Need your Help - STOP Great Lakes Wind Turbine Development

[web-fisherman]

On December 1st, 2009, The New York State Power Authority submitted a request for proposal to potentially build an industrial wind farm off the shores of Lake Ontario and Erie

This proposal would see the construction of 100-166 450ft industrial wind turbines offshore (50-150ft) stretching through from Parma, Greece, Rochester, Irondequoit and Webster with a possible power plant and storage facility location in Irondequoit Bay. There are several other potential projects targeting Niagara, Ontario, and the St Lawrence counties.

We have recently made the news regarding this issue and are looking for your help. We have went door-to-door in our community to raise nearly 700 signatures to oppose this development. I was put to the task to ask the LOU community to join in the fight. This will affect fishing in lake Ontario. Please go to the link provided and sign our petition to oppose the GLOW project in the Great Lakes. WE NEED YOUR HELP!

online Petition started on 7/23/10

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-great-lakes-wind-turbine-development

[web-fisherman]

Admin - Can we sticky bit this post?

[BlueEye]

Hey Mike -

Thanks for the post. We already have this topic as a sticky. I saw you posted the message in that topic as well. LOTS of LOU members have already signed the petition.

Cheers,

[web-fisherman]

BlueEye - Sounds Great.

This Petition will be attached to the 700+ names we already have. For those who have not signed one please do so. I will keep everyone posted on developments, meetings, etc...

Cheers

Mike

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

I will be addressing the Niagara county legislature on wind power and the ramifications to the Sportfishing industry, 7pm at Niagara county courthouse in Lockport. People will be there speaking for both sides. Open to all, and anyone residing in Niagara county should come out to support the cause, preventing this horror from marring the greatlakes.

[web-fisherman]

Capt Vince

What date is this? I could have a group there as well.

Mike

[Tim Bromund]

The Niagara County Legislature meeting is tomorrow night (tuesday 7-27-10).

Tim

[motoman]

number 44 signed i now there s alot more than that right here, come on people sign this thing or our lake could be changed for ever!

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Yes, Tim is correct. Tomorrow night, 7/27/10, at 7pm. Come out and voice your opposition, or support those that do.

[web-fisherman]

Capt. Vince,

I will try to get a group of people there for your support. I am still awaiting responses. Keep up the great work.

Thanks to all who have signed or helped protect our fishery. Your voice will be presented and we are looking forward to a resolution in our favor.

Mike

Motoman! Thank you for the plug!

[TOP SECRET]

Am I the ONLY one that thinks this wouldn't be a bad thing?

Nick

[Tim Bromund]

Am I the ONLY one that thinks this wouldn't be a bad thing?

Nick

Yes.

[TOP SECRET]

Ok, just asking

[Tim Bromund]

Vince,

How did it go last night? I planned on attending but ended up not getting out of work until after 8:30 and was still an hour away at that point. Wish I could have been there.

Tim

[Tim Bromund]

Ok, just asking

[web-fisherman]

Am I the ONLY one that thinks this wouldn't be a bad thing?

Nick

Nick,

If these things go in, Your going to have to change your boat name to RUFF FISHIN'

Why do you think installing a 40 mile - 50-150ft -80-166 unit wind farm is "NOT" a bad thing?

[TOP SECRET]

Perhaps I'm just uneducated about the downsides to this other than "it will look ugly" or "this person profits instead of this person", or "I won't be able to fish that half mile area."

Pro sides I can think of are lowering dependency on foreign oil and bringing quite a few jobs to the local area...

I'm open to hearing the pro/cons though...

Nick

[Tim Bromund]

Perhaps I'm just uneducated about the downsides to this other than "it will look ugly" or "this person profits instead of this person", or "I won't be able to fish that half mile area."

Pro sides I can think of are lowering dependency on foreign oil and bringing quite a few jobs to the local area...

I'm open to hearing the pro/cons though...

Nick

Here ya go, hope you've got some free time, it's only 22 pages long

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14436

Tim

[TOP SECRET]

Read through a few pages of the other link and really just see a lot of "not in my backyard" complaints. I'm sure if they wanted to put a Nuke plant in Sodus there would be the same amount of people pitching a fit. For me, it comes down to something needs to be done and yes some things will be affected. I for one would rather see a wind farm offshore in Sodus than a coal plant. And I remember reading a while ago, that a wind farm was proposed off of Long Island, but it was met with the same reaction as this one is being met with and therefor dropped.

As to the "scientific data" being provided... just about any stat can be made to fit your opinion... such as the one that states that 95% of the nations fresh water comes from the great lakes... rubbish.

Nick

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Tim, it went well from the standpoint that there were many intelligent opposing views presented. One that stands out in my mind was a comment from the owner of RCR yachts in Youngstown: "why, would we ever jeopardize the ONLY thing we have going for us in this area? Why, would we jeopardize the only thing that gives us a competitive edge?" It was disappointing, however, that despite presentations from engineers, naturalists, historians, Sportfishing reps, boaters, businessmen, to name a few, they reserved judgement on the situation. I am being told there is a whole lot of political posturing going on.

Nick, I guess it's easy to buy in to the propaganda. If its reducing the dependence on foreign oil that you desire, fight to drill in our own vast INLAND 40 yr supply. Thats a 40 yr supply that could serve THE WORLD. Instead, we make the terrorists richer. Anyways, throwing up inefficient, unproven, permanant, "feel good" band-aids in an effort to grab the endless cash that is being printed under the guise of "green energy" would be a mortal sin. No matter where you sit on this, this is drinking water for many communities, and each mill holds 1800 gallons of oil. And yes, to those of us with lifetime ties to the lake, who have watched it rebound from a wasteland, you are damn right we are saying-NOT IN OUR BACKYARD! Even more importantly, not in anyones backyard if its in one of the precious GREAT LAKES.

