December 23, 2007
Letters, Pennsylvania

Blatant disrespect

In response to your recent article on wind farms in Tioga County, it was with a blatant disrespect for their own Subdivision and Land Development Ordnance, the Tioga County Planning Commission (TCPC) voted unanimously to give AES conditional preliminary approval for AES’ Armenia Mountain Wind Farm at their December 13th meeting. Several specific ordnances were ignored or purposely misapplied and the TCPC even made one up in their rush to please AES.

This type of conduct sets a new low for government behavior and a grim precedent for the law. By their actions the TCPC has shown that in effect there is no enforceable Subdivision and Land Development Ordnance in Tioga County.

Evidently, under the new guidelines if a developer wants to construct 124 commercial buildings on 600 acres he:

1. Does not have to submit a complete application with the necessary federal and state permits

2. Does not have to bother with subdividing existing residential parcels

3. Does not have to screen the buildings

4. Does not even have to own land or have leases.

The issue is not whether or not wind farms are good or bad because there are as many pros as cons. The concern is about applying the law as written and the TCPC has failed miserably. When a government body can circumvent the law at will and not be held accountable there is a major problem in the county.

Ron Kamzelski

Wellsboro

Williamsport SunGazette

23 December 2007


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/12/23/blatant-disrespect/