Please stay engaged – this next year will be an important one! Apex has indicated that it will file an application for the Lighthouse Wind project at the end of this year or in early 2018 for 60-70 industrial wind turbines along 12 miles of the towns of Yates and Somerset. The turbines are planned to be over 600 feet tall. There are several steps that Apex has completed:

• Filing Public Involvement Plan – October 2014

• Filing Preliminary Scoping Statement – November 2015

Since January 2016 Apex has been in a voluntary “stipulations” process where they have communicated with people and agencies who are parties to the project about what studies Apex will include in the application. Unfortunately, this process was determined by the Public Service Commission to be confidential. The stipulations process has been ongoing with drafts circulated to parties as recently as August 2017. The DPS Lighthouse Industrial Wind Project website

Next Steps for Apex’s Lighthouse Wind during the year may Include:

• Stipulations released for public comment

• Application filed

• Intervenor funding distributed to assist the local community to be engaged in the process

• Hearing (the first hearing under the Article 10 process, the Cassadaga Wind Project, took seven days)

• Decision by the Siting Board

Apex in New York State: In late September Apex filed an application for an industrial wind turbine project on Galloo Island, about 5 miles off the coast in eastern Lake Ontario in Jefferson County. In their application Apex requested that a considerable number of application exhibits and documents related to the application be excluded from public viewing. Article 10 is defined as a process to involve the local community, but this is not possible if the developer withholds information. Apex is also objecting to the party status of a bird and bat expert as he is not a resident of the project area. These actions by Apex to control information and participation are a warning to us as Apex moves towards filing an application for the Lighthouse Wind project. The DPS Gallo Island Industrial Wind Project website

SOS continues to learn about negative impacts of industrial wind projects from other communities that have lived with them. We are fortunate that so many selfless people are willing to share their stories and their struggles. These stories give us the energy to keep fighting. Of particular concern are the wildlife impacts to the migrating birds, raptors and bats as well as the human health impacts of the audible noise, the inaudible infrasound, and the shadow flicker. There are many articles and videos of people complaining about the sleepless nights and anxiety that come with industrial wind turbines. Just this week a local Boston News program interviewed people in the town of Scituate, MA who have one 400 foot industrial turbine in their town and have filed many complaints.

SOS supporter, Cindy Hellert, has traveled to Wisconsin to get the story first hand from people who are suffering health impacts from a project that was placed too close to their homes. Below is a reprint of her letter to the editor of the local papers explaining the current situation and advice for us:

Will New York State learn from mistakes made in other areas or will we continue to fall into the same trap?

The small town of Glenmore sits near the other end of the Niagara escarpment in Brown County, Wisconsin. I've followed their story from the time Apex “Clean” Energy invaded our beautiful countryside and divided our peaceful little towns.

Duke Energy-owned, Shirley Wind, with just eight 492’ foot turbines, has been nothing short of a nightmare for numerous families living near the project. Ever since the blades on these 2.5 MW industrial turbines began turning, life changed dramatically for at least 20 families. Initially unaware of the correlation between their symptoms and the low frequency noise and infrasonic by-products of wind-generated electricity, more than 50 residents have pleaded to the Brown County Board of Health for help.

Three families have been forced to abandon their homes to seek relief from the incessant noise and related illnesses. What possible reason, other than inability to live among the turbines, would prompt these families to flee and bear the financial burden of two mortgages?

In 2014, after many studies, including sound/ infrasound monitoring, the Brown County Board of Health declared the Shirley Wind Project a “Human Health Hazard." Valiant efforts by some elected officials and Duke Energy to overturn the ruling have failed, and the declaration remains today.

I wonder how many more complaints would have been registered, had 60 percent of the population within the project not been paid for their silence through “Good Neighbor” agreements with the wind company? What are the chances that residents within these targeted, rural communities could win a battle against a multi-million dollar industrial wind investment, subsidized by the government, yet funded with taxpayer dollars?

The lack of justice in Glenmore is a travesty, and it is not isolated to this small, rural town, but reported in communities around the world where industrial wind projects are sited too close to homes.

Impacted residents, with the support of the Brown County Board of Health, continue to educate lawmakers and Wisconsin State Health officials to increase awareness of the causation of human suffering at Shirley Wind. A four hour forum recently took place and is available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bpc-pYMu48.

New York State needs to look at Wisconsin when considering such projects as “Lighthouse Wind," the Apex Clean Energy project targeted for a narrow swath of land along the southern shore of Lake Ontario in Niagara and Orleans Counties. Emplacement of up to 70 industrial wind turbines, suggested to reach heights in excess of 600 feet, could not possibly fit in this residential and farming community without causing extreme hardship on its residents.

I hope lessons learned from Wisconsin, as well as projects worldwide, will prevent New York State from making the same mistake.

Cynthia Hellert
Town of Yates

Click here for the 2017 Town Board Meetings

Don't forget to post your comments to the PSC:
http://documents.dps.ny.gov/…/MatterManage…/CaseMaster.aspx…

If you need a subject to write about, check out our talking points on our web site: 
http://SaveOntarioShores.com/act-save-ontario-shores.html

Checks can be sent to:
Save Ontario Shores, Inc.
PO Box 216
Lyndonville, NY 14098

We have also added a donate button to our web site. SaveOntarioShores.com