[HBC]

People who think these things are excellent for producing power for the grid need to let go of that tree as it will not walk away from them. At best, these are only a compliment to something like a nuke, coal, or hydro plant. So why would you put something into the water, which is a tourist attraction as well as others have stated, the GREAT LAKES, for something that may power a small city? I would propose that they put a few of these on top of some of the worlds larger structures, such as Empire State Bldg, the Statue of Liberty, CN Tower, and perhaps they should also throw a few on top of the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Makes about as much sense as dumping these in the GL's so that in 10 years they are a rusty eye sore.

[LongLine]

Well, someone doubts the Great Lakes make up 95% of the nation’s freshwater supply - Check this out:

http://gleams.altarum.org/glwatershed/glwatershed.html

About the Watershed

The Great Lakes were formed by the retreat of the mile-thick glaciers of the Wisconsin Ice Age between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago. The watershed is an irreplaceable international treasure. The watershed includes eight States and a Canadian Province. The Great Lakes hold about 6 quadrillion gallons of water, or about 95% of the United States’ fresh surface water and 20 percent of all the fresh surface water in the world. If the water in the Great Lakes was spread evenly over the continental U.S., it would cover the land with about 10 feet of water! From East to West, the Great Lakes stretch for nearly a thousand miles across the heartland of the United States and Canada. The watershed drains almost 200,000 square miles. Dubbed “the nation’s fourth seacoastâ€, the U.S. Great Lakes shoreline is over 4,500 miles long, longer than the U.S. East and Gulf coasts combined. The total Great Lakes shoreline is over 10,000 miles long, including 35,000 islands. The Great Lakes watershed is so large that it is one of the most identifiable features of North America when viewed from space.

oops...who woud ever write that "rubbish"?...Listed contact person for the above article:

Anthony Kizlauskas, Communications and Outreach Team Leader, USEPAGreat Lakes National Program Office

(312) 353 - 8773

[email protected].

Guess there's no use in my refering you to the USGS were they say that 97% of the world water is saline and only 3% is fresh, and that of that 3%, .9% is ground water & ice cap and that 87% of the remaining 2% is in lakes.

As far as not being able to fish “that half mile areaâ€: According to the NYPA GLOW proposal, spacing between turbines is 2,100 ft. There’s 5,280 ft in a mile, last time I checked, so there’s considerably more than a “half mile†involved here, especially when you read further into GLOW and see that they want them in rectangular staggered arrays of 5 x 10 minimum.

It's always amazing to me that proponents always read just a few posts and instantly label opposition viewpoints as "must be NIMBY syndrome", without checking out any referenced material.

Want to discuss pollution? I suggest a quick google on "USEPA Areas of Concern - Great Lakes" before doing so. (Also read the morning's D&C on beach closings)

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[rail bird]

This is a link too EPA site, They say 84% of the US surface fresh water supply and 21% of world surface fresh water supply. That's a lot.

http://epa.gov/greatlakes/basicinfo.html

[FISHINMAN]

Little story for ya,

I see this young lady standing at this little table she had set up today at the Rochester public market (I was there buying fresh home grown produce for the restaurant ) I said to her you look very familiar where have you worked maybe a restaurant or something but that wasn't it. She then asks me to come over by her (not uncommon for women to say that to me before they laugh ) I am standing there for a moment trying to figure out where I may know her from and then I look down and see her table FREAKING WINDMILL PETITIONER!!! She then asks me to sign up to support their little energy making windmills today. I told her I wouldn't sign that thing if she offered to pay me (well maybe if she paid me hey everybody has their price !) So I walk away telling her I hope no one signs it and I look over about 20 feet and there's another girl with the same thing (different sign) and they were not together.

[web-fisherman]

Perhaps I'm just uneducated about the downsides to this other than "it will look ugly" or "this person profits instead of this person", or "I won't be able to fish that half mile area."

Pro sides I can think of are lowering dependency on foreign oil and bringing quite a few jobs to the local area...

I'm open to hearing the pro/cons though...

Nick

I think the biggest concern is the compromise of fresh water. Europe (who is the front runner in wind) has never put one wind farm in fresh water. Lake Ontario would be the first "ever". The land mass (footprint) could stretch 40 miles... They would function 30% of the time. 100-150ft of water will be off limits to boating and fishing (there is an enforcement radius around a off-shore wind farm), tower vibration and construction would release PCBs, aramite, lead, mirex, mercury, and carbon tetrachloride buried in the sediment (from the 60's & 70's), View shed would be forever altered (not as important if they functioned better), ONLY <1% added to the grid. All if this for 1 Billion out of are pocket and a technology that works minimal.

Lowering dependency on foreign oil?? - Its a key word the government wants you to hear. As is "Green" and Global Warming". Its words they use to get you on board. You think Obama received over 100 million in his campaign because his tooth sparkled when he smiled or gave people that warm fuzzy feeling? How does wind power achieve this? We will still need petroleum to build our plastics, run our vehicles, power manufacturing. Wind adds a little bit to our electrical power grid.

I guess the most important point I would like to make - Fresh water is more precious then diamonds, gold, or currency.