Sullivan County: the victim of irony

For decades the county has been searching for some way to replace the largely defunct economic engine of the once-vigorous Borscht belt hotels. In desperation, many residents grasped at casino development as the only way to regenerate the economy and generate jobs. Finally, in the past year, it has looked like these casino proponents were going to get what they asked for—along with the inevitable traffic, crime, school crowding and environmental degradation that would go along with the purported economic benefits. And at almost precisely the same moment, we are being offered a glimpse of an alternative that would be a matter, not of last-ditch desperation, but of creative imagination: sustainable energy for the 21st century as a Sullivan County industry.

With substantial agreement among experts that production of oil and natural gas will start declining somewhere betweeen now and the middle of the century, sustainable energy is pretty obviously the global growth industry of the 21st century. What coal, oil, electricity and the railroad and automotive industries were successively to the 19th and 20th century industrial eras, sustainable energy will be for this one.

A report recently issued by Sustainable Energy Developments, Inc. presents some concrete analysis and suggests one specific area in which Sullivan County may be able to participate in this upcoming bonanza: wind power. The county, they concluded, has a “medium to strong wind resource” that could be developed on a variety of levels to help drive the economy.

Both small-scale and utility-scale facilities would create energy for local consumption, generating significant savings over fossil-fuel based electricity whose cost can only rise as such fuels become increasingly scarce. Some electricity payments currently going to out-of-county providers could then stay in the county to be spent on other goods and services right here at home. The ability to generate energy could be especially useful for economically hard-pressed farmers, and if they could generate surpluses they might even be able to profit by selling their excess to the grid.

Beyond energy savings, construction and maintenance of the facilities would create jobs and help to diversify the job market from the currently limited choices related mostly to tourism and hospitality. There are already some existing local businesses, according to the report, suited to making parts and components related to the wind-power industry; and others could grow in the area if there were a market for their goods. Corollary industries such as consulting and research could also develop if the county found ways to sell itself as a mecca to the national industry.

All this could not happen overnight. In order to attract utility-scale wind-power development, smaller pilot projects on individual farms or commercial properties, similar to Dick Riseling’s existing Apple Pond Farming Center, would probably have to be established first to encourage and attract the larger-scale developers and the industries related to them. In addition, a variety of technical and logistical problems, from obtaining rights of way to connect wind farms to the grid, to the fact that existing population densities already make it difficult to group a large number of turbines in any one location, would have to be overcome. To move the project forward, it will be necessary to develop grass-roots interest and people willing to take this dream to their town boards and other local offices and help make the decisions needed to turn it into a reality. The recently formed Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development, whose first meeting attracted 80 people, is a great start.

By itself, wind power might not solve all our economic problems, but as one step in an ongoing effort to participate in the sustainable energy bonanza, it has great possibility. Other steps have already been taken, including the abovementioned Apple Pond Farming Center, a $200,000 NYSERDA grant Sullivan County recently received to begin design work on a three-megawatt wind farm in the Town of Liberty, a 15kw solar electric system planned for a new school bus garage for the Monticello School District and Sullivan County Community College’s geothermal heat pump system. Following these steps into the future rather than grasping at the casino straw, we may be able to revitalize our economy without having to pay for it by losing the essence of what makes this, our home, a precious place to live.

Dr. Punnybone

Learning Curve