Concerned Citizens for Rural Preservation

08/01/2023

And so on it goes.........New York State continues to push unreliable, unsafe so-called "green energy" without any care or concern for New York State residents and wildlife. But I guess we shouldn't worry, right? After all, "As the DEC does an environmental review, it’ll include testing the water. They do say they’ve been testing that air quality and the readings have been at normal levels since the fire started Thursday." This is hard to believe, considering the Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet for Lithium that was posted yesterday.....

Officials: solar farm fire is contained; neighbors worry about contamination

"TOWN OF LYME, New York (WWNY) - Officials say the fire at the solar farm in the town of Lyme was contained late Sunday morning."

"“There needs to be strong indication regarding lithium and how it’s used in our community across the board. It’s in your back pocket, it’s in your car, it’s everywhere. We need to learn how to fight it best, and how we’re going to bring it into our communities,” said Lyme Town Supervisor Terry Countryman."

"John Rook recorded the aftermath on Saturday."

"“I don’t know if you can hear it, but that’s the culvert pipe dumping into my property, and that is the fire truck across the road, you can hear it. There’s the water. You can hear the dogs in there. I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep them out of the water, or drink it, but it’s the runoff from across the street,” he said as he recorded."

"He’s worried about the water running onto his property and about it seeping into his drinking well water."

"Many people along Rockledge Drive have wells, like Susan Nichols."

"“We decided we’re going to get our wells tested. All we heard was the air quality, nothing about the water situation,” she said."

"Nichols and neighbors plan to get their water tested, but first need to know what metals are in the lithium battery trailers that caught fire. So far, Nichols hasn’t been able to learn that information from officials on the scene and is frustrated."

Officials say the fire at the solar farm in the town of Lyme was contained late Sunday morning.

07/31/2023

Below is a link to the Hazardous Substance Fact Sheet for Lithium The risk to health is serious, as you can see.

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07/31/2023

People need to ask themselves....are the "benefits" of being able to store energy for a couple of hours worth the risks that these lithium ion batteries pose to health and safety, not to mention the exorbitant costs to taxpayers?

After Lyme solar farm fire, Gov. Hochul announces creation of new safety group

"Hochul cited fires at the solar farm in Jefferson County as well as similar blazes that happened at facilities in Orange and Suffolk counties this summer."

"“Following multiple fire safety incidents across New York, I’ve directed State agencies to immediately form the Inter-Agency Fire Safety Working Group to mobilize the personnel and resources necessary to keep New Yorkers safe,” Hochul said in a news release."

Less than 24 hours after fire erupted at the solar farm in the town of Lyme, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the creation of a new safety group.

07/31/2023

Efforts Underway to Begin Towing Fremantle Highway Car Carrier

PUBLISHED JUL 28, 2023 7:24 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

"With the intensity of the fire aboard the car carrier Fremantle Highway continuing to dissipate, Dutch authorities announced late today that they are preparing to reposition the ship in the first of a series of steps that they anticipate will ultimately bring the wreck to a still to be determined port. As they were reporting progress with the fire aboard the ship, a new controversy is developing over the number of electric vehicles and total number of cars aboard the ship, leading to further speculation that EVs are a major contributing factor to the fire that has now burned for four days."

With the intensity of the fire aboard the car carrier Fremantle Highway continuing to dissipate, Dutch authorities announced late today that they are...

07/31/2023

Ship carrying nearly 3,000 cars ablaze off Dutch coast, crew member dead

"AMSTERDAM, July 26 (Reuters) - A fire blazed on a cargo ship off the Dutch coast with nearly 3,000 vehicles on board on Wednesday, killing one member of the crew and injuring several others, the coastguard said."

"Several crew members were forced to jump overboard after the fire began on Tuesday night on the 199-metre (655-foot) Panama-registered Fremantle Highway as it was en route from Germany to Egypt."

