Paterson: slow down on wind power
The St. Lawrence River is too precious to be marred by poorly-conceived wind power projects, Governor David Paterson said Sunday.
The Governor fielded questions from a packed house at the Northside Improvement League as part of his budget tour of the state.
Asked by a Hammond resident about his views on wind power development, Paterson indicated he thinks the industry is moving too quickly.
“Particularly in that area, and because of its cultural and historic value, and particularly because it’s a place people come to see, that we have to be a lot more careful about the siting of wind turbine facilities,” Paterson said, generating a smattering of applause.
Paterson also promised to revisit his proposal imposing steep performance requirements on businesses included in Empire Zones.
Responding to a question by St. Lawrence County Legislator Sam Burns, the Governor agreed that he went too far in with his proposal to require businesses to produce $20 of benefit for every $1 invested by the state.
“We’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in regions and couldn’t find the first job that was created. So we’ve got to put a stop to that. However, we don’t want to be so overzealous that we hurt the program if it’s helping people right here in Jefferson County,” Paterson said.
The Governor also fielded questions about cutting state spending, protecting the salaries of CSEA workers, his proposal to allow supermarket sales of wine, and other issues.
Paterson has a visit scheduled in Massena on Monday as his budget tour continues.
11 January 2009
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy
Some possibly related stories:
- Governor cautious on wind power
- Sullivan County to seek state, federal funding for clean energy initiatives
- Paterson sympathetic but blunt
- Paterson praises Iberdrola wind-power plan; Governor urges quick PSC action on Energy East takeover
- Deal offers businesses power; Law would allow firms to generate own electricity and sell it back to the grid
- Tour of wind farms set for Saturday
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
