Members of the CAC attended NYSERDA’s Offshore Wind Open House on Wed, January 17, 2024. The 3-hour gathering was 3 of 5 educational forums directed at communities impacted by the industry.
The event was held at the Albany Armory and included informational booths with winners of NYSERDA’s third solicitation competition: Community Offshore Wind, Attentive Energy One, and Vineyard Offshore. We were eager to present our concerns to the representatives of all three.
Reps at the NYSDEC booth, now the Lead Agency of the GE/LM Wind SEQR review in Coeymans, also provided us with a better understanding of their role in assessing the POWI project.
The CAC understands the benefits of renewable alternatives and the urgency to transition away from fossil fuels. We thank New York State for championing offshore wind however nobody should be willing to sacrifice quality of life and the destruction of native habitats in exchange.
There are two other Cap Region ports more suited to accommodate a wind blade facility without controversy: the Port of Albany and the East Greenbush location. Neither will destroy fragile ecosystems, drive up truck traffic in our hamlet, create stormwater runoff flow into the Hudson River, or put at risk principal water aquifers. In the larger context of future projects, renewable or not, we believe that these are the risks associated with the expansion of the Port of Coeymans.
