Sheldon's Turbines are HERE

Submitted by EffieRover on Mon, 08/28/2006 - 11:09am
Financial | Genesee County | Social & Environmental

As I stood in my living room, talking to my family about something else, I saw a long, white, cylindrical object fly down the road in front of my home.

I jumped to my feet.

"Holy crap! That's a turbine tower section!" I almost yelled at my husband. We discussed it for a bit, couldn't figure out where on earth they would be heading that had already approved the monsters (at least in that direction) and decided it must be a cell or water tower section instead.

Until the next day, when a flatbed truck flew by with two turbine blades strapped to it.

They don't roll by every day - more like every fourth or fifth - but boy do they roll by.

We've since learned that they're heading to Sheldon, detouring up to Route 5 to avoid turning left at the Rt 63 & 5 intersection in Batavia. Nice of them to try and avoid an accident in town. Wish they'd do it out here.

I have a good mind to go out with a radar gun and clock them. I live in a 45mph section which is often ignored by large trucks; still, you'd think when you're hauling something THAT big and therefore difficult to stop quickly, that you'd take a little more caution. Not here.

I wonder if Sheldon will be receiving any additional funds to mend their roads? I'm pretty sure we won't -- and yet here they roll anyway.

Hope they like the yellow signs.

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I guess Invenergy thinks

Submitted by Peg on Tue, 08/29/2006 - 11:45pm.

I guess Invenergy thinks that it is a done deal here because three of the town board members' families will be getting several turbines. They only need three votes to get the welcome mat rolled out.

It just has to be illegal...immoral... unAmerican...
greedy...selfish...dastardly (I'm running out of printable adjectives).

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I didn't realize Sheldon

Submitted by EffieRover on Wed, 08/30/2006 - 10:25am.

I didn't realize Sheldon hadn't been approved yet. I also thought that was a done deal.

Hmmm. Maybe I should throw tomatoes as they go by ... it's easy to tell when they're coming. There are at least two escort vehicles that precede them and one behind. The lead escort is quite a ways ahead - so when you see the yellow flashing lights, just get up and take a look.

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i do not understand just how

Submitted by Phyllis B. Darling (not verified) on Thu, 08/31/2006 - 7:17am.

i do not understand just how the initial vote to ALLOW the turbines into the town is not a conflict of interest. if the board has to vote for them to come in, then they will be getting their "financial benefit". if they vote not to come into town, then they cannot get their "financial benefit". sort of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

why do town boards look as if they don't know what is going on? i see it in stafford, i saw it in covington. in covington, the supervisor said the same thing as was said in stafford, regarding the legal publication of meetings -- "we do what is legally necessary!!!", but you don't see a special "reminder" -- notice anywhere else advising of a meeting!!!

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This much I do understand (I

Submitted by EffieRover on Sat, 09/02/2006 - 1:50pm.

This much I do understand (I have the little blue town government handbook) ... they are only required to place a legal ad in the newspaper. That's all they have to do. If you don't look carefully and you miss it - that is your problem.

That may not seem fair, but it is the law in NYS. And, in fairness, it is all the towns have ever done in the past - it was just that most residents didn't care what went on in local government meetings before.

Besides, what form of notice would everyone agree on? The papers cannot be forced to print articles - they choose for themselves as is right. TV - which station? Cable - not everyone gets it. Internet? Where? That is why NYS settled on newspaper legal ads a long time ago.

This is one of the reasons I created this site -- if you know of a meeting, then please post it here! This calendar is much easier to read than the legal ads and all those who have subscribed to that county's announcements will get an email notice automatically.

(Not trying to toot my own horn - just present a possible solution.)

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I'm always surprised by the

Submitted by Gator (not verified) on Wed, 09/27/2006 - 4:17am.

I'm always surprised by the lack of big picture understanding of some people. Please understand that I am not defending the large corporations that are proposing commercial wind farms. My issue is that people that are anti-wind don't seem to get it. I think everyone would agree that electricity is something that we all need. It is integrated into all aspects of our lives. If generating this electricity with wind power is so bad, how do you propose that we generate it? You think that coal, natural gas, or nuclear power plants have less environmental impact than wind? Come on. Would Sheldon welcome one of these pollution-spewing plants with open arms? Or, as many of NIMBYs seem to imply, I'll get my electricity from somewhere else, let someone else live with the consequences. I can relate to being upset about these large corporations running ramshod and almost forcing their desires on people. But I'm surprised with how fear-mongers can stimulate a paranoid response from so many people. Would anyone who says no to wind power be willing to live without electricity? Probably not. Personally, I'd much rather live with my viewshed altered by non-polluting wind turbines than the 600+ foot smoke stack spewing pollution 24/7 coal plant that I currently live near.

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One of the problems we have

Submitted by EffieRover on Wed, 09/27/2006 - 1:44pm.

One of the problems we have is that a) we don't need the electricity here and b) we barely have enough wind to make them viable.

Western and Upstate New York are already exporting power to southern Ontario and down the eastern seaboard. We don't need the electricity for ourselves.

Should we be generating electricity for others? Well, sure, if we had the wind to support it. We don't. Most of the midwestern states that would like to receive the electricity have more wind than we do. Why are they going here then?

Because we have tax breaks. The average taxpayer will be funding an ill-researched and ill-conceived project.

I'm equally surprised at the attitude of pro-wind folks who seem to think that a turbine is a turbine and will produce electricity in an effective manner no matter where you put it, so what's the big deal? False.

The choice is not wind vs. coal vs. nuclear. The choice is smart wind vs. dumb wind. Turbines need to be placed in areas of more wind and away from people's homes (for safety). Corporations would rather maximize profit, which means shoehorning these things between the homes of western New Yorkers where the tax incentives and grants are plentiful.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions; and many pro-wind folks have no more than that -- good intentions with no real data to back them up.

It is not necesarily that we're all anti-wind even if we're anti-wind-turbines in NY.

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The north country is located

Submitted by Visitor on Tue, 10/03/2006 - 1:54pm.

The north country is located in a superior wind site - Altona, Brandon, Clinton and Ellenberg all have 17.5 MPH and higher. In fact not for the NOBLE relationship with GE (J. Quirke former employee) - they've could be sizing the whole field with 2MW turbines instead of the 1.5MW turbines that they went with. Also - the midwest is devoid of existing power grids - which also slice thru these towns. Lastly - NYC is one of the largest consumers in the world. Not sure why you think its being shipped north (other way around actually). What data are you basing this on?

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I'd have to agree with the

Submitted by Visitor on Tue, 10/03/2006 - 4:59pm.

I'd have to agree with the previous comment. There are a number of free wind resources sites that all point to specific areas in these towns mentioned in the last comment that have grade III wind resources. The 2.0 MW Turbine statement is true - Horizion is planning to use them.

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All of western New York is

Submitted by EffieRover on Wed, 10/04/2006 - 1:27pm.

All of western New York is graded at class 2 or 3 at most. This is MINIMAL for wind. (Note that no other country, including Germany and Denmark, is foolish enough to build in class 3 - class 4 is the minimum everywhere except in the US, where tax breaks make it work.)

Even the wind companies admit the wind is only 7-8mps (meters per second), which is minimal for wind. Exceptions occur along the lakefronts and on the high ridges in the southern tier. Sheldon is neither (although it is close to the southern tier exceptions, it is not located within them).

As for the power grid, it is well-documented that sufficient high-volage transit lines to pull that electricity down to NYC do not exist at this time and will take at least until 2020 to be completed if they were started today (which is not happening). Upstate NY from Troy westward cannot help NYC directly - only the east coast can do that.

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