board for issues involving Wind Mill Local Law No. 1. The law includes regulations for proposed wind farm development by UPC Wind Partner LLC.

CALL TO ACTION

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:27:37 -0400

Email your elected representatives in the NYS Senat and Assembly -- let them know how we feel about NYSERDA's authority to push or prevent projects using the almighty dollar.

Find your Assemblyperson: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/ and enter your zip code.

Find your Senator: http://www.senate.state.ny.us/sdl.html and enter your zip code.

Or send snail mail if you prefer...or do both ...spread the word....this can put an end to our fight....

Eminent Domain

Sat, 06 May 2006 15:30:48 -0400

Somewhere along the way we read about turbines and eminent domain. Eminent domain, of course, is where a government entity can take your land and use it for the public good, such as a road.

Does turbine construction equate to "eminent domain?" Well, in a word, "no." Or is it "yes?"

No one “takes” your land to build turbines. Turbines are built on land under a contract that pays the landholder for that right. The turbine host may make $7000 or more per turbine per year. Pretty good for him. Such contracts reward the landholder under terms that can be as long as 30 years. No eminent domain there.