"Electric cars burn just as much as combustion engine cars. When batteries overheat and a so-called 'thermal runaway' occurs, then it gets dangerous," said Uwe-Peter Schieder, master mariner and representative of the German Insurance Association."

"A chemical reaction in the battery produces gases which inflate the battery."

A fire blazed on a cargo ship off the Dutch coast with nearly 3,000 vehicles on board on Wednesday, killing one member of the crew and injuring several others, the coastguard said.

07/31/2023

Solar Farm Battery Fire in Jefferson County

Jul 27, 2023 —

"Four lithium battery storage trailers caught fire at a solar farm in the town of Lyme in Jefferson County Thursday afternoon, according to state police."

Residents in the town of Lyme were told to shelter in place for several hours to avoid inhaling potentially toxic smoke.

07/29/2023

Rexville farmers continue to pay price for wind turbine fire

"The now infamous and catastrophic fire at the Eight Point Wind facility in West Union NY littered fiberglass debris over a wide area as it burned. A large portion of the land that was contaminated with shreds of fiberglass debris are hayfields owned by the Mullen family farm. The fiberglass rendered the first “cutting” of hay this season contaminated and unusable. Below is a picture of the tons of otherwise pristine hay, now piled up at the site of the destroyed wind turbine."

"Eight Point Wind have sent teams to hand pick the debris from local fields, forests, roads, and front yards. In the case of family farms like the Mullen Farm who grow premium forage, the accident rendered the crop unsellable. After a legal demand by the Mullen Farm, Eight Point Wind compensated the farm for the “first cutting,” but the farm only received about eighty percent of that revenue after legal fees."

"For most hay and forage farmers, there are multiple cuttings per year, at least two and ideally three or even four. After the first cutting was finished, the mowed fields were apparently still contaminated with fiberglass insulation shreds. The farmers called Eight Point Wind to report the debris was still present and compromising the crop. They sent pictures showing the fiberglass strands and asked NextEra to employ the equipment needed to remove the debris before the next succession of grass emerged. They received no response from NextEra and grass grows fast. The pictures provided by the farmer show plenty of fiberglass strands in the fields."

The now infamous and catastrophic fire at the Eight Point Wind facility in West Union NY littered fiberglass debris over a wide area as it burned. A large portion of the land that was contaminated with shreds of fiberglass debris are hayfields owned by

07/29/2023

"The House of Representatives today passed an amendment authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that would require President Biden or his designee to certify that offshore wind projects “will not weaken, degrade, interfere with, or nullify the capability of radar relied upon the Federal Aviation Administration or the Armed Forces.”"

"“BOEM’s radar interference analysis from August of 2020 stated, ‘The research team found that the proposed and hypothetical wind farms are within the line of sight of 36 radar systems, indicating that they will generate interference to these radars under normal atmospheric conditions’ and ‘future offshore wind energy installations on the Atlantic coast may impact land-based radar systems,’” said Smith."

"Another study cited by Smith stated, “Offshore wind turbines may pose unique impacts to coastal radar systems given the differences in propagation of radar signals over the ocean versus land, as well as the larger size of offshore wind turbines compared to land-based wind turbines.” That finding came from 2017 Interagency Ground-Based Coastal Air Surveillance Wind Turbine-Radar Interference Vulnerability Study."

"Smith pointed to a third study by the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine from 2022 that found “wind turbine generator mitigation techniques have not been substantially investigated, implemented, matured, or deployed.”"

"“Taiwan, as we all know, faces a military threat from Xi Jinping’s China, and has concluded that they may not be able to detect an assault due to radar interference from offshore wind turbines,” said Smith, who noted that Taiwan, Japan, Finland and Sweden have all halted certain offshore wind projects due to objections from their Armed Forces and concerns over radar and freedom of safe movement for aircraft."

"“Many of us are deeply concerned over the safety, efficacy and likely deleterious environmental impact of embedding some 3,400 ocean wind turbines—each the size of the Chrysler Building in New York City—off our coast,” said Smith."

