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Emergency Meeting Friday, December 18th

Defeated Town Board Majority Plans to Capitulate to Ecogen – Their Last Gift to Prattsburgh

Outgoing (defeated) Harold McConnell has called a special Prattsburgh Town Board meeting for this Friday, December 18th in the Prattsburgh Town Hall to review and discuss a possible settlement agreement in the Ecogen vs. Town of Prattsburgh lawsuit. We hope we can once again crowd the meeting. The final monthly meeting of the current town board was held Tuesday the 15th, and since (defeated) councilwoman Sharon Quigley was not in attendance, the current "Gang of Three" could not pass a settlement with Ecogen. They also failed to pass the comprehensive plan. Harold and (SCIDA and town attorney) John Leyden stated they needed to call an “emergency” special meeting for this Friday the 18th. Councilmen Steve Kula and Chuck Shick both questioned the “emergency”, as the court date is in January.

To recap events, newly-elected town supervisor Al Wordingham and councilwoman Anneke Radin-Snaith, and re-elected councilman Chuck Shick, will be sworn in January 1. Al and Anneke haven't been able to participate in closed Town Board meetings regarding the Ecogen lawsuit against the town because the lame-duck town supervisor, Harold McConnell, won't allow it.

In their lawsuit, Ecogen claims that the town has prevented their project from moving forward. Of course, Ecogen couldn't move forward anyway, as it has 1) no road agreement, 2) no transport route, 3) no contiguous line to the substation, 4) no permit for a substation and 5) no variance for 18 turbines in Italy. The lawsuit was filed immediately after the election, and Ecogen makes it no secret that they hope to settle with the present administration before Al Wordingham and Anneke Radin-Snaith join the Prattsburgh Town Board in January. With current town board members Chuck Shick and Steve Kula in favor of responsible wind turbine siting – and opposed to the Ecogen project as currently planned – after January 1st the Prattsburgh Town Board will have a 4-to-1 majority which, we hope, will put in place adequate protections for the town and its citizens.

The present Board Majority is ready to settle with Ecogen (exempt Ecogen from any future windmill laws), and the Board majority voted for John Leyden (who is also the attorney for SCIDA, the lead agent for the Ecogen project) to represent them. However, Chuck Shick and Steve Kula are protesting this decision, and if the Town Board resolves on Friday to accede to Ecogen's demands, a judge in Monroe County, will rule on it before the resolution becomes law.

The current 3-to-2 Prattsburgh town board majority wants another chance to sell our town to the lowest bidder, before they leave office! Please attend this critical meeting this coming Friday, December 18th. Tell "the Gang of Three" what you think of this parting "knife in the back" to the town they had sworn to serve.
Tax Assessment Lowered 60% due to Adjacent Wind Turbine Site

My house and land is in Prattsburgh, across from turbine sites for the Ecogen wind project, and my wife owns adjacent property in Naples. I've heard some people say "what's happening in the hills with the wind turbines won't affect me". What these folks may not yet realize is that, if these turbines are allowed to damage the value of adjacent properties, THEIR taxes will go up. And the first step in this one-two process has just started.

Last month, I appealed the property assessment for a 25-acre parcel owned by my wife in Naples. This property is located close to Ecogen turbine sites, across the line in Steuben County. This appeal for a lower assessment was based upon a re-appraisal, which considered the proximity of the proposed wind turbines, impact on the selling price of comparable properties across from turbine sites in Cohocton, and our resulting inability to build on the property. Last week the Naples assessor lowered the assessment by 60%.

Why did we get 60% lopped off our tax bill? The reason is starkly clear: the value was sucked out of the property. When wind turbines are built and sited near this property, the land will be bathed in constant industrial noise. It is not only unwise to build there, it would be virtually impossible for any sensible bank to give us a mortgage were we foolish enough to do so. I believe the Naples assessor did a fair and honest job. And while lowering taxes is good, this victory is like ashes in our mouths. What do we really want? Give us back the higher taxes, along with the ability to build on our property!

There are two issues which the citizens of Prattsburgh – and any town considering wind turbines – need to consider. Yes, adjacent non-participating landowners will be ruined, hosed by the developers big-time. The 60% lowering of our assessment is peanuts compared to what will happen to the value of homes in the shadow of noise-making, health-threatening industrial wind turbines. What the rest of our fellow property owners in town need to realize is this: they will have to help foot the bill.

Let's think it through. Assume our Town's budget stays the same. When the many negatively-impacted property and home owners have their assessments justifiably LOWERED, all the other taxpayers will have to take up the slack – and pay HIGHER taxes. Welcome to the new reality of life in Prattsburgh.

Welcome to the "benefits" of hosting a wind project with horrendous, damagingly-short setbacks. And this doesn't even begin to address an even more immediate impact on the Town – that these negatively-impacted landowners will be forced to sue their Town for the damage the Town Board majority decided to stick to us for some perverted vision of "the greater good". The only ones who make out in this mess are the developer, their foreign financiers, and whoever helped "grease the wheels of progress" – leaving Prattsburgh to sort out the damage and find a way to pay for it.

John Servo
Windmill Myths
MYTH # 16: These windfarms are "green" power. We need then to help save us from global warming, and I should pay my utility a premium for it.
Fact: The U.S. Department of Energy projects that, even with the continuation of massive subsidies, wind power will represent only a fraction of the INCREASE in future power production, so wind power won't impact global warming. Far worse, many wind projects receive Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) based on their projected production, which are then traded to heavy polluters, allowing outdated fossil fuel plants to generate pollution beyond normal regulatory limits. These wind projects are not green power, but BROWN POWER, and your electric utility wants you to pay a premium for it. Extraordinary.