In summary, it appears that extensive federal level review of the three Noble projects is still in the early stages. It would not be appropriate for the town boards, as the lead agencies, to issue building permits without certifying that the appropriate federal review processes have been completed and the required permits obtained, nor for Noble to proceed with construction without required federal permits.

It is not at all clear from the DEIS that state or federal law will be upheld in the Ellenburg Project with regard to wetlands. Because of the vagueness and apparent project dominance of decisions being made with regard to wetlands, on-site NYSDEC and federal (USACE) oversight will be critical to modify turbine placement decisions during the project planning phase, to oversee them (to prevent changes) during the construction phase, and to oversee other mitigation measures.

Because time seems to be running out on fossil fuels and the lure of non-polluting windpower is so seductive, some people are now promoting windpower initiatives at any cost, without investigating potential negative consequences-- and with no apparent knowledge of even recent environmental history......Throughout my experience, I could not substantiate a single claim developers made for industrial wind energy, including the one justifying its existence: that massive wind installations would meaningfully reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. When you understand this, you realize the wind business is not really that complex. But there are a lot of complicated issues swirling around it that obscure and distract from this main point, issues such as global warming, property values, the nature of wind leases, local revenues and taxes, wildlife, natural views, and a host of others. So how does one know the truth of it all? How does one go about separating the reality from spin?

Prepared for Horizon Wind Energy by Wind Engineers, Inc

But we must go one step further in order to fully and properly put in place essential safeguards necessary for the protection of rural communities everywhere in New York State. We need a moratorium on wind development projects now.

Meredith resident Dr. Kenneth Jaffe's presentation to the Town of Meredith Planning Board on the proposed industrial scale wind plant (=> 100 wind turbines, each over 400 feet tall) within the framework of Meredith's recently adopted vision statement that reads:

We must preserve and maintain the Town of Meredith’s historic, agricultural and rural character. We must guide development to meet the economic, social and recreational needs of all residents. We must foster a unified community while maintaining the ambiance of a small rural town with the uniqueness that is Meredith. We must realize this vision in an efficient, cost-effective manner.

Editor's Note: Dr. Jaffe's report on the safely issues related to ice throws is available via the link below.

In this report we discuss some recent studies that have occurred in the United States since our previous work [2, 3]. The key objectives of these studies were to quantify the physical impacts and costs of wind generation on grid operations and the associated costs. Examples of these costs are (a) committing unneeded generation, (b) allocating more load-following capability to account for wind variability, and (c) allocating more regulation capacity. These are referred to as “ancillary service” costs, and are based on the physical system and operating characteristics and procedures. This topic is covered in more detail by Zavadil et al. [4].