UPC Wind spent $6700+ on four full page ads this past weekend in Batavia NY where Genesee County is looking at over 600 turbines. The reason for the ads was to counter 'misinformation' being spread by anti-wind people. Zilkha also wrote to all the participants in the area that they need to use their 'templates' to write their OWN letters to all the local editors. So I looked up as many editors as I could find in western NY to warn them in advance. My letter's below.

Dear Editors: I'm writing to make you aware that 'damage control' efforts are underway and that you and your publications may unwittingly play an important role in something you might ultimately not want to be a part of. As you may or may not be aware, industrial wind developers are prospecting in NY State with heady plans to take full advantage of Governor Patacki's "renewable portfolio standard", a law that mandates the use of energy from renewable sources...probably enacted with good intentions but that will likely end up with some pretty undesirable consequences. Environmental policies have led to a literal assault on rural America, largely due to the misguided, blind acceptance of claims made by the commercial wind industry, and it looks like the pastoral countryside of NY State won't escape the implications. It's become a familiar scenario, causing heartbreak and controversy in targeted regions across the entire nation. Today's grand-scale 'wind power' is NOT green. Mounting data reveals that it dominates and destroys natural environments, creates noise and visual pollution, kills and displaces wildlife, is not economically viable, has little effect on conventional fuel supplies, cannot sustain us during a grid failure, does not significantly replace emissions or improve air quality, and it most certainly does not reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It's an environmental and economic folly. Commercial wind is being resisted around the world, but the industry merely dismisses opponents as shallow 'nimbys' who care only about their 'views' and little else. Yet their voices are being heard, as even huge environmental groups are beginning to fracture over the issue. Here in western NY, developers are trying desperately to squelch those voices, mainly by out-shouting them, and they're using the local newspapers and the local yokels to get the job done. Without being disrespectful towards 'country' people (since I'm one of them), wind developers seek out those that they feel they can easily manipulate and then use them as the front guys in their battle to dispel rational arguments against them, which developers very often refer to as 'misinformation'. They have vast resources that normally cannot be matched...and they use them, and under the guise of 'green energy' they're able to make great inroads into our communities... literally. The access roads leading to the huge turbines fragment our disappearing natural areas that are still intact, and disturbingly, almost 3500 turbines are currently planned for western NY alone. Recently in Batavia, developers have spent exorbitant amounts of money on advertising in an attempt to discredit the opposition, and now they've encouraged the residents who plan to sign on the dotted line (in exchange for a nice annual paycheck) to start a letter writing campaign to help their cause. They have so little confidence in these people that they've basically written the letters for them, and given them snail mail addresses to mail to. It appears the wind guys don't even believe that their constituents are computer literate, and they're probably right. During the past week, Patrick Doyle of Zilkha Renewable Energy wrote, "Hi everyone - Recently there have been several letters spreading anti-wind misinformation. It is crucial for the editors in the region to hear from local community members such as you who are supportive....On the back of this page is a sample template...when you have 15 minutes please feel free to use it to write YOUR OWN letter highlighting why you have chosen to support clean wind power for our country's energy future..." The 'template' reads, "I have lived in Genesee County for _______ years, and I would like to express my support for clean renewable wind energy in our community...." then he says "Choose the 2-3 points that you like best......" (from 4 that he has provided). I'm writing to give you a heads-up that this may be coming your way. I intend to make copies of the original letters and send them to all of you but that may take some time. If anyone is interested in receiving them in an attachment, let me know and I'll get them to you that way. In the meantime, please keep in mind that wind developers are some of the greatest spin artists in the world… They conjure up the situations and scenarios that they then exploit to cry fowl or claim they're being bullied or unfairly treated. The idea that the nuclear industry, for instance, is getting 'nervous' because wind may shove them out of the mainstream is pure fantasy, perpetuated by the wind people and then pointed to as proof that wind works. If it didn't, why would these nuclear guys be so worried? Except that the nuclear guys aren't even aware of the game and could care less because wind is simply not a threat to them or to any other dependable energy source. There is no issue. But that fact is not in the best interests of the wind industry. It will be very interesting someday to read how the history books record these windy days…or maybe they'll be better documented in the psychology books??