LongLine

Feel free to use anything I've written about those things Tom B. (LongLine)

Yes, an interesting article. The Europeans have admitted the cost from offshore turbines is much greater than onshore, but that doesn’t seem to deter NYPA as they obviously figure us taxpayers have all kinds of money to give them. I found it interesting that the article uses costs from mounting towers on steel pilings, yet current offshore farms off Denmark use huge concrete bases. (see previous posted video for how they are really constructed.) The NYPA request for proposal excludes water deeper than 150 ft. It’s very sad that the Governor and his Public Service Commission and the NYPA have not included energy efficiency nor conservation in their electric energy strategies. Tom B. (LongLine)

My response to the D&C Editorial on Friday: Shame on the proponents of wind turbines on Lake Ontario for not researching the limnology of the lake. The Rochester Embayment that the NYPA is targeting for turbines stretches from the Genesee River to Braddock’s’ to Pultneyville and is all mud & sand. It is classified by the US EPA as an impaired Class B Area of Concern. Dredging is restricted to run-off only as the sediments are heavily contaminated with heavy metals, phosphorous and algae. That’s why there are year round health advisories and we have beach closings during the summer. Excavation for transmission lines and turbines, that are much larger than their land based cousins, will liberate pollutants in the underlying sediments and the natural currents of Lake Ontario will carry them past Sodus, Fair Haven, Oswego, the Salmon River, Henderson and into the Thousand Islands. US Executive Order 13340 declared the Great Lakes a national treasure and a $7 billion/yr Sportfishing industry has developed due to the Federal, States and Canadian governments’ restoration of native species. Many communities along the shore depend upon fishing/tourism for economic survival. Look how popular boating & fishing has become locally out of Irondequoit Bay & the Genesee River. Transmission lines will be more disruptive to freshwater fish & aquatic life than other wildlife. The US Army Corps of Engineers is trying to prevent migration of the Asian Carp into the Great Lakes with electricity. Lines will fragment the habitat. The ecology is frail enough without underwater transmission lines. Turbines creating jobs is also bogus. Lowville just lost their state status for Empire Zoning because the state says they’re a “shirt-changer.†Additionally Lewis County is going to receive less than 25% of what was promised from the windfarm for their 2010 budget. Proponents of windfarms on Lake Ontario talk a good story but don’t realize how valuable the dwindling supply of the worlds freshwater is becoming during this era of climate change. Offshore windfarms on Lake Ontario are a major ecological mistake and it will be tragic if we let power companies, that weren’t allowed rights to Long Island Sound, pillage the treasures of Western and Upstate New York. Tom Bishop Rochester NY Let's see if they have the B@lls to print it. Feel free to copy paste any/all of it in letters to your local papers. If any of you can find links to specific plans i.e. " The XYZ construction copany will install XXX turbines in YYY FOW off ABC county for XXX money", PLEASE post them. Tom B. (LongLine)

