Updates

Yesterday morning at 10:05 am I was traveling north on State Route 21 just approaching Woodville when I noticed a very large raptor heading toward me very low to the ground, flapping madly to gain altitude. At first glance it was obviously a Bald Eagle, very white bright head, wingspread wider than my truck. It passed within a hundred feet of me. I immediately pulled over and got out to watch it climb up over the Hi Tor marsh. It continued to circle to the south toward Parish Hill (also Hi Tor) and was out of sight in less than two minutes. Once again it seems that eagles cannot read a DEIS to understand that Hi Tor is "not the proper aquatic habitat" for them. Perhaps we need to take a new approach to wildlife education.

Labels: Ecology

According to a press release published on the YES! Weblog, Clipper Windpower has signed a contract with a subsidiary of UPC Wind to supply 50 Clipper 2.5 MW wind turbines for projects UPC plans to develop in the northeastern U.S. during 2007. People locally have apparently been told these are for Cohocton. The article goes on to say, “UPC Wind is one of the world’s largest and most successful wind power companies. Formed in 2001 to pursue wind energy development, financing, construction, operation and ownership in North America, it is currently developing over 3,000 MW of wind power projects.” Our article in this week's Valley News asks the question: How much of this announcement should we believe?

Labels: Cohocton

For rich and poor, it's a way of life that dates to the dawn of the nation. Andrew Jackson was an avid hunter; so was Theodore Roosevelt. But as time goes on, the once-open range has fewer hunters. The number of license holders - roughly 15 million through 2004 - has actually shrunk by about two million people since 1982, when the population was 230 million (versus 300 million today). Some of what we take for granted in Cohocton is vanishing around our country. Read the full Newsweek article here, then take a photo tour and give thanks for what we've preserved.

Labels: Smile

While we may have our differences about some things, like wind turbines, there are other things we can all agree about, like the blessing of Thanksgiving. We wish you all a wonderful holiday with family and friends. In spite of our differences, let's try to work together with grateful hearts in the days and months ahead. God bless you!

Labels: Morality, Smile

Has UPC Wind been using "bait and switch" sales techniques in Cohocton? Our article in this week's Valley News reviews the way UPC's wind power project has been presented locally and asks some tough questions. Here's another one: We've already gone from 1.5 to 2.0 and now 2.5 MW turbines in a year. When will we start hearing about the 3.6 MW units?

Labels: Cohocton, Process

According to Foreign Policy, "Microsoft could save 45 million tons of CO2 emissions with a few lines of computer code." Their suggestion is to install "deep hibernation" on all Microsoft PCs so that when they sit idle overnight they use less energy. This is the kind of thinking we need more of, plans to reduce the demand for energy. Wind farms, while an apparently appealing approach to some, are a classic example of what environmentalists call an "end-of-the-pipe solution". Instead of tackling the problem - our massive demand for energy - at source, they claim they will provide less damaging means of accommodating it. Read the full article here.

Labels: Alternatives, Ecology

It appears that our Town Board is poised to pass yet another fatally flawed Law on November 21 in its attempt to satisfy UPC Wind and its leaseholders. This Law is so vulnerable that there will undoubtedly be lawsuits and legal fees, and failure in the courts is so predictable that our elected leaders are trying to get the Town to indemnify them. Who are we kidding? Read our article in this week's Valley News for a discussion of some of the proposed Law's problems.

Labels: Cohocton, Legal Issues, Process

This week voters in Cohocton soundly defeated Proposition No. 1 that asked: Shall the Terms of Office for the Cohocton Town Supervisor, Cohocton Town Clerk, and the Cohocton Highway Superintendent be changed to four years terms? According to the Steuben County Board of Elections, the final voter tally stands at 210 for and 268 against. Local leaders may rightfully interpret these results as an informal referendum on the way they are handling the wind power issue. We hope and pray that they begin to pay closer attention to the mind of the electorate they have pledged themselves to serve.

Labels: Cohocton, Process

Local wind power advocates would like people to think that opposition to "wind farms" is a minority opinion held by only a handful of disgruntled and misguided landowners, sometimes referred to affectionately as "the Dirty Dozen." Click here to read a collection of cogent wind power quotes from around the world. Then click on the image above to access a pictorial story about the Cefn Croes Wind Farm project in Wales.

Labels: Disadvantages