OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford With Lake Erie and Dunkirk's water tower in the background, Congressman Nick Langworthy, facing camera, chats with supporters after announcing a bill to halt tax credits for offshore wind farms.

U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy lashed out at green energy development Wednesday, during a press conference announcing his bill to stop potential Great Lakes wind farms from getting tax credits.

The bill is Langworthy’s first introduction of legislation since the Republican began representing New York’s 23rd Congressional District, which includes Chautauqua County, Jan. 1. He announced it near Lake Erie, following up a morning press conference at the shore in Buffalo with an afternoon presser at Dunkirk’s Conservation Club.

Langworthy said his Lakes Before Turbines Act fulfills a campaign promise.

“I made the promise that I would aggressively fight developers from coming in, and the state from coming in, to create unnecessary eyesores to the beautiful shores here in Dunkirk and across Lake Erie, and I am delivering on that promise,” he said. “Our communities here in Western New York and the Southern Tier — we enjoy and we rely on the health of the Great Lakes. It’s a gem of our region, and the need to protect and restore it is more important than ever.”

He continued, “The so-called green energy interest in Washington and Albany, for too long, they’ve had our communities in the crosshairs with efforts to blemish our Great Lakes with intrusive wind farms. And I know that I speak for many in the district when I say that we have had enough of these attempts to jeopardize the economic and environmental health of our communities with massive intrusive wind turbine projects, that provide little actual benefit to the surrounding areas.”