A free community presentation – “Can New York Combat Climate Change Without Destroying Communities?” – will be held Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Litchfield Town Hall.
Presenters Dennis Higgins and Keith Schue will speak about the New York State Climate Action Plan.
New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates that electric grid be carbon free by 2040. The New York Energy Research and Development Authority’s plan is to achieve this through the installation of industrial solar and wind farms across Upstate New York, along with sprawling transmission lines and the giant batteries required by both wind and solar.
Local interest in the subject is particularly high as Upstate New York is being targeted to provide green energy to New York City.
A foreign-owned wind developer is working to secure 20,000 acres in Herkimer and Oneida counties to build an industrial wind operation. In the Town of Columbia, also in Herkimer County, a solar developer is working to secure 2,200 acres for solar panels along with the requisite battery storage.
Higgins and Schue ask: Isn’t it a mistake to pursue a flawed energy plan that sacrifices nature, increases energy costs, and does little to decarbonize the grid? They will outline their ideas on a better way to address these critical issues.
A question-and-answer session will follow their presentation.
Higgins is a retired college professor and resides in Otego. He taught mathematics and computer science at the University of Scranton, St. Lawrence University, and SUNY Oneonta.
Schue, a resident of Cherry Valley, has a master’s degree in engineering and worked in the private sector for 15 years. Before moving to New York, he was employed with the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
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