The document outlines changes to the project representing a scaled-down version of what was originally proposed four years ago by Horizon Wind Energy. The new project would include 38 turbines in Perry and Covington, instead of the 60 turbines originally proposed. It would be rated to generate up to 79.8 megawatts instead of the original 120 megawatts.

Officials from northern Oswego County continue to work with representatives from Upstate NY Power Corp. in regard to placing transmission lines through the northern part of the county that would originate on Galloo Island located in the Jefferson County Town of Hounsfield. ...So far, the involved parties have been meeting via conference calls, Leemann said.

Arkwright Councilman Jeff Dietrich couldn't get a second to his motion Monday to have Horizon Wind Energy and the town sign with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's ethical standards regarding wind energy development. ...When he and Councilman Roger Cardot began discussing their opinions regarding this issue, Supervisor Fred Norton closed them down ...Dietrich said a wise teacher once told him "Stand by your principles or stand alone; I guess I stand alone." He then walked out of the meeting.

Potential wind farmers will have to wait at least until January before building turbines to harness the breeze. On Monday night, the Victor Town Board adopted a six-month moratorium on wind turbine development while a committee devises a code to regulate the turbines. All board members voted for the measure except for Peter Hessney, who was absent.

Thousand Islands High School will host a wind information session next week ...The session, called "Life in a Wind Farm," will have three speakers from the region who are living on wind farms. It is billed as an opportunity for people to learn the pros and cons of what it's like after the wind farm has been built.

Laws regulating wind farms and a presentation on noise issues highlighted the special Prattsburgh town board meeting Tuesday night, July 7. The town is the site of proposed wind farms by two energy companies, Ecogen and First Wind.

Meridian Energy Ltd could have a decision from the Environment Court on its new Waitaki River power scheme before its Project Hayes wind farm. Judge Jon Jackson, with commissioners, heard both Environment Court appeals on Project Hayes on the Lammermoor Range and the north bank tunnel concept power scheme on the Waitaki River between the Waitaki dam and Stonewall.

Noble Environmental Power says tough economic times has made it necessary for the company to release a number of easement agreements between the wind energy company and local landowners. Twenty-two "releases were filed at the Franklin County Clerk's Office between April 17 and July 8.

Low electrical transmission capacity is not only making it difficult for wind power developers to figure out how to connect to the grid; it's created another hurdle for development of a uniform tax-exempt policy. The Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency was charged with creating the policy to guide all payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements for wind farms by the county Board of Legislators last year.

While a new wind power development zoning law is in a holding pattern, the Town Council at its August meeting will consider a moratorium on all wind power development in the river and lake districts. On Thursday night, Supervisor Thomas K. Rienbeck suggested a yearlong moratorium "since we can't seem to come up with a suitable zoning law dealing with wind power."

The Athens Town Board took their own steps to allow wind turbines on Monday night, but with dissent by one of their council regarding the details. Instead of passing a law, the Town Board along with Code Enforcement Officer George Holsopple determined they would implement a resolution instead to add a $150 fee to all specific 50-foot non-commercial wind turbines to the existing list of permit fees.

Members of the Planning Board are weighing in on the recommendations for a zoning law amendment by the town's Wind Committee. All but one member wrote up comments, which were not available to the public at Thursday night's Planning Board meeting.

Every day, all day, weather radar shows a small but intense thunderstorm northwest of Plattsburgh, N.Y. Further to the west, in central New York, where much of Vermont's weather comes from ...But these daily storms are not real. They're an unintended side effect of the wind farms cropping up on windy plateaus and mountains all over the nation.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to grant no more extensions to NYRI, a group of investors who want to build an electrical transmission line from Oneida to Orange counties. In April, New York Regional Interconnect Inc. withdrew its application to the state's Public Service Commission to build a $2.1 billion power line ...NYRI has asked FERC to review its case, trying to keep the project alive.

The Town Board is getting widely differing advice on how to regulate wind turbines. The Orange County Planning Department, which reviewed the town's proposed law governing wind energy conversion systems, advised the town to strictly adhere to the terms in that document.

A public hearing on a proposed permit law regulating wind energy in the town will be held by mid- July, the Prattsburgh Town Board said Monday night. Board members took more than an hour during a special board session Monday night to scrutinize the proposed law, designed to set permit fees for wind turbines erected in the town.

The Town Board will use comments from a Tuesday night public hearing to make some changes before it passes a proposed local law regulating wind energy facilities. Town Supervisor Chris Gerwitz told about 80 people at the hearing in the Ashford Community Center that he hopes for passage of the law but that the Town Board must first hold more discussions with the Planning Board and the town attorney.

The Town of Coxsackie took steps to promote alternative energy Monday night at a public hearing, approving the Small Wind Energy Facility Law after a lightly attended public comment session with no dissent. Town Board members with community input had been working on the ordinance since last October, finally hammering out the finished draft on June 8.

The Morristown Wind Energy Committee is looking at ways to protect landowners from wind power companies that default on taxes. The committee met Wednesday to discuss including a section in its proposed wind law that separates a half-acre parcel for each wind turbine to protect landowners from losing their entire properties if a wind company fails to pay its taxes. The committee suggested surveying the individual parcels and deeding each piece separately.

For the first time ever, the House on Friday passed a plan to combat climate change, a top priority of President Obama's that Rep. Brian Higgins said could rescue the Western New York economy. The bill's opponents, however, were vehement in their contention that the bill could break the bank of the nation's consumers. ...The bill now moves on to the Senate, where its prospects are murky.