COPY - Comments in red are made by Donna Essegian (9.25.

12) STATE OF NEW YORK BOARD ON ELECTRIC GENERATION SITING AND THE ENVIRONMENT ______________________________________________________________________ Application of Cape Vincent Wind Power, LLC, for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need to Construct an Approximately 200-285 Megawatt Wind Electric Generating Facility in the Town of Cape Vincent, New York. ______________________________________________________________________ Case 12-F-______ PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM I. INTRODUCTION According to the rules of the New York State Board on Electric Generation Siting and the Environment (Siting Board), applicants proposing to submit an application to construct a major electric generating facility under Article 10 of the Public Service Law (PSL) must submit a Public Involvement Program plan for Department of Public Service (DPS) review at least 150 days prior to filing a Preliminary Scoping Statement (16 NYCRR 1000.4). The Public Involvement Program (PIP or the Plan) must include: (1) consultation with the affected agencies and other stakeholders; (2) pre-application activities to encourage stakeholders to participate at the earliest opportunity; (3) activities designed to educate the public as to the specific proposal and the Article 10 review process, including the availability of funding for municipal and local parties; (4) the establishment of a website to disseminate information to the public; (5) notifications; and (6) activities designed to encourage participation by stakeholders in the certification and compliance process (16 NYCRR 1000.4). Cape Vincent Wind Power, LLC (CVWP), a subsidiary of BP Wind Energy North America, Inc. (BP Wind Energy), hereby submits its proposed Public Involvement Program plan to DPS for review. BP proposes to construct a wind electric generating facility in the Town of Cape Vincent, St Lawrence County, New York that is approximately 200-285 megawatts (MW) in size (the Project). As discussed in greater detail in the following sections, the Project is actually the product of combining two adjacent proposed wind farms. Since 2007, BP has been seeking approval to construct the Cape Vincent Wind Farm (CVWF) under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Contemporaneously, Acciona Wind Energy was seeking approval, also under SEQRA, to construct the St. Lawrence Wind Farm (SLWF). BP acquired Accionas rights to the SLWF project in February 2012. [Accordingly, for approximately five years, both CVWF and SLWF have been subject to extensive public review and participation. In fact, the SLWF completed the SEQRA process with a favorable Findings Statement issued by the Town of Cape Vincent in September 2010, while the CVWF completed a substantial portion of the SEQRA process having submitted both a Draft Environmental Impact
1

Statement and Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. ] The previous statement is misleading - they take ownership of the project for only 5 years, but have purchased leases that were signed as early as 2004. Also - the SLWF did complete the SEQRA process....using Planning Board members who held leases for both Acciona and BP and continued to participate in discussion and voting in the face of substantial publically stated opposition to such actions. These kinds of issues are still - to this day - under a NYS AG investigation that began in the fall of 2010. This puts to question ALL decisions made by the Planning Board as Lead Agency and the Town Board during these years. Also, the CVWF SDEIS was submitted to the wind lease holding conflicted Planning Board in early 2011 - but no action was taken by the Planning Board to formally accept the document and no public hearing was scheduled. BP submits this Public Involvement Program plan to build upon extensive public outreach already conducted in the CVWF and SLWF SEQRA proceedings. The extensive public outreach to date has left a divided community. Many legitimate questions/concerns have never been addressed in a professional dialog manner. II. THE PROJECT A. BP and BP Wind Energy BP is a global leader in energy. In the U.S. alone, BP has invested more than any other oil and gas company in the past five years. In fact, with more than $52 billion in capital spending between 2007 and 2011, BP invests more in the U.S. than in any other country. The company is the nations second largest producer of oil and gas, a major oil refiner and a leader in alternative energy sources including wind power and biofuels. By the end of 2012, BPs wind energy business will have built and will be operating around $5 billion worth of wind farms across the U.S. The company has interests in 13 operating wind farms in California, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, South Dakota and Texas. BP also has three wind farms in construction and in 2012 BPs wind business ranks among the top three developers in U.S. By year end, the company will have a gross generating capacity of over 2,500 MW enough affordable, renewable electricity to power over 775,000 average American homes. BP, throughout the planning stage of each new wind farm, we conduct a thorough assessment of the potential social, environmental and conservation impacts of our projects and take steps to reduce impacts through engagement with the community, engineering, design, and technology. BP has NOT effectively engaged with the community. They have alienated the community through Voters for Wind actions, handed out the same information (mostly not updated) repeatedly at meetings. All the information is generic. They have communicated primarily with leaseholders (4% of the community) and the lease holding financially conflicted Town and Planning Board members. B. Project Summary of the proposed Cape Vincent Wind Farm, Jefferson County, New York Since 2005, there have been two wind projects proposed for the Cape Vincent area:
2

