The development of wind power locally raises many questions and issues that are being addressed and others that are becoming more evident.

Yet as the projects are discussed, debated and considered, it becomes apparent that each one does not affect just one town or village alone. The considerations are broader in every case and call for substantially broader oversight and planning.

Plans for 77 wind turbines on Galloo Island, for instance involve more than the specific site of the towers. The necessity to transmit electrical power from the turbines to the state power grid for distribution is another task altogether.

In the Galloo case, the transmission of electricity from the wind turbines will occur across Jefferson and Oswego counties. Upstate NY Power Corp. intends to run the line southeast through Henderson, then south through Ellisburg, Sandy Creek, Richland and Albion to a larger transmission line in Parish. From there, the line will hook up to a 345-kilovolt line stretching from Oswego to Syracuse. Upstate NY Power has contacted owners of 120 parcels between the towns of Hounsfield and Parish with offers to purchase rights-of-way for the line. The company has hired agents from another firm, Gotec Land Services, to visit landowners, explain the offer and answer questions.

Local agriculture agencies are holding a workshop Feb 14 at the Henderson fire hall to provide information to landowners about their rights and options.

Upstate NY Power has said that the route of the line is subject to change as the company receives feedback from the state, regulatory agencies and landowners. The company said that it will be conferring with each of the towns involved.

Every wind power project will entail planning and negotiations to transmit the power from turbines to grid. That will mean running transmission lines across landowners' property and town lines in various parts of Jefferson County and other counties.

It is time for Jefferson County to assert some leadership in this matter. The impact of each of the projects goes beyond the towns where the wind turbines are sited. It involves the county as a whole and county leaders must exert oversight.

Wind power developers offer towns where the turbines are sited quite a bit of money which appears attractive to financially strapped town governments. Just look at the claim in Hounsfield that the turbine tax payments will eliminate the local property tax.

At the same time as these large financial incentives are dangled in front of the town boards, the towns want the role of determining the environmental impact of the turbines development on the town.

That environmental analysis will be skewed by the town's desire to cash in on the promises of the wind developers, maybe to the detriment of the environment. In Cape Vincent the town declared itself the lead agency for the project in its town and in the town of Lyme. The net result has been a preliminary environmental analysis which concerns Thomas E. Brown, Cape Vincent, who concluded a 40-year career with the state Department of Environmental Conservation as Region 6 director. In testimony Saturday at the public hearing on the draft environmental impact study of one of the Cape Vincent turbines proposals, Mr. Brown expressed concern about the extent of bird and bat studies.

"We all need to realize that a great part of Cape Vincent's heritage is attributed and indebted to its fish and wildlife resources," he said.

In Clayton, the wind developer has offered the town $300,000 before any final determination has been made.
These cash promises to agents of government who are then expected to independently determine the appropriateness of a project can be construed as a public form of bribery.

Environmental studies should be done by the DEC and all negotiations on tax payments should be controlled by Jefferson County. There should be no host community benefits. Instead, all taxpayers in Jefferson County - each one of whom will be affected in one way or another by the wind projects - should feel a positive impact from these projects.

Hounsfield should not expect to eliminate taxation while the taxpayers of Henderson and Ellisburg will have to look at the power lines every day. Our natural resources should not be threatened so one town can be tax-free.
These matters will require the attention and judgment of county officials. They need to step up, get involved and lead.