Naples Grape Festival Sept 27 & 28th

An Editorial by Debi:
It's that time of the year again when 80,000 to 100,000 people will visit our valley & surrounding hills to enjoy the Grape Festival and stand in line for a grape pie. The leaves haven't turned yet & neither have the turbines. The leaves are just starting to turn - who knows when the 300 feet tall, steel turbine structures, with their 150 foot long blades, will turn?

• Wonder what the visitors will say when they are walking down Main Street looking south?
• Wonder how many will notice the turbines high in the hills?
• Wonder how many will say they're okay but NIMBY (not in my back yard)?
• Wonder how many of the visitors are in favor of them?
• Wonder how many oppose them?
• Wonder how many know the whole true story and the facts about them?
• Will the visitors this weekend stand in awe or just shake their heads in question?
• Will they wonder why the blades are not turning? Or, maybe (with generators), they will be turning this weekend just to impress everyone. Then all the visitors will say how wonderful wind energy is because it's free.

Free energy - wind is free isn't it?
HA - If only they knew... if only the visitors knew the facts... if only they knew that each of those turbines have a value of approx $3 million dollars each, that's $3,000,000.00 each. If only they realized that their tax money helped to pay for them. If only they knew the real reasons for wind turbines in this area. If only they knew...

For more information about the Grape Festival click here: http://www.naplesgrapefest.org/

The autumn leaves haven't turned yet & neither has the wind turbines. Maybe all that talk about wind energy is just hot air.
Submitted by Debi.

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Iberdrola now owns Energy East

Iberdrola SA has taken possession of Energy East Corp. In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, lawyers for Energy East said the Bilbao, Spain-based utility had closed on the $4.5 billion sale today. Energy East is the parent company of Rochester Gas and Electric Corp. and New York State Electric & Gas. Holders of Energy East’s common stock received $28.50 per share.

The New York Public Service Commission was the last government agency to approve the deal, allowing Iberdrola to continue with wind-turbine construction while keeping its power transmission lines. The PSC voted on Sept. 3. The company will also set aside about $275 million for ratepayer rebates for New York’s 1.2 million customers. JSTINSO@DemocratandChronicle.com

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080916/BUSINESS/80916032

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Letter to the Editor - D&C printed on Sat Sept 13

N.Y. soul sold to wind power giant

I believe your call for Iberdrola to start building its wind farms and infrastructure is hypocritical on your part (Sept. 5 editorial, "The right call"). You often laud the beauty of the Finger Lakes region, express pride in this local treasure and encourage tourism. How on earth can wind towers and power lines add to or even maintain this beauty?

You admire patriotism and sometimes review historic events from this area, too. What will your take be on those who resist the takeover of their land through eminent domain by a foreign company? How would you tell a Seneca from Ganondagan, a soldier from Valley Forge, a sailor on the Cuban blockade, that it is OK if foreigners take land away from New York citizens? Would you say that things are inevitable, and to think of a common good, or a bottom line?

What will you call those who take a stand? It is bound to happen now that our government has decided a $3 a month saving in our electric bills is worth our soul.

by JOHN HOLTZ
SOUTH BRISTOL, ONTARIO COUNTY
in response to the editorial in the D&C on 9/5/08

The Right Call

After some internal disagreement the PSC staff was against the sale as originally proposed and arm-twisting from the political and business wings, the commission struck a sensible compromise...

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080905/NEWS01/809050360

Customers of Rochester Gas and Electric and New York State Electric and Gas could see a modest $40 a year in average savings in their utility bills after the companies are sold to Iberdrola SA of Spain.

According to the commission, that means five years of rebates, annually averaging $18 for RG&E natural gas customers, $19.04 for RG&E electric customers, $23 for NYSEG gas customers and $20.08 for NYSEG electric customers.

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South Bristol Historical Society Event - Hops Harvest Dinner

The Third Annual Hops Harvest Dinner and "frivolities" are scheduled for September 20th, 2008. Join the South Bristol Historical Society as we recapture the celebration of the finish of the hops harvest as was done in the distant past. The event will be held at the SBHS headquarters - the former Grange Building in the hamlet of Bristol Springs on Route 64.

This year we are pleased to have Lisa Bigwood and the Washday Band providing our music. The band features Tom (TBone) Farley, Elaine Verstraete and John Denniston. They promise to help us have a good time. The music will follow the buffet dinner that will be served from six to eight p.m. For dinner we will be serving baked glazed ham, sausage, sauerkraut, scalloped potatoes, corn pudding, mixed oven baked vegetables, assorted salads, breads, fruit pies and apple crisp for dessert. Beer (in honor of the hops), wine, cider, coffee and tea will also be included.

Tickets are $15 per person and advanced sale is requested. Historical costume is optional.

A silent auction will be held along with our mini raffles and this year we will institute a 50-50 raffle. Please call Karen Richardson, President at (585) 374-8068 for more information and/or to make reservations.

Despite our Opposition...

Iberdrola accepts PSC terms for Energy East buyout
See link in the D&C today & post your comments there!
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080911/BUSINESS/809110349


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Highlander Cycle Tour

The Highlander Cycle Tour is once again coming to our lovely area http://www.highlandercycletour.com/.

