NCPR~ Interview Paul DeSotis Deputy Energy Secretary ~ Weasel Words

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009

NCPR ~ GOVERNOR CAUTIOUS ON WIND POWER~

Last week in Watertown, Governor Paterson was asked for his opinion about the wind power projects near the St. Lawrence River in Cape Vincent, Clayton, and Hammond. He said wind power developers need to be “more careful about siting” in the region, given the St. Lawrence River’s “cultural and historic value”. That sounded extremely cautionary for a Governor who’s just proposed ambitious growth plans for wind and solar energy in New York. So David Sommerstein called Paul DeSotis, deputy energy secretary for Governor Paterson, to interpret the Governor’s remarks. Speaking while on a layover at National airport, DeSotis said Paterson was referring to wind power’s intermittency -
wind turbines only make electricity when the wind’s blowing. And he was talking about bottlenecks in the state’s power grid that make it hard to send electricity from northern New York - where the wind is - downstate to where the most demand is.



Tuesday JANUARY 20, 2009

This is What Governor Paterson said . I went over the video many times to be as accurate as possible!!
The Governors words were not just about the intermittency of wind power!
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Tuesday nights town hall meeting was an opportunity to find out what Governor Paterson’s thoughts are about industrial wind development in the St. Lawrence region and the corruption that is plaguing the wind industry in our communities, such as the unethical behavior and conflicts of interests pertaining to the siting of wind power.

A woman from Hammond attending the meeting addressed a few of these issues. She spoke about a scheduled project in her community, that she thought would provide power to Downstate .Her questions addressed issues effecting land owners and tax payers, the adverse impacts resulting from living in close proximity to industrial wind turbines. At one point she stated “ we are wondering what your plans are to help tax payers and property owners who are on the other side, That are being, or will be impacted , by the quality of life issues” such as medical and psychological , lowered property values , the divisiveness, between local government and community residents.

To this Governor Paterson replied

I think that number one, particularly in that area and because of its, cultural and historic, value and also it’s a place that people come to see, that we have to be a lot more careful, about the siting of, wind turbine facilities, that would obviously, impact on the economic development, of the area and property values .There is enough area in the region, to affect this.

One thing that you said, that I would like to comment on and it has a little bit to do, with the transmission of power to downstate.
One of the misnomers on wind power and solar power and even hydro power, is that it is very hard to transmit power, through these clean renewable sources. They are clean and renewable, but they're very inefficient.
And the piping of the resources is not the same as piping oil. As a matter of fact, 3% of the product escapes the pipe everyday, and 3.4% is the best we've ever done. As a result of a study done at the University of California Berkeley.
Solar and wind power really come from the ability to heat nitrogen to a boiling point, where it cracks, and then becomes an energy source. Nitrogen is not an energy source, it is a conductor. So one of the reasons why we will have to have wind turbines is not because it's being piped to “Downstate”, but because the way we are going to win the battle over clean and renewable energy and replace the traditional, many of them carbon emission forms of energy, is to localize our product, so that in the end, the wind turbines that exist will actually go to generate power here. Only in the distant future with a lot of research will we be able to transmit that power, the way we do with other forms of energy.

But, that does not mitigate from what you are saying about placement, about the process by which contracts are granted. By the discipline that must be maintained, by people who are on the types of boards that vote for this.
The inherent problem of conflicts of interest, tainting the process. By companies that are just trying to get started too quickly. There is a real rush for energy creation these days, it has to be balanced with good government, and integrity on the part of those who take part in the decision making process.