Hello, everyone.

Our public utility company is using the back door to build wind turbines in New York. If you share my sentiments, please distribute this. Contact Mr. Laurito. Thank you.
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July 14, 2007

Mr. James P. Laurito
President & CEO
New York State Electric & Gas
James A. Carrigg Center
Corporate Drive
Binghamton, NY 13902-5224

Dear Mr. Laurito:

On June 27, 2007 you informed New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) customers that Energy East, parent company of NYSEG, announced that NYSEG would be acquired by IBERDROLA. This is a global energy company, which has headquarters in Spain.

As a NYSEG customer, I am concerned about IBERDROLA exerting influence on the Catskill Mountains region to develop industrial wind turbines. In fact, your June 27, 2007 acquisition announcement says: “IBERDROLA already owns and operates the largest wind facility on the East Coast—Maple Ridge, in upstate New York.”

Industrial wind turbines have polarized communities in the Catskills. Local residents and local town boards have conducted heated debates about the prospects of industrial wind turbines being installed in these mountains.

Local communities are recognizing that wind turbines, while useful elsewhere, are devastating for the Catskills. The Town of Andes, Delaware County, NY, recently banned industrial wind turbines within its borders, while permitting small scale (100’) ones for private use. Other Catskill local boards are doing the same.

NYSEG, as a good neighbor, must assure the Catskill community that the tail is not going to wag the dog here. IBERDROLA should not be dictating its global reach to build wind facilities in our backyard.

As a gesture toward that end, NYSEG needs to stop inserting into its residential bills a promotional flyer, which asks customers to sign up for “clean, renewable wind-generated energy.”

In addition, the back of that flyer asserts “How wind-generated electricity works” by depicting an energy “tree.” The main branches of this tree include limbs that show traditional energy sources: oil, nuclear, natural gas, coal, and, if IBERDROLA has its way, wind energy.

Mr. Laurito, you can have no tree without solar power.

Solar power is more feasible in the Catskills than wind power. Solar power has federal and state economic incentives. (Curiously, NYSEG offers no such economic incentives.) Solar power does not have local communities polarized politically. Solar power has no footprint on the landscape. Solar power energy, which is not consumed by the homeowner, can be returned to the grid without the need for NYSEG to build additional infrastructure.

In fairness, you need to stop inserting this wind power flyer into the residential customers’ bills. If not, you should make a statement about the potential liabilities of wind-generated energy in the Catskills. Further, you should include another flyer extolling the virtues of solar power. Finally, you need to clarify for NYSEG customers why solar power is not part of your company’s solution to the problem that faces this region, and this nation.

I anticipate receiving a response from you.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

encl. (NYSEG wind energy flyer)