Letter to Obama re: grants to First Wind (UPC) LLCs 

Dear President Obama,

I was recently informed of two very alarming grant awards announced in my district from the Department of Energy and the Department of Treasury. These grants, totaling $74.6 million of taxpayer dollars, are to be distributed to Canandaigua Power Partners, LLC and Canandaigua Power Partners II, LLC for projects in Cohocton, New York. This is an extremely contentious issue in my District and this recent announcement has the potential to cause a serious political explosion in Western New York.

Constituents in our region see these projects as criminal actions, and I have strongly opposed the actions of these companies and their affiliates. Canandaigua Power Partners, LLC and Canandaigua Power Partners II, LLC act as shell companies that deceptively operate on behalf of First Wind, which is currently under investigation by New York State Attorney General Cuomo for corruption charges in Cohocton and across the Northeast. After allegations of bribery, intimidation, and other misconduct surfaced, many residents and local officials in my District have paid very close attention to these projects in Cohocton and in their own back yards with great anger and concern for what could happen in other communities in our area.

This is one of the most volatile issues in Western New York and the award of $74.6 million dollars to corrupt companies that have changed names time and again forming new LLCs and new 1nc.s but maintaining their business model of lie, cheat, and corrupt at the expense of taxpayers has stirred great unrest in New York’s 29th Congressional District. To date, no electricity has been produced for sale out of the projects in Cohocton and the company has projected that there is none to come until the end of next year. Despite this lack of clean, renewable energy for Cohocton and the citizens o New York, this company has already collected production rewards for non-existent energy that at this point is simply a prediction.

We should not be rewarding anything, let alone cash grants, to companies like this that have abused the public trust and caused such a toxic atmosphere in our region on the topic of wind power.

There is no use of this money that would, to my satisfaction, warrant the issuance of these grants and I urge you to launch an investigation by the GAO into the use of these federal funds for this purpose. I call on your administration to revoke this award before more damage comes to this rural area where people have already experienced the abuses of foreign-owned wind developers who tear apart communities for corporate gain.

Download original document: “Letter to Obama re: grants to First Wind (UPC) LLCs”

By courtesy of Cohocton Wind Watch.