CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

Citizens and existing grassroots groups across New York State have joined together in a Coalition Against Article X (COAX) to protect NYS citizens’ Constitutionally-appointed property rights, threatened by the "Power NY Act,” which was signed into law 8/4/11 by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

As cited in the Alliance for Clean Energy's (ACE) press release on the signing of the "Power NY Act", the Chair of ACE's Board of Directors is the Senior VP for Market Development at Deepwater Wind -- making it clear that ACE is an industrial wind lobbyist group interested in the enormous profit that can currently be reaped, thanks to endless state and federal, taxpayer/ratepayer-funded incentives and subsidies.

COAX members are appalled that Article X was slipped into law without any discussion by our elected officials with the very New York State citizens they were elected to represent. We find this lack of transparency to be totally unacceptable. New York State has always prided itself on the fact that it is a Home Rule State. Citizens can only create the kinds of communities they want to live in 20, 40, & 60 years down the road, if they are authorized and empowered to make decisions for themselves regarding what's best for their communities. To allow NYS representatives, who were elected to protect and serve us, to suddenly strip away Home Rule, thus enabling this immense land grab, is a blatant continuation of a downward spiral of rights removal.

Given the imminent threat Article X poses to New York’s citizens, COAX is deeply interested in, at the very least, having a seat on the seven-person siting board to be created under the newly renamed "Article X" bill. COAX members sincerely hope that this new siting board will cut through the irrational adoption of industrial wind industry “model regulations” which, to date, have been the status quo in New York State as Big Wind LLCs have run roughshod over our rural communities. As the former New York State Attorney General, Governor Cuomo is well-aware of the history of corruption surrounding the industrial wind industry across the State. COAX members look to Governor Cuomo to protect the citizens he was elected to serve.