Accionas 79.5 MW St. Lawrence Wind Farm and BP Wind Energys 210 MW Cape Vincent Wind Farm. In February 2012, BP acquired the assets of the SLWF. BP is in the process of merging the SLWF with the CVWF to create the most optimal wind project for the area. The combined project, the Cape Vincent Wind Farm (CVWF), will yield a project that delivers greater economic and environmental benefits over the prior two stand-alone projects for those who live in Cape Vincent and the greater Jefferson County area. After merging the two projects, the combined number of total turbine locations will actually be reduced. It is expected that the project could produce approximately 200MW. The interconnection studies indicate, however, that project could accommodate upwards of 289.5 MW and the final wind turbine layout will determine the actual footprint and energy capacity of the wind farm. CVWF is owned and will be operated 100% by BP. The project is proposed on some 26,000 acres of private land that is primarily agricultural, with wind turbines to be sited in the Town of Cape Vincent and the associated transmission line and related equipment sited in the Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme. Once built, the footprint of the wind farm would cover a small amount of the total leased acreage enabling farmers to continue with their regular farming activities and remain as stewards of their land. Once in operation the Cape Vincent Wind Farm will add significant renewable power generation to the New York State power system. At approximately 200-285 MW in size, the CVWF could generate enough renewable energy to power a city the size of Syracuse, helping the State of New York to meet the renewable energy goals of its Renewable Portfolio Standard of 30% by 2015. This community has come to fully understand that the MW quoted by any wind company represents the 100% capacity output. We all also know wind does not produce electricity 24/7. Production of 25-30% of the full capacity is more realistic. There has never been a clear explanation of what basis would be used to calculate PILOT payments. This is misleading to the public. The CVWF is also closely aligned with the state energy plan and supportive of Governor Andrew Cuomos Energy Highway Initiative. The renewable energy that the CVWF will generate will avoid significant emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases generated by conventional power plants such as coal and gas fired plants. Wind farms can help mitigate the harmful impacts these pollutants have on human health, wildlife and the ecosystem. C. Economic Benefits of the Cape Vincent Wind Farm The Cape Vincent Wind Farm will generate significant additional and predictable annual revenue for landowners, residents of the greater Cape Vincent community, and Jefferson County. Development of the wind farm will mean an investment by BP of approximately $300 million. Based on a previously approved tax structure by the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency, and assuming that the CVWF generates approximately 200 MW, the CVWF would make an annual tax payment of $1.7 million in year one of the wind farms operation (escalating to over $2.4 million in year 15), benefitting the School Districts, the Town of Cape Vincent and Jefferson County. These PILOT figures, widely distributed and repeated, are misleading. First, the Jefferson County currently has NO standard PILOT in place. This example PILOT formula was allowed one time to a wind project currently in limbo. The Voters for Wind unsuccessfully lobbied the Jefferson County IDA to require the use of this PILOT formula, forcing taxing jurisdictions to accept this formula. This was rejected. Such actions by the outreach group have
3

further alienated the community. I attended the public hearing on this topic and personally witnessed Voters for Wind members plea to the JCIDA to remove the right of any local taxing jurisdictions to have a right to vote on a PILOT. This is not what I would call "outreach" to the community, as BP has tried to portray the Voters for Wind group. Also, this project requires a PILOT for 5 taxing jurisdictions, not three and this fact has been mostly ignored in handouts and presentations. In August 2011, Acciona finally did produce a brochure (Exhibit F) that clearly states (p. 5) this PILOT would be divided by five taxing jurisdictions. Exactly how the estimated $1.7 million would be divided by five jurisdictions has never been explained. Annual royalty payments to landowners participating in the project will be in excess of $1.2 million a year once the wind farm is operational. Leaseholders are approximately 4% of the community. And the rest of the community benefits how? This money flows through the local communities to improve schools, roads, and other local infrastructure, and is important to help stimulate economic recovery at a time when communities have been hard hit by the recent economic downturn. This is particularly timely, as the Cape Vincent Elementary School budget, which is in the Thousand Island School District, has been struggling to the point of possible closing. The economic benefits of the Cape Vincent Wind Farm will play a critical role in providing a sustainable community that will ensure growth and economic strength for future generations. Insinuating that this project will save our elementary school is misleading. There is NO guarantee that the money will be targeted for this local elementary school. The Thousand Island Board of Education will make that decision. Just this past week, Mr. Bob Deans of the National Resources Defense Council spoke at Jefferson Community College and pointed out that "It is important that the entire community share the benefits of wind power. The places where it has caused all kinds of friction is when a small group of people collect all the benefits." That describes Cape Vincent. III. PRIOR PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT Summary: 5 open houses (2006-2008), 2 offices opened, 2 public events in 2011, 3 paid ads in 2012, unknown number of newsletters mailed to leaseholders only, 1 economic impact study completed in response to a locally produced study. NO dialog with community concerns. Just more of the same fliers/statements repeated. To place the Public Involvement Program plan in context, it is necessary to understand the significant amount of public participation and outreach already conducted in the SEQRA proceedings for the individual projects.(1) Since 2007 an extensive amount of outreach has been carried out in the course of developing the St. Lawrence Wind Farm and Cape Vincent Wind Farm projects. Both of these projects were the subject of significant and extensive SEQRA review which has included the local community, members of the public, and stakeholders, all of which have been very actively engaged and have been kept well informed about wind power generally and, more specifically, about the proposed wind projects for the area. In fact, the SLWF completed the SEQRA process with a favorable Findings Statement issued by the Town of Cape Vincent Board in September 2010. The following provides a detailed chronology of the public outreach efforts that have been conducted to date. Criticial point: Most SEQRA studies. ------------------(1) Prior

public outreach and education will also ultimately be included in the Application as required under the Siting Boards rules. Section 1001.2 (c) requires: (c) A brief description of the public involvement program conducted by the applicant prior to submission of the application and an identification of significant issues raised by the public and affected agencies during such program and the response of the applicant to those issues including a summary of changes made to the proposal as a result of the public involvement program.

and procedures through the Cape Vincent Planning Board as lead agency occurred while the Planning Board and Town Board members included leaseholders. The NYS AG Office required companies to reveal municipal leaseholder names after our projects had started the SEQRA process. Cape Vincent Planning Board and Town Board members with leases did not follow the NYS law of recusal from discussion/voting when you have a financial conflict of interest -such as a lease with the company for whom you are making decisions. In fact, we have on record a letter (June 15, 2006) from then State Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine to our Town Board indicating that in regard to abstaining from voting on turbine location issues "elected representatives are responsible to made decisions for the benefit of the community" and "that the project affects thousands of acres and dozens of property owners with potential to positively affect every resident" so.."While some may feel that these elected officials should abstain from voting on this matter - my belief is they should not." Although this was written prior to the NYS Attorney General's Ethics Guide, NYS Law clearly defines financial conflict of interest for municipal elected representatives. A person who stands to personally benefit from a decision should not be participating in the discussion and voting. The SEQRA process was completed with full participation of financially conflicted Planning Board and Town Board members. Several Town Board members with leases publically announced at Town Board meetings that they "did not believe in the NYS AG office requirements" regarding financial conflicts of interest. The NYS AG Office opened an investigation on this matter in the fall of 2010 and this is still an open case. Beginning in 2007, the BP Wind Energy team has been actively conducting a public outreach program to educate, involve, and engage stakeholders early in the development process of the proposed Cape Vincent Wind Farm. In 2007, BP retained the services of Marion Trieste and her team of public outreach experts to assist with planning events to educate and engage the public. As part of this effort, BP assisted a group of local wind power supporters in the Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme to form a group known as Voters for Wind. Voters for Wind has a website to disseminate information about wind power (www.votersforwind.com) and also meets regularly to help educate their neighbors about wind power. Voters for Wind have not behaved like an outreach group. According to their website, membership is selective. They repeat the same information provided by Acciona/BP over and over again and do not engage in any dialog. They are the core of the leaseholders and have made it very clear that their goal is to get as many turbines as they can for their members. In addition, the project has also maintained a website containing all of the updated documents and studies contained in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Supplemental DEIS submitted to the Town of Cape Vincent. To date, all activities have been designed to reach stakeholders most directly impacted by the proposed wind farm, including local residents, town officials of the Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme, local media outlets, and stakeholders throughout the region. The public outreach activities are numerous, given the years of site studies, planning, and beneficial adjustments that have taken place. Overall, these outreach activities have resulted in no trust in any wind company proposal. Acciona similarly carried out numerous public outreach activities and developed educational materials to inform the local community and elected officials on the progress made during the St. Lawrence Wind Farm development. Project staff regularly attended town meetings in Cape Vincent and Lyme and opened an office in Cape Vincent in 2008. The Acciona team donated to the local French Festival and was a member of the Cape Vincent
5

Chamber of Commerce. Fact sheets and reports were produced to educate the public about wind power and address common public concerns raised by local residents. In addition, the project website contained all the updated documents and studies contained in the DEIS, Supplemental DEIS, and Final EIS. The list of informational materials and public outreach events hosted by Acciona and BP Wind Energy are included below. A. Description of the public involvement program prior to submission (1)Cape Vincent Wind Farm Open Houses Five total in 2006, 2007, 2008-none since then. The Open House events actively involved the Cape Vincent Wind Farm representatives and environmental experts and engineers to explain the key issues pertaining to wind power and building a wind farm. The open house meetings took place in half day intervals on Saturdays at convenient times for those interested in attending and learning about the proposed wind farm. Open house meetings displayed informational boards to enable attendees to spend as much time as they needed to review the content and ask questions of wind company experts. These included the following, which can be found in Exhibits A1 A9: I do not believe that every one of these informational boards were posted at ALL Open Houses I never remember every seeing some of them. Conervation Issues For Blandings Turtles for Northern NY Benefits of Wind Power Environmental Studies Project Timeline Building a Wind Farm

Local Economic Benefits Geological & Engineering Considerations

Sound Awareness Study Visual Simulation Study

Each open house event attracted well over one hundred attendees. Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Voters for Wind, two prominent community groups, each had tables at the open houses, providing their own perspective about wind power technology. Regional media outlets were invited and attended the open house meetings to ask questions of the experts and report on the days events. Voters for Wind are a visible group. Citizens Campaign for the Environment was a Syracuse based group that is referenced in Exhibit B-3. They were not a part of any event in Cape Vincent for many years, but fliers tell us they hosted the August 31, 2011 meeting noted under Public Education Events below, but BP paid for the use of the Rec Hall. Project fact sheets were made available at the open house meetings covering topics such as: Cape Vincent Birds and Bats, Cape Vincent Economic Benefits, and other wind information fact sheets, some of which are provided immediately below: I have added publication dates for the documents below. Several of them were published AFTER the Open House dates. Property Values: o Impacts of Windmill Visibility on Property Values in Madison County, NY. By
6

