BILL NUMBER: S6718

SPONSOR: JACOBS
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in
relation to establishing a moratorium on the building or placing of any
permanent or semi-permanent wind turbine on bodies of freshwater located
within the state or off the coastline

 
PURPOSE:

To establish a moratorium on the building or placing of any permanent or
semi-permanent wind turbine on bodies of freshwater in New York State or
any freshwater located within the jurisdiction and control of the state.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section one amends environmental conservation law by adding section
13-0107 to create a moratorium on the building or placing of permanent
or semipermanent wind turbines on bodies of freshwater in New York State
or any freshwater within the jurisdiction and control of the state. A
moratorium is also established for the placement of any infrastructure
              

used to support any wind turbines located in federal waters or waters
within the jurisdiction and control of another state.

Section two provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Only about 0.4% of the Earth's total water is accessible and drinkable,
according to worldatlas.com. Although water covers more than 70% of the
Earth's surface, the vast majority (approximately 97.5%) is salt water.
Salt water, abundant on our planet, is not only undrinkable, but is also
lethal if consumed in large enough quantities, according to the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Freshwater, critically important for life, is actually rare on our plan-
et, because it is mostly inaccessible or nearly impossible to obtain and
use. More than two-thirds of the planet's freshwater is frozen, located
in the polar ice caps or glaciers. Some freshwater is located at depths
too far underground to reach, a miniscule amount of freshwater is
located in our atmosphere and sadly, some non-salient water is too
polluted to be consumed. Thus, less than half of one percent of all the
Earth's water is actually drinkable.

The Great Lakes are a tremendous source of freshwater. The U.S.  Envi-
ronmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that 84% of the North America's
surface freshwater is contained in these five lakes, including Lakes
Erie and Ontario that each border New York State. About eleven million
people rely on Lake Erie for their drinking water. Because so many
depend on the freshwater provided by these lakes, one must ask, are the
alleged benefits associated with wind turbines, worth the risk?

Currently, there are many unanswered questions and very little evidence
demonstrating that wind turbines do not present a threat to our environ-
ment, including drinking water and wildlife. Concerns have been raised
regarding large sediment plumes created by offshore wind farms in the
North Sea and can be observed by NASA satellites.  Many believe these
plumes are created by ocean currents and that ocean currents may be
influenced by these powerful above water turbines. More importantly are
the unanswered questions, regarding the effects that these plumes; some-
times more than one-hundred feet long, have on wildlife including fish
and birds. It is not unreasonable to ask, if wind turbines will create
similar sediment plumes on freshwater? If so, what effect, if any, will
the transport of large amounts of sediment have on the fish and birds
living in and around the Great Lakes? What effect, if any, will the
transport of sediment have for those that fish professionally or recrea-
tionally in the Great Lakes?

With so many unanswered questions, the Province of Ontario (Canada)
decided to issue a moratorium on the placement of wind turbines on Lake
Ontario in 2011. In a formal statement pertaining to the moratorium,
Former Minister of the Environment for Ontario, John Wilkinson said, "I
was concerned about how this might displace the historically contam-
inated sediment on the lakebed and whether it would end up in the drink-
ing water system." Mr. Wilkinson also voiced concerns related to
"...noise emissions, disturbance of benthic life forms, navigation,
potential structural failure, safety hazards and decommissioning."

Although numerous studies have been conducted, none has shown conclu-
sively, that wind turbines create no adverse impact for freshwater lakes
and those that rely on them. One reason for scant research on wind farms
and freshwater is that nearly all of the world's off shore wind turbines
are located in salt water. For this reason, the Government of Ontario
has decided against removing the moratorium on wind turbines.

An issue specific to the Great Lakes and its international border is the
detrimental impact a major windmill farm in the Great Lakes would have
on border security. Specifically, representatives from the Department of
Homeland Security state that an industrial windmill farm in Lake Erie
would impede radar systems along the US coastline - a critical tool to
prevent the illegal transport of people and contraband into our Country.

These are just a few of the questions pertaining to wind farms.  Further
concerns regarding commercial fishing, noise, the inadvertent killing of
birds and bats, harmful effects on scenic views, potential decreases to
property values and the loss of property tax revenue, as well as the
actual benefit in increased energy production when fully considered with
these questions and concerns, explains why additional information is
needed. Right now, without answers to these critical questions, placing
wind turbines on bodies of fresh water, including Lakes Erie and Ontar-
io, is far too dangerous.  When one considers that the vast majority,
more than 97% of this planet's water is salt water, one must also ques-
tion the need to place offshore wind turbines on freshwater bodies,
rather than on one of the Earth's immense oceans. For all of these
reasons, the first freshwater wind farm in North America should not be
located in New York waters, without first obtaining evidence that wind
turbines pose no threat to the environment.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.