Come out and cheer on your favorite cyclist Friday for the Time Trials or Saturday during the various tours!






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The D&C finally made it clear how the Iberdrola deal will benefit us

Todays headline in the D&C. (Can you believe it FINALLY made FRONT page headlines?)

Energy deal could save customers $40 annually

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080905/NEWS01/809050360

Gee, bet you can hardly wait to spend it. Unless, they decide to hold off on any rebates and put it towards the next rate increase.

The PSC sold us out & they should be ashamed.

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PSC Commissioners approve Iberdrola acquistion 4-0

What is the next travesty at taxpayer and ratepayer expense?

http://blogs.timesunion.com/business/?p=4634

Update: Regulators approve Iberdrola acquisition, 4-0September 3, 2008 at 11:43 am by Eric Anderson, Deputy business editor

The Public Service Commission early this afternoon unanimously approved Spanish utility Iberdrola SA’s proposed $4.5 billion acquisition of Energy East Corp.

The PSC approval includes a requirement that Iberdrola commit to at least $200 million in wind power projects statewide, up from $100 million previously. In addition, Iberdrola will be required to provide another $275 million in so-called public benefits. In this case, that will result in a 5 percent decline in delivery rates for electricity and natural gas paid by Energy East’s utility customers in New York, business writer Larry Rulison reports from today’s hearing.
Iberdrola has said it plans up to $2 billion in wind power projects statewide, but that isn’t a binding investment, Rulison reports.

Energy East’s utilities include New York State Electric & Gas and Rochester Gas & Electric. The Maine-based company has 1.3 million customers in upstate New York.

The four PSC commissioners voted shortly after returning from lunch. A fifth commissioner, Cheryl Buley, said last week she was resigning to move to Kentucky and marry. She did not attend today’s session.

The PSC now will draw up an “order” that includes all the conditions placed on Iberdrola as part of regulators’ approval of the deal. While that order isn’t expected to be issued today, it likely will be completed quickly. The PSC has 10 days to issue it.

Iberdrola will then review the order and decide whether to accept it.

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Why are NY Political and Media Leaders Grossly Over Estimating the Economic Benefits of Iberdrola’s Insistence on Investing $2 billion in NY?

New York political and media leaders are grossly overestimating the favorable local and state economic benefit that would result from Iberdrola’s proposed investment of $2 billion in “wind farms” in New York.

Public comments from NY political leaders, news stories, and editorials on the impending NYS Public Service Commission’s Iberdrola decision emphasizes that Iberdrola would invest $2 billion in “wind farms” in New York if the Spanish company is permitted by the PSC to acquire Energy East and its electric and gas distribution companies in New York, Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Emphasis on the proposed $2 billion investment suggests that NY leaders do not yet understand that a $2 billion investment in “wind farms” in NY would have very little favorable economic benefit in the areas where the “wind farms” would be built or in the state. The economic impacts may even be negative.

This brief paper explains that there would be little, if any, net favorable local or NY state economic impact from a potential $2 billion Iberdrola investment in NY “wind farms because:

• Potentially favorable economic impacts are typically overstated by the wind industry and its advocates with governments.
  

• Other factors, often ignored, tend to offset most or all of the favorable impacts.

Please send an email requesting the details if you would like to see the numbers in black and white.




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PSC to vote on Iberdrola’s proposed Energy East acquisition Sept. 3

The state Public Service Commission is scheduled to vote Sept. 3 on a proposal from Spanish utility Iberdrola’s to buy Energy East Corp.

A vote scheduled for Aug. 27 was postponed as a result of two of the five PSC commissioners were absent—Robert Curry, who was sick, and Cheryl Buley. Buley has since announced her resignation from the PSC. Buley is getting married and moving out of the state.

The commission vote will cap a review and negotiation process lasting more than a year.

“It’s not an insubstantial proceeding, so they opted to wait for their fellow commissioners,” said commission spokesman James Denn.

Buley’s absence from the board leaves the commission with four voters who will decide whether to accept Iberdrola’s proposed takeover of Energy East (NYSE: EAS), worth $4.5 billion. An Energy East subsidiary, New York State Electric & Gas, has 63,000 customers in the Albany, N.Y., area.

By default, Iberdrola’s proposal will be rejected if commissioners split 2-2 on the issue, Denn said.

Iberdrola says it will invest at least $2 billion in wind-power generation in the state if it is permitted to acquire Energy East. Iberdrola has also agreed to several hundred million dollars in up-front benefits to consumers, including through reduced rates.

Organizations have come out on both sides of the deal. The New York Consumer Protection Board and state Department of Environmental Conservation support the acquisition.

But Independent Power Producers of New York Inc., whose members generate 75 percent of the state’s electricity, oppose it. IPPNY argues that Iberdrola, which is the second-largest wind energy operator in the U.S., should not be able to produce and provide power.

The state prohibits “vertical market power,” or the ability for power providers to also operate as power generators.

The bid is supported by key members of the state Legislature, as well as U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, and Gov. David Paterson.

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