Recently, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced finalized contracts for Clean Path NY and Champlain Hudson Power Express to deliver clean renewable energy from upstate New York and Canada to New York City.

Translation: industrial wind turbines will be installed in Lake Erie and the power will be sent on to New York City. We get nothing in return.

While Buffalo has been consumed with fixing historic old buildings and development of the outer harbor, our Governor has been quietly selling out our Great Lake to the higher bidder, in this case Diamond Wind (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi.

What the public needs to know is how this plan will change our lake. There is a “no go zone” between the turbines which will change how we boat and fish. Recreational use of the lake will be changed dramatically. Don’t expect to fish off the platforms you can’t get close.

The poured concrete platforms will forever cover any historical or native artifacts in the lake, and if the last few storms have taught us anything; it’s turbines will not withstand the wrath of Lake Erie. They will also change fish migration and possibly the current. Watch the shoreline change.

She speaks of “social justice.” The dredging could dig up all the buried toxic waste from years of steel plant sledge being dumped and buried, thus possibly ruining our fresh water; the source of water for 11 million people. How will we be able to go back once the lake is contaminated?

Lake Erie is a known migration path for birds, bats, and Monarch butterflies. Recently we have a resurgence of the American Eagle. The turbines were once described as “bird cuisinarts” and would again disseminate the population.

It’s time for the developers to stay out of the Great Lakes. They know the turbines are an ineffective and inconsistent form of energy.

This is the second time we have fought developers trying to “buy” our fresh water, and it’s high time to have a moratorium against leaking, industrial wind turbines in Lake Erie. Gov. Hochul, as a native Western New Yorker and avid sailor, please reconsider your stand and leave our lake alone.

Sharen Trembath is an Erie County resident and member of the Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie.