Solar project shortcomings highlighted

[Lee Chowaniec]

Supervisor Ruffino promotes solar farm

In a Lancaster Bee editorial, Supervisor Ronald Ruffino promotes the proposed Solar Farm Project from AC Power 14 at the closed Gunville Energy Landfill site that is located on Shisler Road.

A worthy project and one most likely to be approved by the town board as Ruffino has the votes to make it happen. Ruffino supports the project undertaking declaring:

As we continue to move along the green avenue, we will see solar farms becoming increasingly relevant while driving through communities. There are numerous benefits that these solar farms can offer to our communities and here in Lancaster, we have a proposed Solar Farm Project from AC Power 14 at the closed Gunville Energy Landfill site that was located on Shisler Road.

Over the next 20 years, this project will be contributing over $1 million in tax revenue to the town, county, and school district, with limited demand for town services.

By providing cost savings to residents, improving the electric grid, generating green energy, contributing taxes, and maintaining an otherwise a degrading landfill site according to NYSDEC regulations, the proposed AC Power 14 solar project will be a benefit to the Lancaster community for years to come.

Comments

All that glitters is not gold. My comments are not meant to criticize the merit of the project but to scrutinize the project's nuances and point out its subtleties to ensure the town and its taxpayers are held financially harmless now and in the future. Residents should have some knowledge of what the project entails.

It has already been determined that residents enrolling in the solar energy savings program are receiving but miniscule savings on their energy bills – not the 10% of the total bill as implied.

The solar array will have thousands of panels – with decommissioning cost estimated at $1 million. Appropriate initial bonding to cover such cost is a must – not at the end period of panel usefulness.

The following Ruffino statement is most perplexing: Over the next 20 years, this project will be contributing over $1 million in tax revenue to the town, county and school district, with limited demand for town services.

AC Power 14 applied for and received Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) approval for financial assistance on the $14 million project over 20 years - $13.64 for development, $110,000 for land development, and $250,000 in soft costs.

The incentive package includes $330,000 in sales tax exemption and partial property tax and a partial abatement of property taxes (PILOT- Payment in Lieu of Taxes).

The PILOT agreement has PILOT payments at the rate of $4,000 per MW of power generated based on anticipated output 9.469 MW in one year ($37,872), increased annually by 2% for the anticipated 20-year life of the PILOT. Is this the $1 million in property taxes Supervisor Ruffino is referring to? If the PILOT is providing a partial property tax abatement, what would have the land been assessed for and corresponding property tax levy without abatement?

It should be noted that in the resolution this LIDA complies with the NYSIDA, that there is demonstrable need for the project and services, that the LIDA granted the financial assistance to induce AC 14 to develop the project here, and where without the financial assistance the project would not be feasible.

It should also be noted that AC 14 in the LIDA application stated that financial inducement was not being offered in any other municipalities. One must wonder what the total cost of the LIDA incentive package is to the taxpayer – especially to those who have no interest in enrolling in an energy saving program with miniscule savings?

In today’s Buffalo News real estate section, new townhome and patio homes in Lancaster are priced from $290,000 to $400,000. They will receive Condominium Law -339y assessment reductions of up to 50%. On average, over 20 years each unit owner will realize a $100,000 tax break. To put it in perspective, 5 units will still be paying $1 million in taxes over 20 years despite receiving $1 million in tax breaks to provide for services the town will no longer have to provide for.

A million in town revenue over 20 years doesn’t mean much anymore – especially when we have no idea what the cost of the incentives are to the taxpayer.

Nothing should be taken at face value in today’s world. All those grants, tax incentives, tax breaks are taxpayer money. Until such time the project sponsor answers / mitigates all concerns, where residents understand taxpayer associated ‘incentive’ costs, and where the town is held financially harmless, not everyone will / should be of the mind that the town needs this project.

[Frank Lee Blunt]

Lee, your concern is well founded. It also must be reported that the Corp is getting a hefty federal subsidy to boot. The ONLY one that will benefit is the Private Corp receiving it. Gorja does NOT know what she was pretending to know when she proclaimed to her audience at the board meeting about the wonderful savings that all could realize.

Stupervisor Ruffinose is playing a board game with tax payers money. THE BANKER is running amuck with his own little bank. He is a proud man eating out of the hands of one of the most underhanded men ever to walk in the VOL or TOL. You Banker are no RALPH MOHR but you are a pretty good organ grinder for him.

