Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Cape Vincent Citizen reports to New York PSC on British Petroleum "open house".


Dear Honorable Jacyln Brilling, 

As the PSC begins developing and utilizing Art. X it seems very important that this end up a just process that instills confidence in our government.  

To that end I wish to point out that Open Houses are meaningless for "involving" the community.  An Open House simple gives the developer a plus mark in the column  for Public Involvement.  The public is not actually involved. They are being stone walled.

 Mr. Chandler of BP at the Nov. 10 Open House felt my questions were "irrelevant".  Instead of actually answering or even engaging in a conversation  he continued to to say "we have a project here, we are here to present the project for your consideration,  please give us your comments." Finally he said he would like to excuse himself.   

The most important question I asked was, "Will you provide a map with all participating owners so it will be clear who is in the project and who is not so setbacks from nonparticipating property lines can be accurately measured?"    Mr. Chandler said, "not at all, not gonna happen".

As long as this is secret information it will be impossible to judge if BP has truly made setbacks for "the project" as Mr. Chandler repeatedly calls it.
Farmers as far back as the middle ages call this "a pig in a poke". 

 In Cape Vincent we are accustomed to the recalcitrant corrupt behavior of BP refusing to divulge the actual boundaries of the participating parcels.  They point blank refused to give this information to the Economic Team. 

No Siting Board nor Planning Board can legitimately site any project without knowing the physical location and parcels boundaries.  We expect the PSC to insist on receiving this information from BP.

Mr. Chandler repeatedly says he has support for "the project". He said he would find out the percentage of landowners, with leases, that give him this high level of confidence. We expect him to provide this information shortly. He said "over 100 landowners." 

This is a very difficult time in Cape Vincent.
We have a company, BP, in the persona of Mr. Chandler,  going around saying he has public support, saying he is here to listen, saying he wants feedback from the community. Yet he knows full well our Zoning Law does not permit his project , he was told clearly on Oct. 23 by the elected Town Board and the appointed Planning Board on no uncertain terms his project is unwanted.   Yet he stands there asserting his good faith with words yet attempting to physically drive over us with Art. X.  

 It is sort of like a truck driver telling a pedestrian he wants to hear their feelings and future plans while mashing them into the asphalt with his Big Rig. 

Does the  PSC  and Governor Cuomo endorse this level of disrespectful mockery?

I think it would be more fair to the process of Art. X if Open Houses were not considered part of the Public Involvement Program. They should be reclassified into Developers Describing Their Project. 
They should also be graded on how much  their project changes after being viewed. Quality of work and communication should be evaluated and measured as part of a genuine PIP.

 So far BP's response after overwhelming elections, new zoning, and public outcry has been to reduce 11 turbines from a 134 array. That is not quality listening.
Please do us and yourself a favor - send them and their application away as "not wanted". 

Thank you, Hester Chase

My questions are posted below for your consideration to their relevancy. 

As a scientific phenomenon, does low level vibration exist, say like gravity? He said  wanted to focus on"the project" not answer this. 

Have you read the Cape Vincent Economic Impact Report? No.

In the Economic Impact Report there is a  the part where it says there could be up to a 20-40% property loss for homes and properties near the turbines. Is that fair  for those people  to subsidize BP with their personal savings?
Mr. Chandler said "He has a project here for our consideration if we would like to make a comment..........."


Does BP plan to compensate them for their personal loss?  Mr. Chandler looped " He has a project here for our consideration if we would like to make a comment..........................."

Does the local TB and PB's publicly stated position that we do not want BP here mean anything to you?  Again Mr. Chandler looped "He has a project here for our consideration if we would like to make a comment..........................."
This is where he excused himself. 

I had many more questions I considered relevant. 
Including- You state on BP's web page  http://www.capevincentwindfarm.com/cape_vincent/public-involvement-program/key-milestones.html  your PIP began Sep 17, since this was rejected by the PSC, why do you continue to post this inaccurate date?

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