The House of Representatives today passed an amendment authored by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that would require President Biden or his designee to certify that offshore wind projects “will not weaken, degrade, interfere with, or nullify the capability

07/29/2023

"The City of Long Beach is “fervently opposed” to the Empire Wind 2 project that proposes a high-voltage power line through its streets and turbines visible from shore, city officials said in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week."

"Citizens on or near the proposed cable route have been among the most ardent opponents of the project, worried chiefly about the potential health impacts of electromagnetic fields from the cable buried beneath the streets."

"Long Beach resident Kelly Martinsen questioned the company’s claim of no health impacts, charging the company is presented outdated data for its claims, while she has presented company officials with studies from as recently as 2022 and 2023 to no avail."

"The city council also took aim at Equinor itself, saying the company has done a “dismal job engaging residents and addressing their concerns” about the project. “For months we have implored them to improve their community engagement and their response has been utterly lacking,” the letter said."

The City of Long Beach is “fervently opposed” to the Empire Wind 2 project that proposes a high-voltage power line through its streets and turbines visible from shore, city officials said in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week. The Monday

07/29/2023

"Conservative activists, environmentalists and New Jersey fishermen protested the construction of wind turbines off the East Coast on Monday, highlighting increasing whale deaths in the region that they say are tied to offshore renewable energy."

“Since offshore wind operations began in 2016, there is a disturbing number of whales washing up dead on beaches along the Eastern shores, and it is shocking to see how quickly utilities are willing to rush to construct them,” the group’s president, Craig Rucker, told The Post in a statement. “Their motto is almost like, ‘Damn the Whales, full steam ahead.’”

“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved South Fork Wind Farm without implementing measures that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated were necessary to prevent adverse population-level impacts to Atlantic cod,” Lapp said. “Instead, BOEM left these as voluntary to the developer if ‘economically feasible.’ There are two sets of federal standards for fisheries – one for fishermen and one for offshore wind companies.”

The winds of change are blowing. Conservative activists, environmentalists and New Jersey fishermen protested the construction of wind turbines off the East Coast on Monday, highlighting increasing whale deaths in the region that they say are tied to

07/29/2023

Unlikely Pair Tries to Blow Open Secret Wind Deal
by Cam Macdonald July 28, 2023

"Offshore wind developers, citing changing market conditions, are demanding what could be billions of dollars in additional subsidies—but refusing to let the public see how much or explain their reasoning. An unlikely team is pushing to make them."

"Petitioners’ excessive redactions of critical information means that customers do not know the total amount of additional compensation that these developers are asking them to pay, nor can they evaluate the claimed need for such relief, and they are being deprived of the opportunity to develop fully-informed comments responsive to the Petitions."

"The Legislature declared when it enacted FOIL that “the government is the public’s business” and that access to information “should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality.” The same should be true of PSC proceedings on billions of dollars of subsidies."

Offshore wind developers, citing changing market conditions, are demanding what could be billions of dollars in additional subsidies—but refusing to let the public see how much or explain their reasoning.

07/29/2023

Gray: Lithium battery storage fire at Chaumont solar farm escalates to multiple units, burns toxic smoke into air

"CHAUMONT, NY — Multiple lithium-battery storage trailers caught fire yesterday in the town of Lyme in Jefferson County, causing a large amount of potentially hazardous smoke to be emitted. The shelter-in-place order has since been lifted, but the fire has escalated today to additional battery storage units."

“I have said multiple times, there are instances where New York state does not need to be first. Sometimes it’s good to be in the middle of the pack. A transformation toward renewable energy and electrification cannot be done with haste and must progress on a reasonable, safe and affordable timeline that ensures public safety,” Gray said.

Featured Local/State News Gray: Lithium battery storage fire at Chaumont solar farm escalates to multiple units, burns toxic smoke into air July 28, 2023 News release CHAUMONT, NY — Multiple lithium-battery storage trailers caught fire yesterday in the town of Lyme in Jefferson County, causing a l...