Untiring EffortsEast HamptonJanuary 30, 2017To the Editor,Congratulations to Governor Cuomo for finally approving the nation’s largest offshore wind farm off our East End. Besides producing enough energy to power 50,000 homes, this will be a prelude for eventually providing energy to 1.25 million homes by 2030.This project would never have been approved without the untiring efforts of Gordian Raacke, Renewable Energy of Long Island, who pushed this project forward from the outset. Congrats to Gordian.PAUL HOLLANDERClean Energy FutureEast HamptonJanuary 30, 2017Dear David,The New York Times shouted out: “Way Is Cleared for Largest U.S. Offshore Wind Farm” on Jan. 26, the day after the LIPA trustees voted unanimously to approve the offshore wind farm, 15 turbines, 30 miles over the Montauk horizon. Historic!Now, working with the wind power developer Deepwater Wind, and with increased community commitment to solar, additional clean-energy efficiencies, and a reduction in customer consumption, East Hampton can realize the 2014 goal the town board approved to meet 100 percent of the community’s electricity with renewable energy sources, a first in New York State. At that time, Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell stated, “Making the switch to clean energy is just the right thing to do, both for the environment and for keeping more money in the local economy and creating jobs here”. Yes we can open the East End to this new wind power industry, creating jobs without doing further damage to our challenged atmosphere. Yes we can encourage other coastal communities to act in support of a new way to do business and bring new economies to better serve our local residents and natural resources, including clean air and water. Yes we can provide our next generations with hope, and the opportunity to serve a home we all share, by respecting, not plundering, the planet’s natural resources and loading the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. The time is now. East Hampton is ready to march forward into a clean energy future. In the gloom that is settling over the national arena, this coastal community is a better place because of the historic opportunity it has in transforming its fossil fuel-generated power grid to a clean energy model.LINDA JAMESActing Chair East Hampton Town Energy Sustainability CommitteeInvest In RenewablesSag HarborJanuary 30, 2017Dear Editor,It is such a breath of fresh air to read about the Long Island Power Authority’s approval of the initial 15 turbines at the South Fork Wind Farm.I send heartfelt appreciation to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his bold vision for developing renewable energy, and to LIPA for its part in completing the largest commitment to offshore wind energy in the United States. Go South Fork! Go Long Island! Go New York!If the governor and LIPA can continue to invest in renewables of all kinds, we can help our planet while providing a model of good jobs and increasingly low-cost utility bills for states across the country. As China and global markets pivot toward renewables, investment is like breathing life back into our manufacturing industries and economy.With gratitude and pride,HELEN ROUSSELSteps We Can TakeEast HamptonJanuary 30, 2017Dear David,I am writing to thank the Long Island Power Authority’s board of directors for unanimously approving a 15-turbine wind farm 30 miles off the South Fork. They have heeded the will of the people who have been clamoring for clean energy providers. We are finally catching up with the other countries that have made wind power a vital part of their energy production portfolio. Thank you also to everyone who has spent the last decade or more actively working towards this goal. Citizens and activists have spent countless hours going to public hearings, writing letters, and calling their representatives, and it has worked! The front page article your paper published about the wind farm contained a statistic that does concern me though: It stated that electricity demand has outpaced population growth on the South Fork, which means the people who are here are using more electricity than ever before. Along with utilizing clean energy technologies, conserving energy is paramount to mitigating the devastating effects of climate change. We all have the power to put the dirty energy production companies out of business by curtailing our energy use. We don’t have to wait to elect more progressive politicians. We can do this ourselves. One of the problems is that many of our appliances are always on even when we think they are turned off. There are ways to address this problem. One way is to set our giant, energy-sucking televisions to the energy-saving setting that they all have. It’s just one of the many steps we can take to help put an end to the pipeline, fracking, coal, and gasoline pollution nightmares that are going on all over the country. It’s up to us to do all that we can to be smart about our energy use. Sincerely,TINA GUGLIELMOCommitted EffortEast HamptonJanuary 30, 2017Dear David,When I first came 22 years ago to East Hampton I met Gordian Raacke and I was impressed with his full dedication to find a way to implement alternatives energy in the East End and more.I want to thank the executive director at Renewable Energy Long Island for the great achievement and his great vision about wind power energy. Without his committed effort nothing would have happened.The Long Island Power Authority voted last week to formally approve the development of New York’s first ever, and the nation’s largest, offshore wind farm, located off the East End of Long Island. The approved 90-megawatt, 15-turbine offshore wind farm will produce enough energy to power over 50,000 houses. LIPA cited that offshore wind was the most cost-effective proposal to meet Long Island’s South Fork energy needs. Thank you to LIPA, RELI, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo for historic action advancing the nation’s largest offshore wind project.CAMILLE PERROTTETPlanetary SuicideSpringsJanuary 24, 2017Dear David,Saying one wants to create jobs is like kissing babies. It does not take a political genius. When Trump resurrected the Keystone pipeline and the Dakota pipeline last week, saying it would create jobs, for once he was telling the truth. We could debate how many, and at what cost to the environment, but that is not really the point.The real issue is whether this infrastructure is what our society should be buying. Scientists have long since concluded that continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels is planetary suicide. The entire industrial world endorsed that science last year in Paris by committing to phase out fossil fuel. And these pipelines are not the only way to create jobs.In fact, today there are more green jobs in renewables and energy conservation in America than there are jobs in the fossil fuel industry. Despite higher federal subsidies to fossil fuels than to renewables, renewables are already competitive with fossil fuels in most states, and the prices are still dropping every year from economies of scale and innovation. Basic economics tells us that fossil fuels are a dying industry, no matter how hard the politicians, using our money, work to prop it up. The companies doing those pipelines can only do it with the help of tax breaks involved. That means our tax dollars are subsidizing the short-term profits of companies building infrastructure that must eventually be abandoned if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change. It would be far more intelligent to spend that money on rapid growth in renewables, both for the environment and for the economy. Those are jobs for the 21st century and beyond. If you agree, please tell Congressman Lee Zeldin. He is our only voice in Washington. If you are silent, how can you blame him for ignoring you?DON MATHESON
Published 5 years ago
Last updated 5 years ago
Letters to the Editor: Wind Farm 02.02.17
February 2, 2017