Here's my letter: (feel free to copy/paste) I’m writing to inform you that I and many Lake Ontario fishermen, boaters, property owners & environmentally conscious citizens are totally against locating offshore windfarms along the shores in Lake Ontario for which the NY Power Authority is currently seeking proposals. From aesthetic, ecological, recreational, and economic viewpoints this is not a good area to install turbines. The Great Lakes were declared to be a national treasure (Presidential Exec. Order 13340 of May 18, 2004). They are a valuable freshwater resource that many governments, agencies, organizations and conservation groups have been trying to restore and protect, especially in this time of climate change that is seeing our freshwater ecology challenged and the world’s freshwater supply dwindle. 1. Aesthetically: Windmills will be a clearly visible eyesore from all points on the south shore and higher buildings inland. There will be no hills or trees to hide them. Offshore windmills are larger than their land based cousins and will fill the 50 to 150 Ft of water band along the south and eastern shores. NYPA is seeking proposal for the construction of up to 500 Megawatts of electrical production. This will require 1,250 turbines rated for 1.6 MW each which operate at a typical 25% efficiency, worldwide. Rochester has plans to develop the harbor area for recreational purposes; Oswego and the Salmon River area have already become well known for their recreational activities especially the world class fishing and hatcheries there. 2. Ecologically: The Rochester Embayment extends from Braddock’s Bay to Pultneyville from the shoreline out to over 200 ft of water. It has a thick sand and mud bottom due to thousands of years or erosion and is listed as a Class B Area of Concern by the U.S. EPA due to the sediments containing very high levels of heavy metals and phosphorous. Impairments listed by the USEPA include: restricted dredging; degradation of benthos; loss of fish and wildlife habitat; and beach closings, among others. Foundations for offshore turbines are much larger than land based units as they also have to withstand water currents and wave action. Excavation for installation and decommissioning, (after only a 20 years life expectancy) offshore turbine towers and transmission lines will disrupt heavily polluted sediments that have settled to the bottom and are beginning to be covered by cleaner sediments from the last few years. The underwater currents and the natural gyre that travels from West to East in Lake Ontario will carry liberated pollutants and impair areas all along the southern shore and into the Thousand Islands. Every aquatic life form in the Great Lakes is dependent upon the nearshore environment at some stage in their life, whether it’s zooplankton, prey or game fish. It is a very frail ecology, especially with the recent colonization of that zone by invasive species such as Zebra & Quagga mussels. Turbine foundations, interconnection and transmission lines will cause aquatic habitat fragmentation and disrupt nesting sites. Studies have shown that fish can sense and are affected by electromagnetic fields. The US Army Corps of Engineers is trying to stop another invasive species (Asian carp) from entering the Great Lakes at the Chicago Sanitary Canal with electricity. Avian fatalities are also a major concern. Especially for migratory birds and water fowl that have established routes through the area to resting places such as at Braddock’s Bay, Irondequoit Bay, wetlands in the area, and even the Montezuma Wildlife Preserve. 3. Recreationally: Boating collisions occur every year. The sought after proposal will add over 1000 more nautical obstacles for all types of watercraft. Government agencies will create exclusion zones around the turbines and transmission lines for reasons of safety and national security. This will greatly reduce and partition the area where boaters and fishermen frequent. 4. Economically: Effort by the Great Lakes states, US and Canadian governments and their agencies to restore fish populations and habitat has put money into the local economies. It has lead to the establishment of a documented $7 Billion/year Sportfishing industry on the Great Lakes. Windfarms will diminish this. The Lowville windfarm is currently entering a legal battle with NYS as it was recently classified as a “shirt-changer.†Flat Rock/Maple Ridge did not create the additional jobs that its proponents claimed it would. Lewis County is only going to receive 25% of what of was projected for its 2010 budget from that windfarm project. The view of the lake will be ruined and property taxes will be lost as values of the most valuable residential properties in the area will go down. People do not want to live with windmills in view, unless they are getting easement monies for turbines on their land. Individuals will not get easement money if the turbines are located offshore. Electricity generated by wind is more expensive than other means due to construction, maintenance and transmission: The Long Island PA (headed by Mr. Kessel) terminated the proposal for only 40 turbines in the Long Island Sound when they found out that re-bid construction costs would exceed initial estimates by $114M. Access issues for servicing turbines will contribute to increased expenses of electricity. The waves on Lake Ontario are much steeper than on the Baltic where they acknowledge access issues with wave heights above 1 meter. (We have that frequently.) Additionally, although Lake Ontario doesn’t generally freeze over, the Welland Canal and the St Lawrence Seaway are closed over the winter and ports such as the Genesee River and Oswego do freeze over. Site choices are based on average yearly wind speed and the day to day and even hourly winds are ignored. Lake Ontario sailors know how the winds suddenly changes in these areas. Brownouts & surges will become more frequent & severe as the area becomes more dependent on technology that is based upon our unpredictable weather. I.E. “Lake effectâ€. (Worldwide, without Lake effect, they only operate at 20-25% of name plate capacity.) I urge you to say “NO†to windfarms on Lake Ontario. Although proponents claim “green†w.r.t. air, they casually brush off issues with water. Lake Ontario is too valuable a freshwater resource to risk. Thank you, As I said, feel free to copy/paste, Tom B. (LongLine)

