The Orleans Wind Committee is calling on the Town Council to adopt stricter noise and setback regulations for wind power development. The committee submitted the first part of its recommendations, covering noise and setbacks, to council members at the end of July and publicly during the council's meeting last week. The second part, including recommendations on stray voltage, fire risks, water and aquifer effects, turbine lighting, radon and security, are still being finalized.

NorthWind & Power Development Corp. is planning to erect "a hilltop mast," 200-feet tall, to learn if the wind velocity on hills west of this hamlet are windy enough to support a turbine farm. The test will take a year, according to Patrick Doyle, the Albany-based company's founder, to test the wind during all four seasons.

State utility regulators today authorized an auction to distribute $95 million to new power plants fueled by the wind, the sun, biomass or other renewable sources. The auction will be the fourth conducted under a standing state mandate to derive 25 percent of New York's electricity from renewable energy sources by 2013. Members of the state Public Service Commission ...noted that the time is right for new renewable energy projects.

Village officials passed a moratorium Wednesday night that restricts any type of windmill, either commercial or personal, from being set up within village limits. Mayor Kenneth R. Clarke said he expects the moratorium to last about a year while the board develops a law that "protects people in the village." The decision came after the town of Denmark announced it was closer to setting a wind power zoning law.

The Prattsburgh town board took no action on a draft wind utilities law Tuesday, instead opting to review two draft laws, including one with changes approved by the board 4-0 in July. Councilwoman Stacey Bottoni objected to the July version saying it contained language she didn't like. But Councilman Steve Kula said the version contained changes Bottoni approved before leaving the meeting last month.

Adirondack Park Agency commissioners approved two residential wind turbines at their recent meeting: one in Essex, the other in Indian Lake. In discussion, APA commissioners considered refining their use of "substantial invisibility" as it applies to slender, residential wind turbines, which disappear to the naked eye a mile away. Commissioner Richard Booth suggested APA Tower's Policy may not be a good regulatory fit for accessory, homeowner wind turbines.

John L. Byrne, a town resident who was almost arrested for videotaping a Town Council meeting Thursday, should be allowed to tape the meetings, according to Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government. ..."They are just trying to degrade the town board," Mr. Rienbeck said. "They're waiting for somebody, like me or the Planning Board chairman, Richard Edsall, to lose temper." For several years, the Town Council has been in conflict with the Wind Power Ethics Group.

The Arkwright Town Board spoke with one voice Monday when it unanimously voted to table a Horizon Wind Energy waiver request. ...Horizon project manager Tom Stebbins explained that he had met with the Chautauqua County Parks Department in November 2008 about a situation that arose with the location of a wind turbine on the Meadows Road property. Stebbins said this involved a 30 foot difference in the town's local wind law requirement for a 1200 setback.

A six-month moratorium on commercial wind development is now in place in the town of Bath, after the town council voted Monday night in favor of the temporary ban. The moratorium was one of a number of items before the board, including an update on the joint salt barn project between the town and village of Bath. The moratorium may also be extended up to an additional six months if needed, said Bath Town Supervisor Frederick Muller.

The 29th Congressional District is ground zero for wind farm development with more than 1,200 turbines ultimately planned for the region, according to U.S. Rep. Eric Massa, D-Corning. Massa was in town Monday night to discuss his opposition to the federal health reform act, during a 1.5-hour long town hall meeting, saying the act would impose a higher surcharge on New Yorkers and undermine Medicare.

A petition with more than 650 signatures was submitted at the Town Board meeting Thursday asking officials to enact a one-year, townwide moratorium on wind development. The board is considering a six-month moratorium for the lakefront and riverfront districts, but took no action regarding any moratorium on wind development at a meeting.

After about a year and a half of discussions, the Denmark Town Council is working to get a wind power zoning law on the books, possibly by next month. However, some Copenhagen residents, including the mayor, still have reservations about the plan. "I want to protect people in the village," Copenhagen Mayor Kenneth R. Clarke said Monday night at a public hearing on the proposed amendment to town zoning law.

Numbers fought philosophy during Monday's hearing on the proposed Dairy Hills Wind Farm environmental review. Supporters cited their sheer numbers during the public hearing meant to offer comments on the wind farm's supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement. In the meantime, opponents argued that subsidies, potential loss of property value and other negatives would hurt the town.

Planning Board members and alternates have a wide range of views on what shape a wind development zoning law should take. The town-appointed Wind Committee submitted its recommendations on a zoning law April 22. Planning Board members and alternates submitted comments on those recommendations in July.

As a public hearing approaches on the proposed Dairy Hill Wind Farm's environmental study, a group of residents is again raising concerns. Their issue isn't so much with the project's Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement, compared to the project itself. They believe the planned wind farm would be inappropriate for the area, and that the town would ultimately be short-shrifted, despite any compensation sponsor Horizon Wind Energy is promising.

Personal wind turbines taller than 35 feet are illegal, the town's Zoning Board of Appeals decided Monday. The ZBA voted unanimously at its monthly meeting that Roger D. Alexander's 92-foot-tall residential wind turbine is in violation of the town's zoning law. "It is theoretically a turbine, but we have nothing in the zoning laws to do with that," ZBA Chairman Edward P. Bender said. "So we're going to treat it as an accessory structure."

In addition [to] local approval and state and federal permits, the proposed St. Lawrence Wind Farm will need an act of the state Legislature to run a transmission line to a substation outside of Chaumont. ...About 1.6 miles will be through Ashland Flats Wildlife Management Area in Cape Vincent and Lyme. The state Department of Environmental Conservation controls the area.

A new Wind Industry Ethics Code is now in place in New York, with a total of 16 wind companies agreeing to abide by the document drawn up by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo office. The code calls for oversight through an advisory task force and "unprecedented transparency" to deter improper relationships between wind development companies and local government officials, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office Wednesday.

New York Power Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Kessel met recently with the Press-Republican Editorial Board to outline his agency's plan to "do the biggest energy project in the state since the St. Lawrence/Robert Moses power project 50 year ago." The authority would import up to 2,000 megawatts of power from multiple sources, including hydropower from Canada and renewable resources both here and in Canada.

A town resident is in a dispute with the town's zoning board over her neighbor's wind turbine, which she believes is too close to her property. "I want it down," said Mary C. Grogan, a seasonal town resident who lives next to Roger D. Alexander.