CENTERVILLE - George Ellis isn't gung-ho when it comes to energy generated by windpower, but he does believe it's the way the wind will blow down the road.

“I think my grandchildren will see it,” he said recently, “We have to do something about the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.”

Ellis' farm is located less than two miles from the heart of the hamlet of Centerville. At the top of the hill, before you get to the farm located on County Route 3, the Centerville landscape stretches out for miles. At the crest of the hill, down a rocky lane, stands a 200-foot tall tower in a field ringed by a wire fence. Guy lines designated by bright yellow plastic, hold the tower which reaches into the sky to measure the direction and intensity of the wind flow. Propellers near the top of the tower record the velocity and direction of the wind.

Ellis is quick to say he hasn't leased any land long-term to Noble Environmental Power LLC. He has a one-year lease with the company for the land the tower is standing on.

“I think it's important that people get the facts,” he said. “This will help everyone get the facts they need to make a decision. A company offers the farmer $6,000 a year to lease part of his land for 50 years. It sounds good to the farmer. It takes him six months to earn $6,000. The media all say this is the way of the future, so it all sounds good, but no one has any facts,” he said.

Ellis said he wonders how cost effective generating energy from windpower will be once the industry is no longer subsidized by the government. Funds for alternative power generation development were included in the federal government's 2006 energy bill according to Congressman John R. “Randy” Kuhl who represents Centerville as part of the 29th Congressional District.

The tower on Ellis' land will record wind measurements for one year. Two other towers are also located in Centerville.

Getting the facts is exactly what opponents of energy generated by windpower say Centerville residents should be doing. Katherine Bush of Save Upstate NY, a former Wellsville resident, said “Wind development is not benign by any stretch of the imagination. A close look reveals that it's positive aspects are largely overstated, while it's negative impacts, noise (more than doubling the level of ambient sound), light degradation (flickering affect), erosion, television and phone interference, increased traffic (usually during construction phases), lowered property values, safety and recreational issues, loss of natural amenities, are trivialized.” 
 
She warns, “Don't be duped by Nobel Environmental or any other wind developer. Do your homework. The money they offer could never be enough to make up for the loss of your natural environment.”

Information from Save Upstate NY concerning windmills can be accessed at: get involved@saveupstateny.org.