Ben Hoen, MS, Bard Center for Environmental Policy (2006) o The Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the United States: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis. Berkeley National Laboratory (2009) Health: o Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Panel Review. Prepared for American Wind Energy Association and Canadian Wind Energy Association (2009) o Toxic Air: The Case for Cleaning Up-Coal-Fired Power Plants. American Lung Association (2011) Aesthetics and Sound: o Sight and Sound Wind Power. Wind Power Education Project: A collaborative of Pace Law School Energy Project, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and NY Public Interest Research Group (No publication date noted, but none of the citied sources is later than 2006) Wind Energy: (All of these are posed on the Voters for Wind website. None have formal publication dates, most based on the cited sources most were written no later than 2006) o Agriculture and Wind. Wind Power Education Project: A collaborative of Pace Law School Energy Project, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and NY Public Interest Research Group o Wind Energy: Fact vs. Fiction. Wind Power Education Project: A collaborative of Pace Law School Energy Project, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and NY Public Interest Research Group o Choose Energy Wisely. Wind Power Education Project: A collaborative of Pace Law School Energy Project, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and NY Public Interest Research Group o 10 Steps to Developing a Wind Farm. American Wind Energy Association Subsidies: o Energy Subsidies Black, Not Green. Environmental Law Institute (Summarizes Federal subsidies from 2002-2008 OLD DATA) The open houses took place as follows: See articles in Exhibits B1 B5 08/16/06: Cape Vincent Fire Hall (SLWF) (Saturday) 10/13/07: Chaumont Fire Hall (CVWF) (see Exhibits B2.1- B2.3) (Saturday) 2/12/08: Cape Vincent Rec Park (CVWF) (Saturday) 7/30/08: Cape Vincent Rec Park (CVWF) (Wednesday) 8/28/08: Cape Vincent Fire Hall (SLWF) (Thursday) Open Houses were NOT all on Saturday as described in Open House paragraph above. Three were during the summer season and two were not. This community's population varies widely
7

from winter to summer. Approximately 3/4 of the tax base is the seasonal population. Also, some of the publications that are stated as available at these Open Houses were not published until after all of these Open Houses were completed. I did attend the August 2006 Open House. There were many tables with lots of notebooks, lots of handouts. There was no overall explanation of the project and some of the staff with whom I spoke could not clearly answer my questions.

(2) Local Project Offices Both BP Wind Energy and Acciona Energy opened dedicated project offices in downtown Cape Vincent to enable members of the local community to access wind project information in a timely manner. BPs office was opened on 10/07/2008 and BP continues to maintain a CVWF office and will have an office for the duration of the project. This office allows for an ongoing exchange of information about wind power technology, and consistent interactions between project staff and residents of the local community. This office is located at 114 S. Esseltyne St., Cape Vincent, Jefferson County, NY, in the heart of the Town of Cape Vincent, readily accessible and open from 9am to 5pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. (That means the office is never available to about 75% of the town tax base.) (3) Public Education Events- Both these were in the last 13 months. Also, BP chose to describe the later one first. I attended both meetings. At the Acciona hosted August 10, 2011 meeting questions from the audience were taken verbally following the powerpoint presentation (with all the same information we had seen in the last several years). That resulted in a loss of control of the audience since there really was not to be any dialogue. At the August 31, 2011 meeting, advertised as "informational" - sponsored by ACE NY (I assume an attempt to allow people to perceive it was not sponsored by BP), questions could only be submitted on cards provided (you could not use your own paper...only what fit on the card) and then filtered so that most of the most challenging questions were not read/answered. This is not open dialogue and any event in this format will not have credibility to most Cape Vincent citizens. Public education events sponsored by the Cape Vincent Wind Farm. 8/31/11: Public education forum for the New York Wind Education Collaborative held at the Cape Vincent Recreation Center. The New York Wind Education Collaborative (NYWEC) is a joint effort of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Pace Energy and Climate Center, and Alliance for Clean Energy New York (ACE NY) and is cosponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority(NYSERDA). NYWEC's goal is to increase the publics understanding of wind power issues, in the belief that a better informed public can participate more meaningfully in the environmental review process and other public discussions surrounding proposed wind facilities. Speakers included Carol Murphy of ACE NY, Brian Smith of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and key note speaker Mark Thayer, co-author of the Berkeley National Lab, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded study on the impacts of wind power developments on property values. The meeting was organized in the month of August to enable as many local residents and vacation home owners to attend and learn about wind energy and its impact on communities. Well over one hundred
8

