According to a council representative, the new law limits the height of wind towers to 500 feet (from ground to blade tip), and sets noise levels at 50 decibels. The law creates a zoning district overlay that includes the west side of NYS Route 12 to Depauville and County Route 179, and Depauville to 1,500 feet north of County Route 12 on the east side of NYS Route 12 from just south of Gunns Corners. The application fee is now $50 per MW.

The Wind Power Ethics Group and the state Department of Environmental Conservation say the town Planning Board should not have accepted a draft environmental impact statement for the St. Lawrence Wind Farm. Judy Drabicki, a Dexter attorney representing the ethics group, a citizens' organization that has opposed wind farm development, said the developer has not sufficiently identified impacts because studies listed as part of the review have not been completed, including those for wetlands.

ROCHESTER | A lawsuit has been filed against a Prattsburgh wind farm developer in state Supreme Court, extending a drawn-out battle over wind energy in the region.

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A recent state Supreme Court ruling could finally lead to wind turbines being erected in the town of Prattsburgh. But opponents to a plan to have 53 energy generating wind turbines constructed along hilltops in northern Steuben County aren’t giving up the fight.

Although details are still being worked out and completion of area wind farms isn’t expected untill sometime in 2008, some local officials are looking forward to the economic benefits that these farms could bring to their towns. Rick Bronner, supervisor of the town of Stark, said that county officials are still working out the numbers for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes arrangement, but as of now the towns of Stark and Warren would both receive $97,000 a year in annual payments for the next 15 years for the 68 two megawatt towers that will be built in that area. Also, the Stark and Warren school districts both would receive $340,000 a year, and the county would receive $432,000 a year.

Supreme Court Judge Galloway has turned down the motion to dismiss and has scheduled that the action will be heard on the merits of the case.

Yesterday 6/6/07 an Evidentiary Hearing was conducted by a Department of Public Service (DPS) Law Judge in Bath. The hearing was held because Cohocton Wind Watch and Advocates for Prattsburgh, two groups advocating for the proper siting of industrial wind turbines to protect the health and safety of residents of the State of New York, had objected to the request by UPC Wind for a certificate of necessity from the PSC. Earlier a Commissioner had denied UPC's request for expedited review and ordered the hearing.

But the process has become a handy tool for developers rather than a safety net for anyone needing protection.

Summertime, with its heat waves, monster electric bills and crippling blackouts, may not seem like the best time for Con Ed to try to sell you on pricier power. But marketers at ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of the giant utility, are betting that, if they ask the right people, they'll find some willing to pay an average of $10 more a month to switch to wind power. "Despite the fact that everybody would like to pay less for their electricity, there are growing numbers of New Yorkers who are deeply passionate about the environment and want to do something about climate change," said Peter Blom, a ConEd Solutions manager.

Two wind energy developers are vying for property in the town of Arkwright, according to Chris Cannon, who has taken on the responsibility of chairing the Local Landowners’ Association organized to respond to this operation. “We’ve formed this group as a means of protecting the landowers who have been approached by Horizon Wind Energy and Noble Environmental Power development companies seeking contracts,” Cannon said.

In other town news, the board approved extending its wind farm moratorium for another six months while the Planning Board continues to work on its law. Burns said the Planning Board has obtained a number of other municipalities wind laws and is using those as a guide for developing Fremont’s law.

Opposition to industrial wind power, however, is about more than just the view.

While we're sure the PDC has spear-headed many worthwhile ideas for Perry over the years, the immediate gratification mentality being displayed by the PDC in their pursuit of the quick buck in the case of wind is astoundingly short-sighted. The wind industry themselves says the life of a project may be 20 years. What then? ...A Bliss man recently told us that promises of reduced taxes for the area are also blown way out of proportion, as he's saving a whopping $54 a year compared to last year. ...What's really at stake here - that you simply can not put a price tag on - is peoples' quality of life! Sorry fellas, but our quality of life is NOT FOR SALE AT ANY PRICE! As environmentalist Jon Boone said, "Perhaps people would be willing to sacrifice their quality of life on the altar of 'green' energy if it actually worked as they claim."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has sent a letter to to the developers of three wind farms in upstate New York strongly urging they consider other locations for their proposed projects. Biologists for the agency are concerned that the wind farms will further threaten imperiled bat populations suffering from an unprecedented die-off. One of the wind energy developers, Iberdrola Renewables has decided to hold off on moving forward with the Horse Creek project until the impacts of white nose syndrome on bat populations are better understood. But developers of the other two projects have yet to make similar moves.

Decisions on the appropriateness of building industrial wind installations should be based on the scientific facts of the issue, not just about who stands to profit from these projects. Since wind can never provide RELIABLE power on demand, it is simply the electricity version of the ethanol scam. It mattered not that it cost more energy to make a gallon of ethanol than it provided, nor that there were many who foretold of the problems associated with ethanol. Alas, since there was money to be made, politicians pushed it through in their "politically correct" rush to appear "green". Now, we are left dealing with the consequences of the rising costs of food and anything else associated with corn, the havoc it is wreaking on the environment, while it certainly isn't alleviating our oil dependence. It is very sad indeed, that energy and public policy decisions are being based on greed, ignorance, and misinformation being put forth by corporate wind profiteers, pandering politicians, and agenda-driven, corporate-owned media (e.g. - GE owns NBC), rather than according to what's actually right and wrong.

Noble Environmental Power officials say they have detected a "wiring anomaly" in two Altona wind turbines, including the one that snapped in half last Friday. As the preliminary investigation continues into how a massive turbine suddenly collapsed, Noble officials said this week that the entire wind park experienced a loss of power Friday and that two of its 65 turbines apparently malfunctioned.

The complaints last year were at first sporadic to Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne's office in this small North Country town. Then the outcry grew. Residents were alleging undue influence was being put on local leaders to approve multi-million-dollar wind farms, with turbines 200 feet or taller, in their rural communities near the Canadian border. To Champagne's dismay, he believed some of the public officials approving the contracts were also leasing their own land to the wind developers. Champagne found as many as seven town-board members in Franklin County who allegedly had conflicts of interest. ...Champagne calls it New York's version of the "gold rush" and said it's the next Enron scandal in the making.

The battles over wind farms in Ontario and New York state have had no shortage of press coverage. The battle lines are most often drawn between those who place a premium on scenic and historic preservation, property values and other quality-of-life factors, versus those who place a priority on the personal and municipal income the wind projects offer. But the processes that decide these battles are seldom fair or transparent, and are skewed in favour of the few over the many.

Two Lewis County legislators have announced potential conflicts that could keep them from voting on the county's next proposed wind farm.