By Scott Brinton
Many in the audience of roughly 50 at the Merrick Library said they would like LIPA to have the windmills built. They believe the windmills would provide power to the Island in an environmentally friendly way that would also be safe to human health.
At least two Merokeans said they had recently fought for months to shut down Freeport Village's diesel-electric Power Plant No. 2, which sits across the Meadowbrook Parkway from Merrick. They battled the plant because of possible health risks associated with diesel exhaust. Numerous federal and state agencies list it as a likely cancer cause.
Now, the Merrick residents said they want to see as few power plants built on Long Island as possible, fearing possible health risks posed by even the cleanest-burning plants. The windmills, they believe, would reduce the need for power plants.
Cindy Crociata, a member of the Old Lindenmere Civic Association, who fought Plant No. 2, said power plants in general "are killing us and killing our children."
Of the windmills, she said, "This is an option that has to get out there ... We have power plants all around us. [The windmill] is not perfect. [But] it's not going to put us or our children six feet under."
Several of the environmental and power-industry experts on hand said there are no potentially harmful emissions from the windmills, which capture wind and harness it to create electricity.
A number of audience members, however, expressed concern that the windmills, which would measure roughly 22 stories high -- over 40 stories with one blade pointing straight up -- would detract from the views at Jones Beach State Park and other areas of the South Shore.
Barry Fox, president of the Merrick Park Home Owners Association, said, "These are 50-story structures. These are going to look very unsightly off Jones Beach." He noted that the windmills would have to have signal lights for aircraft. Those lights would also bother the eye, he said.
Kathleen Whitley, of the Sustainable Energy Alliance, one of the non-profit groups supporting the windmills, said new technology could allow the lights to be turned away from the South Shore and thus would not be seen by people here.
Richard Schary, of North Bellmore, who is a former teacher and environmental advocate, said he too believes the windmills would destroy the views off Jones Beach. "I'm an open-space advocate," said Schary. "I see [windmills] as an open-space issue. This is a visual-pollution issue."
LIPA representatives countered that the windmills would appear no bigger than a thumb from the South Shore.
Some in the audience wondered why the windmills couldn't be positioned farther south in the ocean to minimize their appearance from shore. The reason, said the LIPA representatives, is that the maximum water depth in which to safely plant the windmills is 50 to 70 feet. Farther than three miles off the South Shore, the ocean floor drops off, which wouldn't allow for safe construction of the windmills.
Schary also wondered why the waters off the Hamptons or Montauk Point weren't considered as possible sites for the windmills.
Gordian Raacke, of the Citizens Advisory Panel, LIPA's watchdog, said those sites were considered, but environmental factors such as the possible disturbance of migratory birds' flight patterns took them out of the running as a final location.
The Long Island Sound on the North Shore was also looked at as a possible site, but winds aren't strong enough there to create electricity, LIPA representatives said.
Stacy Grossman, vice president of the Old Lindenmere Civic Association, agreed with Crociata that producing electricity in a way that is safe to human health and the environment is of utmost importance.
She also said that, in recent travels in California, she came upon a land-based wind farm, and she didn't find it disturbing in any way. In fact, she thought that watching the windmills was relaxing. Driving past the wind farm, she said, "was a peaceful, calm experience."
Grossman added that power plants depend on fuel oil, which contributes to the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil, leading the country into conflicts such as the current war in Iraq. "America," she said, "needs to take care of America," and windmills can help with that.
Michele Walsh, president of the Central Merrick Homeowners Association, wondered why LIPA wasn't concentrating more on solar power instead of the windmills. LIPA representatives said the power authority was indeed working to power more of Long Island with solar, and it recently partnered with a private business to build the nation's largest collection of solar panels atop the corporation's headquarters.
Solar power alone, however, will not be enough to provide for the Island's long-term electricity needs, particularly because it's now cost-prohibitive, said LIPA representatives and environmentalists.
What is needed, they said, is a comprehensive energy plan that includes:
¥Electricity conservation;
¥Alternative-energy resources such as wind, solar, geothermal and possibly wave-action (a technology now in its infancy that uses ocean waves to generate power);
¥Retooling of existing petroleum-based power plants into natural-gas plants to make them safer for human health and the environment.
Across the board, the experts noted that oil is a finite resource that will run out in the next 30 to 100 years. Alternative energy resources, they said, must be developed to meet future energy demands.
Raacke said, "We use energy, and we don't think about the consequences ... We need to become responsible ... as a community, as a region, as a nation and as a world."
He noted that the U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population, but uses 25 percent of the world's energy, and its causes 25 percent of the world's pollution and 25 percent of the greenhouse gases that have led to global warming.
Tracey Burgess-Levy of LIPA said the power authority is attending community meetings, such as that sponsored by the Old Lindenmere association on March 21, to gather input about the planned windmills. "We wanted to start a dialogue," she said. "It's important to have a back-and-forth."
The windmills, which must meet an array of federal and state approvals, aren't expected to come online earlier than 2007. The project, said Levy, is now only in the planning stages. LIPA has not identified a possible developer for the windmills, but has issued a request for proposals.
The developer would construct, own and operate the windmills, at no cost to LIPA rate payers, and the power authority would enter a long-term contract with the developer to buy 100 percent of the power generated by the windmills.
In other Old Lindenmere news ...
Dave Brehm and Robert Puka, Nassau County police officers with the 7th Precinct's Problem-Oriented Patrol unit, attended last Friday's Old Lindenmere Civic Association meeting to update residents about crime in the area.
Both said that, crime-wise, things have been quiet. The two said that they have concentrated recently on what are called school "lock-down" drills in the event that a violent crime occurs near a school, or there is a terrorist attack.
During a lock-down, police seal off a school, both inside the building and around its perimeter, Brehm and Puka said. At times during a lock-down, students might be bused to a site away from the school to ensure their safety.
In the event of a lock-down, parents could obtain information about where their children are from officers stationed on the school's perimeter.
Brehm and Puka said they recently led lock-down drills at Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick, and Shore Road and Winthrop elementary schools in Bellmore.
A clean alternative
The windmills off Long Island's South Shore would generate roughly the same amount of power as two modest-size power plants -- 100 megawatts, or enough to light 30,000 homes, according to the Long Island Power Authority.
At the same time, the windmills, by capturing wind to create electricity, would create no emissions from burning fuel. They would eliminate a host of gases that are known to harm human health and the environment.
Estimates are that the windmills would reduce annual emissions of sulfur dioxide from power plants by 834 tons, nitrogen oxide by 332 tons and carbon dioxide by 227,000 tons -- the equivalent of a half-billion vehicle miles driven.
