Right now: wind in Hammond
They meet in the library; about 40 people are here.
The community's deeply divided; the appointments are politically
charged. Iberdrola wants to erect 72 turbines here, near the St.
Lawrence. Find out more tomorrow on The 8 O'Clock Hour.
posted by David Sommerstein @ 3/08/2010 07:43:00 PM
11 Comments
11 Comments:
Go ahead Hammond sell your souls for the almighty dollar.The American way. You will live to regret it.I can't wait to hear the responses. Number one of which will probably be," we are doing it for our children".
I had to laugh when I saw the list of candidates for the "wind committee" included one of the members from the previous wind committee.
Not to worry. This is going nowhere in Hammond. The last election was bought and paid for. CROH got their people in. One issue councilmen. Just what everybody needs.
Just don't include Empire Zone benefits in any PILOT. Just ask Lewis County gov't, towns and school districts how that's worked out.
There will not be any wind farms in Hammond. I question why you would return someone from the previous wind committee to the "new" wind committee. This issue has caused the town to be split due to jealousy.
Yeah one thing we don't want is to encourage business and development of clean energy in St. Lawrence County. I mean we have low taxes a great business base already we don’t need any of these evil corporate types running around here.
With the rates of childhood poverty in the town of Hammond and the surrounding area people should be ashamed; of course we must protect the views of the river.
When I read the list of community service experience of the candidates who ran for board and supervisor and won last year I was astounded. We just don't have people of that caliber bothering to run for public office anymore. Service trumps ego every time. Hammond is in good hands.
Getting to win-win in Hammond
The following appeared over the blog Sustainability Today last Sept 1.
Recently I had the opportunity to facilitate, not one, but two lengthy, sometimes heated discussions about the wind law in Hammond. An outside company has come to town wanting to build an industrial scale wind facility, and the community has become divided in a variety of ways: a sizeable number of people are unhappy with the town government, newcomer and old timer, summer folks and year round residents. At the end of one of the meetings I stepped outside my prescribed role, and spoke about the need for Hammond residents on both sides of the issue to figure out their bottom line and then look for a “win-win” solution.
So how might Hammond or Cape Vincent, or Clayton, for that matter, get to “win-win” on the wind power issue in their towns? Someone in Hammond, anyway, commented that the wind issue is the only thing that divides town residents. If that is the case, then I find that encouraging. It would mean that there is a reservoir of good will and common ground to reach a broad agreement that would truly move the community forward.
What might that process look like?
• Stop the personal attacks
• Stick to the issues.
• Each side needs to figure out their “bottom line” on what they can live with.
• Bring in a mediator.
• Both sides need to realize that if the town is not united in their approach, only the company will benefit.
• Consider a moratorium of specific time duration to buy time to deal effectively with the outside company.
• Hire a consultant to assist in dealing with the wind companies.
• Put out a Request For Proposals that would make wind companies compete to offer the community the best deal.
• Work for concessions of electric power and economic development funding from the successful developer to benefit the whole community.
Explore a project with smaller towers.
• Explore other green energy options such a solar facilities or grass pelleting.
The community could form a local municipal power project to maintain local control of the project.
Based on what I heard, I am not sure that folks in Hammond realize they are in the driver’s seat on this issue. Their wind is a desirable resource, and they need to hold out for a good deal. North Country communities have struggled so long that they are often too quick to please anyone who holds out the promise of money, jobs, or a different future. If the folks in Hammond go for “win-win” in the community, it would be an excellent warm up for going for “win-win” with a wind company.
Unfortunately, the current situation in Hammond is not surprising. It is difficult to forsee a "win-win" solution coming out of this, but one must be hopeful. On one side of the issue, you have a few large landowners that feel they should be able to do what they want with their land. On the other side, you have a well-funded group that has been stirred to action by a smaller group of elitists. The anti-wind protest operates under the guise of protecting the view of the river, flicker effect, bird kill and ice sling. But, at root of the disagreement, it is simple jealousy. There is more than one of the financial contributors to CROH who would change their view if they owned a tract of land that had the potential of wind development. Follow the money.
PART 2:
No matter what happens in Hammond, there has always been controversy. The fact that little has happened in Hammond in my opinion is that people don't want controversy. They don't want to fight the fight. Their egos don't want to think about the possibility of losing in the face of total character annihilation... which usually is what happens in the town of Hammond. God forbid someone speaks up and their Ivy League education doesn't show! When a summer resident or two, who may have that Ivy League education rears their head, well they are considered all-knowing and honestly we idiots here were never educated enough to obtain the power of discernment thereby rendering us inconsequential. I wonder if that is our Creator’s opinion? We like many in other parts of the country don’t have time to fight the fight… and that is absolutely what our elitist government wants. Keep us busy so we don’t stir up trouble!
Those of you that consciously and morally feel that windmills are the way of the future, please think again. You all really do need to think about your community and what it is that the majority wants. “Community” really is what America needs to bring back. I for one know you aren’t “greedy”. You have become victims of our corrupt and ill-focused political system. We all have. However, you the farmers do have much more to lose in a way. I understand that. Your total way of living is crashing down around you. You can’t even afford to get out of your line of work. I wouldn’t call it greed… it’s more a desperation or survival instinct.
All in all… if we don’t do something to help out our farmers, expect to see a lot more black buggy’s in the area. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having Amish neighbors (except the fact that they drive black buggy’s after dark!) I think the Amish have had it right all along! They haven’t fallen victim to the energy woes of the world. I’m jealous! I’m certainly not jealous of a landowner wishing to better his economic circumstances, but at what humanly price? If we can all come together and fight the REAL fight. I’m in!
PART 1:
Do you want to know why we don’t need huge obtrusive windmills? Cause it’s truly a waste of resources! Wake up people! Stop wasting this precious earth!
Add it up… The materials needed to produce one windmill + the transportation of one windmill + the erection of one windmill +the maintenance of one windmill +the landfill required to trash one obsolete windmill+++++++ = WASTE!
What we need to be fighting is MUCH larger than little old Hammond. Our government has kept “free energy” from us for decades! Technology no bigger than a shoebox is out there that will power a home. Hmm, why doesn’t our corrupt govn’t want us to have it? Think about it… Google it. The information is there… if you are so inclined to care.
Why don’t we collectively, as a community… fight the bigger fight and demand what Tessla and many inventors since have been repressed from showing the world? Maybe our community can become the “test” community. Ha Ha. With the power of CROH… and the stubbornness of the landowners, maybe we do have what it takes to take our fight further!
How many of you out there really are enjoying your day to day life. How many of you live from paycheck to paycheck? How many of you aren’t even making ends meet? How many of you have lost ground in your retirement funds over the last 5 years? How many of you even think that you will have a pot to p… in at retirement age? How many of you are sick and tired of big corporations and govn’t stealing our hard earned money! God forbid that only ONE person in a household needs to hold down a job. How many of you are plain sick of the power that money has over the majority of human souls on this earth!
The only energy crisis we have is the one we as human consumers continue to fuel. We continue to fall victim to our governments desire to keep us purchasing purchasing purchasing. Our government has even fallen victim to the corporate world and the wealthy elite. We may think we are free… but it is they who have the ultimate power over us.
Wow! And here I thought it was Rossie and Macomb that had the best stuff.
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