people attended the meeting along with local press. An article about the event appeared in the Watertown Daily Times on 9/1/11. (see Exhibit C1). A flyer for the event was produced and distributed throughout the community (see Exhibit C1.1). I attended this event. Mr. Thayer made derogatory/demeaning comments about our locally produced economic impact study and told citizens who do have the mathematical capability to critically analyze data that they simply did not understand this complex model and then cut off from any further comments. These actions continued to alienate community members. This community has many educated citizens who have been repeatedly insulted and dismissed by a variety of wind companies - this meeting is only one example of this kind of action by both Acciona and BP. 8/10/11: Economic benefits of wind power in Cape Vincent: Three Mile Bay Fire Hall. Power point presentation was used describing the benefits of wind power and how the St. Lawrence Wind Farm would bring added income to the area. This was part of public outreach efforts for the SLWF during the release of the Economic Benefits Report. An article about the report appeared in the Watertown Daily Times (see Exhibit C2). A flyer for the event was produced and distributed throughout the community (see Exhibit C2.1).I attended this event. Once again, real dialogue about property values was dismissed. In regard to property values, this economic report again relies only on the Berkeley National Laboratory 2009 study co-written by five authors including Mark Thayer (who presented his standard answers at the meeting noted above) and Ben Hoen, with whom our town has spoken regarding property values and whose perceptions of the study's conclusions are not the same as Mark Thayer's. I had read the study from beginning to end. I pointed out that the data was old and that in fact, the final paragraph calls for more studies on home sales closest to the turbines. Proposed projects in this town put almost all turbines within 2 miles of every home in the town. My comments were dismissed. Using studies and information that does not align with this community and then insulting the work of community members does not instill trust in a company. In the fall of 2007, BP sponsored a bus tour of the Maple Ridge wind farm in Lowville, NY to help Jefferson County community residents and locally elected officials better understand how wind power works and have an opportunity to ask questions of wind experts. It was also an opportunity for attendees to personally experience the scale of wind turbines on the landscape and the sound generated by an operating wind farm. The tour included an opportunity for attendees to discuss wind energy matters with representatives from the Town of Lowville Chamber of Commerce, a Town Supervisor, and a Town Assessor who shared their first-hand knowledge about wind power. Recruitment for the bus tour took place during an open house held at the Chaumont Fire Hall on 10/13/07. Why is this information about a tour in 2007 included in a paragraph labeled Economic Benefits of Wind Power in Cape Vincent? I did not attend the tour, but it appears to have been an upclose/personal experience. This is poor organizational skills being demonstrated in this document. I might made the assumption that it should have been listed as a separate event being report and not part of the paragraph on the 8.10.11 meeting about the Acciona Economic Report. (4) Local Advertisements These ads repeat the exact same information I have addresses and misleading many times in my comments. It is more of the "repeat the same" mantra we have heard for many years. BP has utilized paid advertisements in the most widely circulated local newspapers to clearly define the ongoing commitment to invest in the CVWF and to showcase its local and
9

regional economic benefits. Both advertisements appeared in the Watertown Daily Times and the second ad also appeared in the Thousand Island Sun. (see Exhibits D1- D3) 2/12/12, 4/29/12, 9/16/12 (5) Project Newsletters Available to leaseholders only. Cape Vincent Wind Farm Reports (Project Newsletters) and the St. Lawrence Wind Farm (Progress in Motion) reports were produced to provide the status of the wind farm early on and throughout the development stage in order to address public concerns about wind power technology. The newsletters were mailed to project landowners and made available to the general public as requested. (see Exhibits E-1-E-7) These documents are very interesting. I had never seen any of them, as I am not a leaseholder and I have never seen/heard of any opportunity for these to be available to the public. I was not surprised by the content as it did, as I suspected, direct the lease holders to follow expectations of their signed contracts. Fall 2008, Winter 2010 November 15, 2010, March 1, 2011, May 18, 2011, December 19, 2011 July 2, 2011: St Lawrence Wind Farm Landowner letter (6) Informational Publications I have noted the Economic Benefits Report in the paragraph above about the August 10, 2011 meeting. In addition to project fact sheets being distributed at events, an Economic Benefits Report was created and published in June 2011 (Economic Impacts of Wind Development & the St. Lawrence Wind Farm see Exhibit F-1). This report addresses the economic benefits of wind power in a user-friendly manner, highlighting statistics about operating wind farms in New York and listing examples to address concerns about wind power impacts on property values and tourism. (see Exhibit F-2) The report was widely distributed to local and regional stakeholders, public opinion leaders and the media outlets, including: This report was published a year after a local committee came to the conclusion that OUR community would have negative impacts. Media - Watertown Daily Times, Thousand Island Sun, TV - WWNY 7 Landowners in the SLWF project Cape Vincent Planning Board Cape Vincent Town Board Lyme Town Board Lyme Zoning Board of Appeals Thousand Island Central School District Board members Lyme Central School District Board members Jefferson County Legislators Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency (JCIDA) NYS Assemblywoman Addie Russell NYS Senator Patty Ritchie NYS Farm Bureau Jefferson County Farm Bureau
10

