N. Tonawanda mayor suggests land at wastewater plant for N. Y. Power Authority’s $1 billion plan
North Tonawanda site offered for wind power project
NORTH TONAWANDA—Mayor Lawrence V. Soos is offering a site at the city wastewater-treatment plant as a potential location for a $1 billion wind power project being proposed by the New York Power Authority.
In an Oct. 2 letter to Power Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Richard M. Kessel, Soos suggested that the wastewater-treatment plant site along the Niagara River near Gratwick-Riverside Park might make a good location for the windmill project.
In a letter last week, Soos informed Niagara County Legislature Chairman William L. Ross, C-Wheatfield, of the pitch. Ross released the letter Monday, along with other wind power-related correspondence.
Soos said he already has received a reply from Kessel, who told him that the city should set up a partnership with a company that manufactures windmills in order to make a bid in the request-for-proposals process that the Power Authority will open before the end of the year.
Soos said he has turned that suggestion over to the city Economic Development Department.
Kessel said he won’t discuss details of the bidding process publicly for fear of tainting it before it starts.
“If [North Tonawanda] wants to come into the competitive process, I can assure you they’ll be given every due consideration,” Kessel said.
He added the city could make a bid on its own or with a partner.
In his Oct. 21 letter to Ross, Soos wrote that he thinks the wastewater site would be an “ideal location, as it would be on city-owned land that is already being used for commercial purposes. This location would be less visible as opposed to placing [wind-powered] generating equipment at a location along the Niagara River where it would be considered an obstruction or stand out to a point where it may be objectionable to the public.”
Soos said in an interview Monday, “They said it’s an experimental project. We don’t know if its two windmills or 20.” He said that a North Tonawanda company, OGSI Audubon, has just signed a deal with a German firm to produce windmills 6 to 8 feet in diameter to generate electricity. He said a likely use would be for parking lot lighting.
Ross said the county has had correspondence with Kessel on wind power. He produced an April 23 letter to Kessel asking that the county be included in conversations or meetings on the topic and offering the county’s economic-development team to help with environmental and planning issues, as well as business incentives.
Kessel replied May 6 with a letter to Ross saying he had told his staff to contact the county about all meetings once the Power Authority had set up a coalition of partners.
Kessel said Monday that Legislator Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, attended a Power Authority meeting on wind power in August.
The flurry of comments came in the wake of a flap Kimble stirred up last week by criticizing the Power Authority for allegedly refusing to meet about wind power with a lobbying firm hired by the county. An e-mail to legislators and County Manager Gregory D. Lewis reported the alleged rebuff, which Kessel denied ever happened.
The purported refusal to meet was blamed by the lobbyist on the county’s lawsuit against the Power Authority to try to cancel its $544 million “sweep” of surpluses into the regular state budget. “We are fully committed to including Niagara County and the Legislature,” Kessel said, “and the [May 6] letter is proof of that.”
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