April 15, 2017
Letters, New York

Wind farm opponents will give ‘no quarter’

MAILBAG: Wind farm opponents will give 'no quarter' | Lockport Union-Sun & Journal | April 14, 2017 | www.lockportjournal.com

Recent Apex-sponsored billboards state: “Wind is a cash crop, let’s harvest.” While Apex exhorts Yates, Somerset and lease holders to cash in on the wind, Apex’s true goal may be to “harvest” the cash that Article 10 is so freely allowing via the bank accounts of Somerset, Yates and the lives of its people.

By “harvesting” these bank accounts with lawsuits filed when they don’t get their way, Apex attempts to bankrupt our towns and our people’s spirit. When they can’t accomplish this goal, as is evidenced by the continued and massive opposition to this project, they force our towns into a gut-wrenching conflict, all under the auspices of Article 10, where we pick the battles in defense of town funds and constituents’ lives.

While Article 10 may have been envisioned as a way to allow public input into the industrial turbine siting process, the elimination of home rule via the installation of a siting board is the perfect shield for Apex to herd this process to what they believe are the safe harbors of Albany. In my personal opinion, Apex believes New York state government in Albany will give them their project regardless of the opposition of 70 percent of the Yates and Somerset constituency. I believe that our representatives in Albany are deeply concerned with the health and well-being of their constituents and will not allow this project to move forward.

However and until then, this fight is a “no quarter” game of attrition that Apex and Article 10 are forcing us to play and we will be prepared to give “no quarter” in return.

Winston Churchill said it best during an address on Oct. 29, 1941, at London’s Harrow School just after the Blitz: “This is the lesson, never give in, never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

No quarter shall be given in this fight. Governor Cuomo, are you listening?

John B. Riggi, Yates town council member, Lyndonville

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2017/04/15/wind-farm-opponents-will-give-no-quarter/