Cuomo's anti-Conservative rant inexcusable 
(From January, 2014 Batavia Daily News)

Editor,

Three cheers for Assemblyman Steve Hawley for standing up and speaking out on behalf of all Conservative New York State citizens in the wake of Governor Cuomo's mind-blowing, anti-Conservative rant last week.

In this increasingly 'go-along-to-get-along' world we live in, it's good to know that there are still a few elected officials who have the guts to speak out against tyrannical bullies like Cuomo (who apparently has forgotten what the Constitution is), instead of just cowering in silence for fear of retribution, as many do.

Reading the Governor's rant against Conservatives was bad enough, but when I actually heard the arrogance and condescending tone in the Governor’s voice as I listened to the interview, I was appalled. Cuomo was very clear about the fact that pro-life, pro-gun, pro-Biblical marriage Conservatives “have no place in New York State.”

Isn't it bad enough that New York State is hemorrhaging more people than any other state -- losing millions of dollars in taxable income every day as thousands of people flee the highest taxes in the nation? (See: www.HowMoneyWalks.com) So why would New York State's chief financial officer be resorting to using divisive rhetoric, specifically geared at driving more people out of the state?!? It boggles the mind that any "public servant" - especially a Governor, could be so ignorant.

Our forefathers fled to America to escape religious persecution. Down through the generations, all of our families have spent their blood, sweat, and tears building this country into a place where we are supposed to be able to be FREE to practice our religion without the fear of mad, power-hungry government dictators imposing their "state" religion upon us. Thus, Cuomo's intolerance is inexcusable, and in my opinion, renders him unfit to govern.

Sad as it is to say, I have come to a much clearer understanding - under Governor Cuomo's 'reign', as to why our Founding Fathers instituted the 2nd Amendment into our Constitution to protect us from a tyrannical government.

Regardless of tyrannical rants like that just displayed by the Governor, we have no intention of abdicating our belief in God and Jesus Christ to fall in line with baby-killing beliefs that we find abhorrent. Nor will we be giving up our guns, as we still believe in the 2nd Amendment. Just how many more people the Governor's radical disdain and incompetency ends up driving out of the state, however, remains to be seen.

THANK YOU once again, Steve Hawley, for speaking truth to power on behalf of ALL freedom loving, Constitution-believing Americans across New York State! May God bless you and keep you safe as you continue to battle for all of our rights!

Mary Kay Barton
Silver Lake, NY


No matter where it's sited, industrial wind is a NET LOSER!

I am writing in regard to Gary Kent’s letter on Dec. 15 regarding the industrial wind issue currently plaguing the area. With all due respect to Mr. Kent, ‘green’ energy is NOT a partisan issue. Frankly, I do not know a single person (Republican, Democrat, Independent, or otherwise) who is not all FOR protecting our environment.

According to Mr. Kent’s reasoning, wind turbines are OK sited elsewhere, blighting someone else's horizons – just not ours. Those who support this kind of ‘NIMBY’ (Not In My Back Yard) reasoning unintentionally give undue credibility to the scam of industrial wind.

Fact is: Industrial wind is a NET LOSER: economically, technically, environmentally, and civilly – no matter where it is sited.  Let’s consider how.  

• Economically:

New York State already has one of the highest electricity rates in the nation, in large part due to throwing $Billions of ratepayer dollars into the wind.

WHY destroy entire towns when just ONE (1) 450 MW gas-fired Combined Cycle Generating Unit, operating at a 60% Capacity Factor, located at New York City - where the power is needed in New York State (NYS), would provide more power than all of NYS’s installed wind factories combined, at about 1/4 of the capital costs -- and would have significantly reduced CO2 emissions and created far more jobs than all those wind factories – without all the negative civil, economic, environmental, human health and property value impacts that are a result of industrial wind factories, or all the additional transmission lines to New York City.

The Institute for Energy Research tallied the numbers and found that each wind job costs $11.45 million, plus more than four jobs lost elsewhere in the economy; and all while wind is subsidized over 52 times more than conventional fossil fuels on a unit of production basis.

Consider multi-Billionaire wind developer, Warren Buffett’s candid admission, “We get tax credits if we build ‘wind farms.’ That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credits.”

• Technically:

Due to the unreliable, erratic, and volatile nature of wind, industrial wind turbines (IWTs) provide virtually NO Capacity Value, or firm capacity (specified amounts of power on demand).  Therefore, wind needs constant "shadow capacity" from our reliable, dispatchable generators - that is, if you want to be sure the lights will come on when you flick the switch.  Thus, as Big Wind CEO, Patrick Jenevein candidly admitted, "Consumers end up paying twice for the same product."

The list of accidents, blade failures (throwing debris over ½ mile), fires (10X more than previous wind industry claims), and more, is updated quarterly at this website: http://www.caithnesswindfarms.co.uk/AccidentStatistics.htm.

This lengthy and growing list is evidence of why these giant, moving machines do not belong anywhere near where people live.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA - the wind industry’s lobbying group) admits that the life of IWTs is only 10 – 13 years (January, 2006, North American Wind Power) – substantiated by studies of these short-lived lemons. 

Adding insult to injury, NYS’s wind factories have been averaging approximately 24% Capacity Factors (actual outputs) - many days providing nothing at all.  Physicist, and Malone, NY Town Board member, Jack Sullivan figures that NY wind factories are not even producing enough power to pay for themselves over their short life-spans. 