Alliance for Clean Energy NY (ACENY) (7) Town Board Meetings Project developers maintained a presence at town Board meetings and during the SEQRA application processes for each of the proposed projects. Mr. Chandler has not been to a Town Board or Planning Board meeting since taking on this project. It is rumored that he has been in town to meet with lease holders and speak with specific stakeholder groups. As of this date, he has not personally introduced himself to any Town or Planning Board (Lead Agency) member. This does not promote trust and confidence in any company. B. Key Issues Identified in Prior Public Outreach Following is a list of the areas of concern most commonly raised by members of the community in the Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme and how the concerns were addressed. These issues likely will not change in the upcoming Article 10 proceeding thereby giving CVWP the advantage of knowing ahead of time the main concerns of stakeholders and allowing CVWP to conduct a Public Involvement Program to address such concerns. Turbine noise and visual impacts to riverfront homes. The concerns over the sound levels of wind turbines are a community-sensitive issue. In 2007, in preparation for the first open house event, CVWF created an information board, Sound Assessment Study to help explain background sound studies performed in the Cape Vincent area, (see Exhibit A5). With the SLWF having been acquired earlier this year, CVWF is in the process of optimizing the layout for the revised CVWF, including elimination of several turbine locations that had been originally been sited near the St. Lawrence River and Village of Cape Vincent. Compared to the original array plan, the reduction in turbines being contemplated now should help reduce the concerns over sound levels and visual impacts along the most sensitive areas. Sound studies are a major issue that has yet to be effectively addressed. The sound studies completed by Hessler have been shown to be flawed. Yet, these were used in the SLWF SEQRA process. Publically released information verified that Hessler knew the studies were flawed and allowed them to be used so the ambient sound was reported at a higher level thus allowing for more sound from turbines. All sound studies data from the SEQRA process should NOT be allowed to be utilized under Article X process. Impacts of wind power on property values. Many of the concerns raised by residents are about the impacts wind turbines have on property values, especially by owners of vacation homes located near the waterfront. To address these concerns the development team coordinated a public education forum on 8/31/11 (see above): The keynote speaker, Mark Thayer, co-author of the Berkeley National Lab, U.S. DOE funded study on the impacts of wind power developments on property values. The developers invited an independent expert on this issue to explain his peer-reviewed study and to answer questions about the results of his findings to address this concern. Based on the data and analysis presented in this report, no evidence is found that home prices surrounding wind facilities are consistently, measurably, and significantly affected by either the view of wind facilities or the distance of the home to those facilities. This program did nothing to alleviate any concerns on this topic. Both Acciona and BP have used this report as the
11

ultimate proof of what will happen in Cape Vincent. This meeting made community members more angry. This 2009 report used data that is now outdated. The concluding paragraph clearly states: "Additional research of the nature reported in this paper could be pursured, but with a greater number of transactions, especially for homes particularly close to wind facilities. Further, it is conceivable that cumulative impacts might exist whereby communities that have seen repetitive development are affected uniquely, and these cumulative effects may be worth investigating.....Finally, it would be useful to conduct a survey of those homeowners living close to existing wind facilities." (Impact of Wind Power Projects on Residential Property Values in the US: A Multi-Site Hedonic Analysis. Berkeley National Laboratory 2009, p. 75) Any attempt to have this point recognized and/or addressed was again dismissed. It was made very clear that this is the one and only report that was needed to prove the claim that this proposed industrial turbine development of (as of last August) two projects with a potential total of 140+ turbines would not have any impact on local home values. Yet, local realtors in our area have already experienced the negative impact of our proposed projects. Also, Mr. Thayer was condescending to community members' specific questions about the data indicating that this data was so complex we would not understand the mathematical concepts. And BP indicates that this was a meeting that made the community feel better about property values? If it were not so sad, it would be funny! In addition, a community member did have a phone conversation with Ben Hoen (another co-author of this report) on April 12, 2010 during which he stated: "Its a dicey situation and complicated, but I think homes that are very close, there is just too much unknown right now; that seems reasonable. I think one of the things that often happens is that (wind) developers put our report forward and say look property values arent affected, and thats not what we would say specifically." Clearly, even the authors of the report view the data and conclusions differently. Yet, both Acciona and BP use this as the authoritative data that turbines distance from homes will not have an impact on property value. This is not "outreach." This is 2012 and there is more data regarding home values than there was in 2009. Both Acciona and BP have noted in SEQRA documents that most of their turbines would be visible to most of our community a very different setting than most in the endlessly quoted 2009 study. In addition, our community already has full view of the 80+ Canadian turbines on Wolfe Island and there are other proposals in neighboring communities for additional industrial wind farm development. Impacts on tourism: The community raised concerns about the impacts of a wind farm on summer tourism. The Economic Impacts of Wind Energy Development report, addresses tourism and wind farms and includes tourism statistics from operating wind farms (See Exhibit F-1, pages 16-17). The report cites the positive tourism impacts of the neighboring Wolfe Island wind farm, which is comparable in size at about 200MW and which recently reached commercial operation in June 2009. I am still waiting for someone to explain how an increase in state park usage where Wolfe Island turbines are visible is positive proof that "people are not deterred from visiting because of the presence of wind
12

