Kessel's revenge
Not too long ago, just days after Jefferson County legislators approved a sweetheart payment in lieu of taxes deal for the Galloo Island Wind Farm, they unanimously rejected a proposal for offshore wind towers being floated by the New York Power Authority. The hypocrisy of this decision was obvious then, and it remains obvious now. But now, some legislators are wailing and gnashing their teeth over NYPA's decision not to purchase wind-generated power, at least until it gets some resolution to its offshore power proposal.
Ken Blankenbush said the Legislature didn't have a clue something like this could happen. I hope he understands that this brands him and his colleagues as clueless. What did they really expect to happen? This Legislature appears to operate in a reality vacuum – first they vote against an offshore project after voting for an offshore project, then they express deep mystification when NYPA CEO Richard Kessel makes them pay for their duplicity.
Richie Kessel is many things, but one thing he is not is some timorous political hack who slinks away, tail between his legs, when some rural county legislature takes a poke at him. He is a very, very gifted politician, forged in the fires of Long Island infighting and a renowned survivor who, thus far, nobody has been able to take out of the ring. One thing he clearly understands, that the Jefferson County Legislature obviously does not, is that in the world of politics, payback is a bitch.
The power authority can purchase or not purchase independent power as it desires. By not buying any wind-generated power from Jefferson County, he has made several proposed projects much less likely to be profitable, and thus, less likely to be built. It's hard to fault his action, if you stand back and look at it: if NYPA-sponsored wind projects aren't welcome here, there is little incentive for the authority to extend a hand to other wind projects that the Legislature appears bound to bend over backward to embrace.
The circle is now complete. The Legislature got exactly what it deserved when, using tortured nonlogic, it voted against offshore power. To now have them protest NYPA's reaction to that is a sign of either naivete, or pure foolishness.