If IWTs were cars, they would have been correctly dubbed LEMONS and relegated to the junkyard a long time ago.

• Environmentally:

According to AWEA there are approximately 45,100 IWTs in the U.S. today.  Most IWTs are remotely sited, far removed from urban centers where the power is needed. This necessitates the addition of a spider web of new transmission lines (at ratepayers’ expense), which exponentially adds to the needless bird deaths being caused by the IWTs themselves.

Studies show there are MILLIONS of birds and bats being slaughtered annually by these giant “Cuisinarts of the sky” (as a Sierra official dubbed wind turbines in a moment of candor), necessitating the passing of special 30-Year Eagle-KILL permits by President Obama for his favored wind industry.

Sprawling industrial wind factories cause massive habitat fragmentation, which is cited as one of the main reasons for species decline worldwide.

• Civilly:

The only thing that has ever been reliably generated by industrial wind is complete and utter civil discord. Neighbor is pitted against neighbor, and even family member against family member, totally dividing communities (already apparent in Orleans and Niagara counties). It is the job of good government to foresee and prevent this kind of civil discord, not to promote it. 

Don't be a NIMBY! This partial list of the destructive NON-SOLUTION that is industrial wind energy is reason enough not to support the scam of industrial wind – no matter where it is sited.

Learn more at www.StopIllWind.org,  www.WiseEnergy.org,  and www.MasterResource.org

Mary Kay Barton 
Silver Lake, Wyoming County

Posted on National Wind Watch:  
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/01/08/no-matter-where-its-sited-industrial-wind-is-a-net-loser/


Mary Kay Barton is a retired New York State-certified Health Educator, a Cornell-certified Master Gardener, and a tireless advocate for scientifically-sound, affordable, and reliable electricity for all Americans. She has served over the past decade in local Water Quality organizations and enjoys gardening and birding in her National Wildlife Federation “Backyard Wildlife Habitat.”


NY’s Push for the ‘Unreliables’:

A Blatant Grab of Taxpayer & Ratepayer Money


The 12/29/15 Batavia Daily News Editorial, Shining a light on solar energy, was a refreshing critique of unreliable, subsidy-dependent solar energy.  However, deserving of correction is the opening line of the editorial: 
 
"When proposals for wind turbines started showing up in Western New York, even those who opposed them could at least see why a company would want to install the turbines — this region gets plenty of wind."
 
You would think, after more than a decade of dealing with the controversial wind issue in our area, that 'even those who support wind could see why a company would want to install the turbines’ here -- and it's NOT how much wind we have, but rather...
 
New York State has MANDATES for the 'unreliables' (ie: wind & solar), and is offering very generous taxpayer and ratepayer-funded subsidies and incentives that draw these rent-seeking corporate hucksters here. 
 
The ‘green’ agenda being pushed by Albany (noted as the most corrupt government in the nation) is NOT, nor has it ever been, about harvesting the wind or catching the sun.  As has been said by countless NY officials and wind salesmen alike, "It's all about the money!"
 
There are countless articles that have been published in this newspaper over the past decade discussing the utter failure that is industrial wind energy that could be referenced here. Unfortunately, the Batavia Daily News erased the entire history of their on-line newspaper a couple months ago when they redesigned their website. 

If the history of the Batavia Daily News were still available, people might be interested in reading the article the Batavia Daily published when 'First Wind LLC' (now Sun Edison) pulled out of Attica, NY (which borders the existing 5 wind factory towns here in Wyoming County). First Wind officials reported they were leaving the area because ‘there is NOT sufficient wind here.’
 
As all of those who have opposed the industrialization of our beautiful rural countrysides with wind factories have known from the start – because we took the time to research the issue – most of western New York State is listed as a “2” on a scale of 1 – 7 on the Dept. of Energy’s wind resource map. Furthermore, easily accessible information exposes the utter inefficiency of the destructive, sprawling mess that is industrial wind – which decries any claims of ‘good winds’ here.
 
As cited within the pages of this newspaper time and time again - industrial wind provides NO firm capacity, and therefore can NOT provide reliable, dispatchable baseload power. Thus, wind can NOT replace conventional sources that do. 

New York State wind factories have been averaging pathetic 24% Capacity Factors (actual outputs) - many days providing nothing at all. Physicist, and Malone, NY town board member, Jack Sullivan has reported on the fact that NY’s wind factories are NOT even producing enough power to pay for themselves over their brief 10 – 20 year lifespans. 
 
There were also many articles discussing the fact that the ONLY reason Invenergy went ahead with the Orangeville project was because taxpayer-funded wind welfare (Wind PTC – aka: Pork-To-Cronies) was extended in the 2012 Fiscal Cliff Deal.  (Ironically, this seems to be exactly what the Batavia Daily News is worried about regarding the push for solar.) 
 
The list could go on, but what it boils down to is this:

The fact that these financially-motivated corporations would build solar projects where there is little sun, and/or destructive wind factories where there is ‘marginal’ wind, effectively exposes the whole wind/solar scam for what it is:
 
A BLATANT GRAB OF TAXPAYER & RATEPAYER FUNDS!

More on solar here:

Mary Kay Barton is a retired New York State-certified Health Educator, a Cornell-certified Master Gardener, and a tireless advocate for scientifically-sound, affordable, and reliable electricity for all Americans. She has served over the past decade in local Water Quality organizations and enjoys gardening and birding in her National Wildlife Federation “Backyard Wildlife Habitat.”


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