Enel Energy is seeking to lease property in the Towns of Paris and Litchfield, and possibly other towns, to build a massive, 20,000 acre “Snowy Knoll Wind Project.” If the entire Town of Litchfield were leased, it wouldn’t meet their goal, so this is a project that would encompass the entire Central New York area. It is apparent that all of Central New York would be wind turbines if the developers – and New York City – get their way.
Reducing carbon emissions is a desirable goal, but our local area is blessed with abundant, carbon neutral hydroelectric power. We don’t need wind to meet our local emissions goals. However, New York City has been closing their efficient and even their carbon neutral power plants with a half-baked plan to turn the productive farmland and forests of the rest of the state into a massive energy facility for their benefit. Governor Hochul recently announced a plan to ban gas powered vehicles in only 13 short years which will overload an already stressed grid. For years, the environmental mantra was “negaWatts,” or reducing (negative) demand, now it is the opposite – a dramatic increase in demand and a pipe dream to meet that demand with massive wind turbine projects. We are at ground zero of that plan, but landowners can say no to it.
The cold winters mean ice forming on turbine blades which have to be heated. The best development areas for wind in New York, such as on Tug Hill, have been taken so the approach in marginal areas such as ours is ever taller turbines and massive land areas to make up for what is at best a mediocre resource. Generous subsidies and tax breaks combined with inflationary government spending make up for what the resource can’t provide.