SHELDON –Wyoming County, the farming community that’s home to Letchworth State Park and the state’s leading dairy region, now lays claim as the wind capital of Western New York.
Wind has brought a whole new industry to Wyoming County, with $655 million spent so far on three projects already built and at least three more on the books.
It’s conceivable that within the next few years, the wind industry will have spent $1 billion on wind turbines in Wyoming County.
The only business with a billion next to it here now is the dairy industry, which produces 1.02 billion pounds of milk a year, making Wyoming County the state’s top producer.
But along with the money here and elsewhere has come a change in the landscape in upstate New York. An industry has come to the farmland, and not everyone is happy.
People either seem to love the turbines or hate them. There is little common ground.
“I see communities being split
down the middle because of the money coming in over the years,” said East Aurora attorney Arthur Giacalone, who represents wind opponents in Sheldon.
“They’ve destroyed this town,” said Sheldon resident Nadja Laska, who sued to stop the project with four of her neighbors.
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