turbines." Is it not possible that people used state parks more due to the recession? Really, please do not insult me this way. There is NO cause and effect relationship in this data. The 8/31/11 public education forum (see above) included statistics about the impacts of operating wind farms on tourism and how the presence of wind turbines do not negatively impact tourism of communities similar to the Cape Vincent area. Maple Ridge and Fenner Wind Farms are not located on Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River...they do not compare with Cape Vincent in relation to scenic views (noted in the Thayer/Hoen 2009 study as significant factors) or geography (a factor which has a major impact on the visible impact of a wind farm) As for Wolfe Island, it is not a simple story as the brochure states. Tourism remains a major concern. Impacts of wind turbines on birds, bats and wildlife BP Wind Energy organized meetings with a key, regional environmental group, Save the River on two occasions (11/12/07 and 8/24/10). An initial meeting took place to introduce BP and answer questions and concerns about wind power in the area. BP Wind Energy organized a second meeting in August 2010, following the startup of the Wolfe Island wind project, to address concerns raised by the group about the impacts of wind turbines on birds in the region. Both meetings took place at the Save the River office located in Clayton, NY. Does meeting with an agency mean that issues were identified and addressed? Impact on birds, bats and wildlife remain a major concern. This is the 2nd most travel byway for migratory birds in the US. Wolfe Island bird kills have been much higher predicted. Add any other proposed projected in northern NY and Canada and no one is looking at the cumulative impact on wildlife. Again, many issues raised have been raised and supporting evidence provided. It has been completely ignored. The correlation of sound on health issues is not listed here, yet this concern has also been discussed and dismissed by Acciona/BP due to "lack of scientifically based peer review reports." Yet, concerned citizens are repeatedly raised issues on this topic and BP chose to completely ignore this community concern. Interesting to me that this concern is not even listed. Wind power fact sheets were produced to address common concerns and questions raised by the public early on in the process. The fact sheets explain the economic benefits of wind power and the environmental and wildlife studies that are required by law to protect wildlife and the environment as wind farms are developed. (see Exhibit G-1 to G-5) Local Economic Benefits of Wind Power Environmental Benefits Avian and Bats Understanding PILOT Payments and the Economic Impact of Wind Farms St. Lawrence Wind Farm Fact Sheet All of these fact sheets are based on wind industry standards only. Neither Acciona or BP has been open to any discussion or dialog about these facts - again the strategy has been repeat, repeat, repeat. CVWF representatives have met with representatives of NYDEC, NYSHPO, DANC,
13

NYISO, JCIDA, U.S. FWS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other elected officials. 10 C. BP Wind Energy acquisition of the St Lawrence Wind Farm In February, 2012 BP Wind Energy announced that it had acquired the assets of the St. Lawrence Wind Farm. BP personally contacted key stakeholders and the local media outlets to hear first-hand about the acquisition and BPs ongoing commitment to engaging with the community (see Exhibit H). Here is the list of the stakeholders who were contacted: Cape Vincent Town Supervisor Cape Vincent Planning Board Chair Lyme Town Supervisor NYS Assemblywoman Addie Russell NYS Senator Pattie Ritchie U.S. Congressman Bill Owens NYS Governor's Office U.S. State Senator Kirsten Gillibrand U.S. State Senator Charles Schumer Jefferson County Administrator Jefferson County Leg. District 1 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service NYISO NYS DEC Development Authority of the North Country (DANC), Executive Director County Legislators Jefferson County Industrial Development Authority, CEO Thousand Island School District Board, President Lyme School District Board, President The information provided above explains how the project has taken the steps the necessary to inform, engage, and solicit input from the local community, general public, and other stakeholders.

14

IV. PROPOSED PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM Overall this proposed program looks like more of the same that has left the community critically divided. Acciona/BP started in this community by contacting individuals who owned land they might use and offering them contracts. It was not until TWO years after some of the first leases had been signed that a public open house was held by SLWF. As rumors about leases emerged the town did hold a public meeting in 2005. Even by then, members of the Town Board and Planning boards were making statements that since the leases were signed, the turbines were coming. The split in the community started then and has just increased since that time. There is NO strong track record of close community engagement and outreach (noted below). ALL close engagement has been with leaseholders and town official with leases. MR. CHANDLER has not personally been to any town meeting nor has he had any personal contact with any current Town or Planning Board members. Following the 2011 local election, the Town Board now consists entirely of non-leaseholding members. Is it a coincidence that the only communication in the past year was the letter about the sale of Acciona to BP? BP will need to take a completely different road from past activities if they have any hope of establishing any trust in this community. Our Town Comprehensive Plan (2003) and updated in (2012) would not begin to imagine industrial wind turbine development. Our Zoning Laws dated 1998 allowed the wind lease holding conflicted Planning and Town Board members to label the proposed 400-500 feet turbines as "utilities." All attempts at updating the Zoning Law were sabotaged by those holding leases who would not begin to discuss any compromise regarding setbacks or sound. Only the election in November 2011 which removed all Town Board members who held leases provided the path for our updated Zoning Law of 2012. Now, BP is suggesting with the Proposed Public Involvement Program that the only necessary contact with our Town Board is a discussion of "local laws and ordinances that the Board could elect not to apply."? For all the words about "close community engagement and outreach" that just tells the community that they simply want to get up the turbines, make their money and leave town! Article X must not allow such a simplistic approach to contribution to the process of developing renewable energy options for our state. As the Article 10 application process continues, CVWP will continue its strong track record of close community engagement and outreach. CVWP commits to take the following steps to inform, engage, and solicit additional input from statutory parties, the local community, general public and other stakeholders: A. Identification Of Specific Stakeholders

BP used the following criteria and events to identify affected agencies and stakeholders (a list of stakeholders is attached as Exhibit I): 1. The proposed project location 2. The point of interconnection; and
15