Here's an interesting site with a video of the construction of the 72 turbine Nysted offshore farm in Denmark. http://www.dongenergy.com/Nysted/EN/Abo ... ction.aspx Tom B. (LongLine) Can you say “pollution�

Snagging an anchor would definitely be an "electrifying" moment however so would snagging a cannonball or copper on a transmission line. Transmission lines will run from the mills to the substations on shore, so the exclusion zones just got a heck of a lot bigger. BTW: GPS, VHF, compasses etc probably won't work near those lines. Tom B. (LongLine)

With climate change taking place the world’s supply of freshwater is becoming a more and more valuable resource every day. (Copehagen climate meeting12/7/09) The Great Lakes represent approx 95% of the surface fresh water supply of North America and many states have, in the last few years, won lawsuits prohibiting other regions from the water (Wisc,, Mich, etc) trying to protect it. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Matthew 7:26 The NYPA didn’t bother to look at the USGS nautical charts for the Rochester Embayment, http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/14804.shtml which is one of the areas where they are accepting proposals for a major wind farm. (Refer to previous post with map) The Rochester Embayment is all sand & mud from Bogus point (Braddock’s) to Pultneyville. Fishermen & boaters from all along this area can attest to this, as well as to the vast area that turns brown with sediment when the Genny area gets just a little rain. Off shore windmills in this area will need much more extensive bases & foundation super-structures than on land not only because they’re water installations but because they’ll be built on mud & sediment that has accumulated over 1000’s of years. Installers will have to do some serious construction and much more excavation than they’ve ever done with land based units just to get down to the solid structure that will be required to support these mills that are much larger than their land based cousins. They obviously don’t realize that the U.S. EPA has classified the Rochester Embayment area as an Area of Concern (AOC) due to the sediments containing very high amounts of heavy metal & Phosphorus from the last couple hundred years of pollution in the area. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/aoc/rochester.html (I find it interesting that only “runoff†dredging can be done in the area.) Heavy metal pollution does not come from organic decay. It historically comes from industry that did metal working operations and where spills or waste could flow into the tributaries, such as the Genny which is the largest sole US tributary on Lake Ontario. Many manufacturers are now gone but their legacy remains in the sediments of the lake. Interestingly, in the first 10-15 years of baitfish surveys, the DEC trawls off Rochester (33-500 FOW) often snagged WWII armaments. Rochester probably saved the free world with production of the proximity fuse and optics for the war effort. Unfortunately glass required arsenic and finished proximity fuses contained mercury switches. The DEC’s find was such a “curiosity†to the gov’t that the USGS did sonar scans of the area and concluded that although there was no evidence of a large cache, fuses were scattered over a large area and under layers of sediment and mussel infestations. http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu5o8cx1L7 ... 99-237.pdf They speculated that the fuses were put out there “probably to prevent them from reaching enemy hands;†(1st para - Intro section) that there are no early production records or records of disposal practices; and that the area sampled was pretty small. This indicates there could be many many more out there. More recently we know of the high concentrations of bacteria & algae that grow in the area and frequently pollute our public beaches. In addition, the lake floor, from shore to well past the proposed windmill range is now covered with Zebra & Quagga mussels. (Which, by the way, came to us as a result of another project backed by the Power Authority.) Mussels are eaten by another bottom dweller known as Gobies. Gobies, in turn are eaten by birds that have experienced major die offs due type E Botulism from their diet of these invasives. There is a general eastward current (gyre) in Lake Ontario. Some sediment studied in the Hounsfield wind farm project for Galloo Island have been identified as originating from the Genny. (refer to EIS link in previous post) Fortunately direct pollution of tributaries has been dramatically reduced in the last decade. The waters of Lake Ontario are getting cleaner in many respects. Cleaner sediment from the last few years is beginning to cover and bury the heavily polluted sediment from years ago. Unfortunately, vast construction projects that these windmill bases will require, will dig into the polluted layers and pollution will be redistributed via the natural gyre of Lake Ontario to pollute all along the South shore and into the Thousand Island area. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. Matthew 7:26 Tom B. (LongLine)

