Friday, April 18, 2008

Lyme extends moratorium on wind

By Nancy Madsen

Times Staff Writer

Watertown Daily Times

18 April 2008

Lyme extends moratorium on wind

Three months more: Move will give seasonal residents a chance to obtain information, share opinions

The Lyme Town Council voted unanimously to extend the town’s moratorium on industrial wind development for a third time at a special meeting Thursday night.

 Continue reading via this link

Monday, April 14, 2008

Wind farm Supporters blast lyme survey


By Nancy Madsen
Times Staff Writer

Watertown Daily Times

14 April 2008


‘Worth nothing’: Questions concerning distance of turbines from waterfront, village are criticized

LYME — In August, the Lyme Planning Board asked residents to fill out a survey to help them write a zoning law amendment for wind turbines. Now questions on that survey are being challenged as not valid.

Two questions on the survey ask residents how far from the waterfront, village of Chaumont and hamlets turbines should be placed. Their options were: 1,500 feet, 3,000 feet, 4,500 feet and “Turbines should not be near the waterfront” or “Turbines should not be near any area of population such as a hamlet and/or village.”

 Continue reading via this link

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Lyme ~Supervisor Aubertine ~ requests wind law revisions

Supervisor requests wind law revisions
By NANCY MADSEN
TIMES STAFF WRITER
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008
CHAUMONT ― Pleas from Lyme landowners have pushed town Supervisor Scott G. Aubertine to seek reduced setback requirements for the proposed zoning law amendment.

Mr. Aubertine asked Town Council and Planning Board members to consider his alternative proposal during a work session on the proposed zoning law amendment Tuesday night.
He said he had heard from several landowners who wanted turbines on their land, but fell within the proposed 4,500-foot setback from Lake Ontario, the Chaumont River, the village of Chaumont and the hamlet of Three Mile Bay.

 Continue reading via this link

Wind company's actions give rise to questions ~ Letter to the Editor

Watertown Daily Times | Wind company's actions give rise to questions

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008

I read the letter from by Paul C. Mason, Cape Vincent, "Uninformed Cape wind foes spread rumors." I may not have visited the office of the St. Lawrence Wind Farm, but I have attended their informational meetings and presentation of their Draft Environmental Impact Statement to the Cape Vincent Planning Board (which was incomplete) as well as the meetings held by BP and the presentation of their DEIS, which was also incomplete. I presented questions to each of the companies via the board and spoke to the companies' reps at their informational gatherings taking the time to read their pamphlets and praises. So I did have direct dialog with all companies and reps concerned.

I do not consider myself an expert, but I do care about where I am living and what is happening to Cape Vincent. Members of the Wind Power Ethics Group are intelligent people who are aware of how these companies are using the almighty dollar to get what they want.

These are the same companies who came into our town and spoke to people and told them they were not to discuss their offers with anyone else. A gag order was given by these companies to all people who were willing to and did sign contracts. Many of the townspeople were never aware of the closed door ethics that were going on.

It is amazing. Mr. Mason states people who either do not want these massive beasts in their backyards or may want them but at a decent distance from their homes have not offered solutions for generating electricity. What bothers me is that people who are getting paid to have these windmills on their properties never brought their options to save energy to the Planning Board table either. They never spoke out until they realized it was not going to be a cakewalk for the companies to get these wind turbines where they wanted them.

When townspeople started to question how many, how big and where they were going to be placed, that is when everything got ugly. So now we are a town divided. Whose fault is that? Maybe it was the way it was done when they sneak behind closed doors. Maybe because it is a subject that divides families and friends. You cannot blame anyone who asks questions of these companies, after all the people who signed away the rights to their land for 20 to 30 years have lost their rights to question anything or anyone. So that leaves me. I still have all of my rights, and I intend to use them.

Mariana Reinhart

Cape Vincent