3. Interested and involved agencies to the individual SEQRA proceedings. B. Language Access All newsletters, fact sheets, advertisements, websites and other informational materials will be provided in English as that is the language spoken very well by over 97% of the population of the Town of Cape Vincent, Town of Lyme and Jefferson County. There is no language other than English spoken by 5,000 or more persons in any 5 digit zip code postal zone in which any portion of the CVWF study area is located. Additionally, there is no language other than English spoken by a significant population of persons residing in close proximity to the CVWF.(2) C. Tracking of Public Involvement Program CVWP will prepare a monthly or bi-monthly spreadsheet-style tracking report identifying public involvement program activities conducted by CVWP for the preceding time period, providing summaries of feedback received in such activities and summaries describing any actions taken by CVWP in response to such feedback. CVWP will fashion the report in a manner that it is easy to track CVWPs progress towards achieving its public involvement goals. The reports will be posted on CVWPs website and filed with the Secretary for posting in the case file. D. Website A project website will be established in the next several weeks that will: (1) be written in plain language; (2) be easily navigated; (3) contain contact information for CVWP (e-mail, telephone number and mailing address); (4) provide links to: a. the DPS Article 10 Public Information Coordinator b. the Siting Board home page; and c. case-specific documents; (5) include information on the Article 10 process; (6) explain the Intervenor Funding process (including stating the specific dollar amounts of funding that will be available for each phase of the project); (7) contain project-specific information; (8) contain a map of the proposed facility and alternate facility locations and interconnections; and ____________________________
2 According

to the U.S. Census Bureau, 97% of the population of the Town of Cape Vincent speaks English very well, 98.2% of the Town of Lyme speaks English very well and 98.2% of the Jefferson County population speaks English very well. Further, only 311 people in the Town of Cape Vincent speak a language other than English and over 70% of these individuals are estimated to speak English very well.

16

(9) provide a schedule that lists: a. dates/times/locations for in-person outreach events; and b. key milestone dates, such as date when the application will be filed. E. Public Consultations And Outreach During the pre-application phase, CVWP will pursue the following activities: Workshop: Shortly after submitting the PIP, CVWP will organize and convene an Article 10 Educational workshop. CVWP will work with the DPS Public Outreach staff to provide the best available information to the public about the Article 10 process, the role of the state agencies overseeing the process, and the available intervenor funds. Due to the fact the Article 10 regulations are new, CVWP will invite a representative from the DPS office to assist with this workshop to provide accurate and timely information to the community most directly involved with the CVWF. This workshop will provide materials about Article 10 and the opportunity for intervenor funding. Any workshop by BP about the Article X process will be perceived as "how they will manipulate the process." It will not be productive. Open House: CVWP will then host an open house event for the public that will include the new project array plan. The public meeting will be designed to allow individuals to have one-on-one discussions with project representatives and learn about the CVWF, the Article 10 permitting process, and the funding available for municipal and local parties. The open house will be organized in a similar manner to the workshop described above. CVWF fact sheets also will be available at open house event. Another Open House with the same ineffective format - useless! Newsletters: Local and regional stakeholders will have access to the Cape Vincent Wind Farm Newsletter that will be produced periodically and posted on the project website. The newsletter will include a status update on the project. It will also provide any updates on the intervenor funding process as this information becomes available. A hard copy will be sent directly to local and regional public opinion leaders and other groups and individuals requesting such information. Any newsletter that is available on a limited or restricted basis will be perceived an another fraud. Advertisements: Advertisements describing the CVWF and the benefits to the local and regional stakeholders will be placed in the Watertown Daily Times and the Thousand Island Sun (the most widely circulated local publications) on a periodic basis during the pre-application process. CVWP will provide updated information about the project using paid advertisements to help inform local stakeholders who are unable to attend public meetings. As long as the information is more of the same.....the only ones who will be swayed are those NOT in our community who have not been forced to become educated citizens on this topic. From a distance wind looks free and renewable. We have learned it is much more complicated. If the goal of ads is to increase Cape Vincent community support - where there project is located - they might want to use their money in other ways.

17

Agency/Municipal Pre-Application Consultations: As previously stated, CVWF representatives have been in communications with and/or met with representatives of NYDEC, NYSHPO, DANC, NYISO, JCIDA, U.S. FWS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Grid and multiple elected officials. Going forward, CVWP will (over the next 150 days) be in communication with representatives of the following stakeholders, as well as those stakeholders listed in Exhibit I. (1) NYISO and National Grid regarding interconnection of the project to the grid. (2) NYSHPO to review archeological and field study investigations conducted to date and to determine the need for future studies. (3) NYSHPO and DEC to establish representative viewpoints for the photographic simulations of the facility and interconnections. (4) Thousand Island Central School District and Lyme Central School District to highlight the lack of any significant incremental impact on the school districts as a result of the operation of the CVWF and the potential significant beneficial impact to the community. (5) Town of Cape Vincent for purposes of estimating the incremental municipal, or utility operating and infrastructure costs that will be incurred for police, fire, emergency, water, sewer, solid waste disposal, highway maintenance and other municipal, or utility services during the construction and operation phases of the CVWF. (6) Local emergency response organizations to inform CVWFs analysis of whether all contingency plans to be implemented in response to the occurrence of an emergency incident can be fulfilled by existing local emergency response capacity, and in that regard identifying any specific equipment or training deficiencies in local emergency response capacity. (7) The Towns of Cape Vincent and Lyme to review local laws and ordinances that the Board could elect to not apply. So - here is stating that the necessary contact with the Town of Cape Vincent is focused on the infrastructure and review of local laws which we could elect not to apply(items 5 and 7). This is not outreach.

18