As to Loweville: Loweville wind farms have been reclassified as a “shirt-changer†wrt Empire Zones as they didn’t provide the jobs they promised. Lewis county was promised $2.1M but “might†get $600K in 2010. http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/arti ... /309269997 In case you don’t know the history or what it looks like: http://www.savewesternny.org/gallery3.html oh yea, in case you were curious, they purchased the turbines from Vestas (Denmark) http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-125152757.html Loweville was hyped up as 195 turbines 320 MW, power for 160,000 homes and emissions for 105,000 cars http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins ... ontent.183 Yet Iberdola site says power for 96,000 homes; emissions for only 45,000 cars; created 400 construction jobs; employs 35 people & that it brought in $55M to the community thru construction. (wonder what those unemployed construction workers are doing now and why the state is revoking the Empire Zone credit for failing to increase employment rolls?) http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geusURkxtLu ... tSheet.pdf Transmission lines are the problem. The grid won’t handle the additional power without substantial investment. Even Lowevile had to shut down a few times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/busin ... wanted=all (Remember a few years ago when the grid operators screwed up & the whole NE grid went down? Surges will happen as the wind picks up; brownouts will occur when it drops & backup isn’t switched properly.) Turbines safe??? July 4, 2007. Loweville. DEC investigation. What will this spill do to the open water. This spill contaminated someones water supply & the Dec had to provide bottled water to many residents. (scroll down the site for the article) http://batr.net/cohoctonwindwatch/2007/ ... sburg.html What happens when the winds stop blowing over a 10 minute period? http://www.examiner.com/x-325-Global-Wa ... -To-Manage (Look at the NOAA data for Lake Ontario- our winds shift & change all the time within 10 minute periods) Yes 50 of the Loweville turbines did not kill more than the average number of birds/bats for turbines: They only checked 50 turbines not the whole 195 and they didn’t count during the spring migrations. They found 125 birds and at 9.2 fatalities per MW, those same 50 killed 2,125 bats. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea ... ties-48900 From their own annual report, they say that fatalities per MW they’re lower but the actual number of bats killed was higher than other windfarms because they’re rated for more MW. (pg 54) http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geut0xtBtLz ... t_2006.pdf (Interesting that their mitigation for bat fatalities is to have better lighting on the towers – guess no one told them bats are blind?) Here’s the Environmental Impact statement for the Hounsfield windfarm supposed to begin construction on Galloo Island in 2010. (84 turbines) This will be on land but have a new single transmission line go underwater then 50 miles to Mexico NY. They say yes there will be aquatic life (fish) impact, especially during construction due to blasting. They’re going to minimize that by blasting only when there are no fish migrations. Guess they won’t be able to do construction during May-June (alewife spawn) nor mid Aug thru Oct for the Salmon spawn, or Oct thru Dec for the Lake Trout spawn. Only do it when the Ragboats & every other recreational boat is out there; and when the access ports are frozen over. http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geu_KawxtLI ... dfteis.pdf There’s also discussion of re-depositing sediments impact which is kind of strange because it’s all rock up there. From Sandy to Webster, it’s all mud. Natural gyre of Big-O shouldn’t carry the sediments to far up the St. Lawrence. To answer the question as to how much power they really can produce: the answer is on pg 1-12 in the previous link. 34-35% of the nameplate rating over the course of their 20 year lifespan. Here’s one that just too good to not pass on: According to NYS Dept of Labor in June 09, electric bills in Lewis, Jefferson & St Lawrence counties were reduced 10-15% by NYPA, not due to renewable energy sources but because Alcoa shut down smelters & they resold unused electricity to someone else. Lower electric bills as a trade off for jobs-don’t try to sell that news as a positive to the unemployed. (Scroll down to June 2009) http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforcei ... norec.shtm Tom B. (LongLine)