Balloon tests performed this week in Westfield gave residents their first real feel of the height of the proposed Ripley-Westfield wind farm. Babcock and Brown performed the test as part of their environmental impact study required by the state. "The balloon testing is performed in support of the visual impact assessment to be included in the DEIS," said Peter Gross of Babcock and Brown.

The company building two wind farms in Cohocton will contribute $50,000 for restoration work at Memorial Town Hall in Naples. The Town Board voted unanimously last week to accept the cash; otherwise, it would go back to Cohocton for historic preservation projects there. The $50,000 is part of $200,000 UPC Wind agreed to set aside to compensate for the effect modern wind towers would have on the historic character of the area. Naples qualified for a share because one of the Cohocton turbines is visible when driving south through Naples on Main Street.

The Preservation League of New York State has jumped into a wind-project controversy in Jordanville, naming the Holy Trinity Monastery to the group's annual list of New York's most-threatened historic resources: ``Seven to Save.'' The nonprofit group says tranquility at the monastery, which sits on 750 acres in southern Herkimer County, would be ruined if a proposal to site about 50 wind turbines in the area ever moves forward. ``The Holy Trinity Monastery is of extraordinary historic, religious and cultural significance, but it is currently threatened by an industrial-scale wind energy project,'' Jay DiLorenzo, the nonprofit organization's president, said Friday. Panoramic views and contemplative quiet will disappear from the surrounding countryside if wind tubines are erected as proposed by Iberdrola, DiLorenzo said.