I am sure Lee that had that land been out of the reach of small minded Ruffinose and put in a real "for profit company" that 20 years down the line the taxes received would far outweigh the tax subsistances that are used to promote green energy

I got an idea RONNY.........get the roads fixed, get the town safe, get real tax paying business to invest in our town, and keep our taxes affordable

Get you head out of Ralph's fanny and act like a true people's representative, drop the ROCKSTAR attitude, you're not that good on stage, someone should tell you, but they wouldn't, so the snickering will continue every time you take the stage and grace us with that killer voice

[Lee Chowaniec]

What's Wrong with Wind and Solar?

https://www.prageru.com/video/whats-...ind-and-solar/

[WNYresident]

What's Wrong with Wind and Solar?

https://www.prageru.com/video/whats-...ind-and-solar/

I played with solar power since I was a kid. It just isn't ready yet to literally power all our needs. One day it might be but as the video shows it takes energy to make the panels.

[Lee Chowaniec]

The powers to be will force-feed solar projects without ever informing the public about their shortcomings in manufacture, efficiency, shelf life and energy capacity loss, decommissioning and waste disposal issues and related costs.

Information and transparency are power. Except for Councilmember Leary the town has been missing in action in that regard.

[mark blazejewski]

From Councilman Bob Leary:

MY POSITION AND OPINION
For those of you who don’t know what is going on in Lancaster welcome to our own version of the Green New Deal. The democratic majority on the Town Board have decided to change the Normal Rules of Order and force through a new Solar project while huge questions about the project still exist.

I am not against alternate fuel sources and Solar has potential but there are huge environmental questions; especially placing the solar farm on a capped Lancaster landfill.

There are also questions about where the funding for this project is coming from. We do know that almost $5 million dollars of the $14 million the project. is coming from your N.Y. STATE tax dollars. We also know that the company developing this project is getting huge tax breaks from the Town of Lancaster because the Democrats who run the Lancaster Industrial Development Agency (LIDA) gave it to them. The IDA gave them the tax breaks despite the fact there will be no permanent jobs associated with this project. But what we don’t know is who is paying for the remainder of the project; roughly $9 million. All we know is the developer has a private investor and won’t tell us who that company’s private investors are. But what is a basic question of any project doesn’t appear to matter to the Democratic majority on the Board.

What other interesting things have we discovered while exploring this proposed project. Well we learned that the promises of 10% off your electric Bill are completely overstated. You may get a 10% break on the solar credits you purchase from the developer but it is no where near 10% off your electric. Most of the people who fell for the Lancaster Supervisors hawking for another Solar Power company have found that out the hard way; remember the letters from the Solar Company using the Supervisor’s Town Hall address.

We also know that it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispose of the solar panels when they have met their life span. They are so toxic you can’t just throw them out; there has to be a disposal plan. You would think we would want to insure that there is a bond in place to cover that cost from day one, but the Democratic Majority on the Town Board are still planning on ramming through a special use permit resolution to allow them to operate with no bond in place. If the company goes out of business Lancaster gets stuck paying the cost. Sure the Town can lay claim to the solar farm; but it’s a landfill which is useless and we get stuck paying for the disposal of the solar panels.

What else do we know? We know there will be thousands of solar panels but we don’t know where they are coming from. The developer won’t tell us because they haven’t determined it yet. But we do know they said there are no competitive Solar panel companies in the US. We do know that they used Solar Panels in their last project from a company in Canada with ties to China. The ties to China were being looked at by the Canadian Government because of allegations that the Chinese factory producing solar related products is located in the same part of China where there are allegations of slave labor.

We also know that when the XL PIPELINE was shut down our National Climate Czar said those unemployed union pipeline workers could now go and get good paying jobs making Solar Panels. However unless the Lancaster Solar Farm developer waits until those unemployed union workers start making Solar panels there won’t be any benefits for Union Workers in Lancaster. Oh and those Town Council Members who claim their disturbed by the XL PIPELINE shutdown might want to explain to Lancaster Union workers why they are so keen on pushing through this Solar Farm, made up of foreign solar panels.

Why did I write this post; because the residents of the Town need to know what goes on at their Town Board. There is a right way to do things and ramming through this project isn’t the right thing. And for those of you who do follow Town Board Meetings you will be shocked at how they do it.

Please get involved in your local government.

Reference: https://www.facebook.com/bob.leary.18

[Lee Chowaniec]

Thank you, Councilman Leary, for addressing concerns I have brought to light as well. As someone who sat on the town’s solar committee establishing codes relating to solar projects, I take no issue with the project, but at the same time feel many concerns have not been adequately addressed by AC-14, the project sponsor.

It was especially disturbing to hear AC-14 representatives evading your and resident questions at the Special Use Permit public hearing. The position taken by AC-14 representatives that certain questions were outside permit hearing scope was appalling, when in fact they were relevant and where no other public hearing was held.

I would like to add support to Mr. Leary’s concerns and comments:

• Regarding investors involved in the $9 million of the $14 million project cost.

• Of the $5 million in public funding, I cannot determine what amount of that is coming from the state, county, or town – not that it should matter as it is all taxpayer money. Supervisor Ruffino was quoted in the Lancaster Bee that the town would receive $1 million in revenue from the project sponsor over 20 years. I cannot determine from examining the town IDA website what AC-14 is receiving in turn in abatements – and where no job creation exists, except during project construction.

• There are over 31,000 solar panels in this project. Estimated cost for disposal for each panel in the decommissioning of the site is $15-$20, $500,000 -$600,000. 50% of the states have already disallowed the waste going to landfills. AC-14 has not been clear on whether bonding takes place one the project goes into operation or down the road. The town has to be held harmless should the project belly up at any time.

Several shortcomings of solar have already been noted. Add to that solar panels have been catching on fire and the potential inconsistencies in energy output and efficiency in the Buffalo area.

The project sponsor admits the project would not be possible without public funding. Homeowners are receiving federal subsidies for installing solar panels. Cars will become a cellular operation in the near future. Pro solar advocates are telling us how much cheaper solar has gotten. What will production costs become when solar manufacturing comes to America?

Will the average Joe be ready for the cost of the mandated clean energy program? Battery pack replacement cost in an electric car is now $10,000 - $15,000. Average battery pack life is 5 years or 100,000 miles. That price does not include battery pack removal and installation.

All that glitters is not gold

[mark blazejewski]

"The democratic majority on the Town Board have decided to change the Normal Rules of Order and force through a new Solar project while huge questions about the project still exist."---Councilman Bob Leary, April 1, 2021

Just My Opinion:

Councilman Leary's concerns should alarm all residents; it reflects the local version of what the tactic which has been occurring on the national scene.

This Ruffino-Democrat tactic in support of the solar farm mirrors the national ultra-Left Democrat playbook: "When you can not win by the existing rules, if you have the majority, change the rules."

In November 2013, Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid eliminated the three-fifths vote rule on executive branch nominations and federal judicial appointments.

Now the Senate's Schumer Democrats seriously consider eliminating the Senate Filibuster in support of ramming through a radical agenda which includes expanding the members of the SCOTUS, statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico, national voting standards, including perplexing adjustments to the Electoral College.

Then, the Lancaster residents are asked to believe that this Town Council Democrat majority holds "conservative values?"

Seriously?

Perhaps we should all call that Ruffino Town Council Democrat majority what it is: RADICAL LEFT?

[Lee Chowaniec]

Renewable energy, at what cost

All that glitters is not gold. The government refuses to talk about the downside of producing solar energy in this country.

China contributes 28% of the world’s airborne pollutants, the U.S. 11%. But we are expected to save the planet and with technology that many Americans will not be able to afford in the future.

When present Senator John Kennedy recently asked an energy czar how many degrees the climate temperature would be reduced with the billions of dollars slated for clean energy development, he received no answer.

China mines 86% of today’s rare earth minerals. Not an environmentally friendly process as well.

Solar panels are key to Biden's energy plan. But the global supply chain may rely on forced labor from China

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/energ...hnk/index.html

The report will likely draw additional scrutiny to China's outsized role in the global solar power industry. The country has between 71% and 97% of the world's capacity for various solar panel components, according to market research firm Bernreuter Research. Xinjiang alone produces nearly half of the world's solar grade polysilicon and is home to factories for some of the industry's biggest players.

Revelations of the industry's alleged ties to forced labor in Xinjiang could have huge consequences for those plans. There could also be implications for consumers and corporations that want to contribute to a greener future but may be unwittingly buying products that contain components made with forced labor and from electricity produced by burning dirty coal.