The Albany County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to delay until at least Jan. 6 their decision on passing a set of commercial wind energy regulations.

Commissioners Pat Gabriel, Tim Chesnut and Jerry Kennedy agreed to table their decision on a motion to approve county wind energy regulations because of public comments that the planning and attorney's offices have yet to review.

David Gertsch, an Albany County assistant planner, was the person who suggested the motion to approve the regulations be tabled.

Gertsch said delaying the approval of the proposed regulations would give him and the Albany County Attorney's Office time to review the latest public comments, including those that were submitted at the meeting.

"We've had a lot of different comments on our amendments and proposed amendments that we really haven't had sufficient time to look at," he told the commissioners. "So we're going to propose that we table any action until the Jan. 6 meeting so we can look over those and talk to some of the folks that have made comments."

Karyn Coppinger, who was representing both a Laramie-based wind energy company and the Wyoming Power Producers Coalition (WPPC), said during the public comment period that there were issues with the county's proposed wind energy regulations.

"There are two issues ... that have the potential to significantly impact wind energy development in Albany County," she said.

There also are issues that Coppinger said exist but are of lesser importance.

The primary issue is the proposed noise regulation allegedly would require that a wind farm not exceed 50 decibels (dB) beyond 1,000 feet.

"That particular regulation takes many of the turbines that are on the market completely out of the picture for Albany County," she said.

Tests conducted by the WPPC have shown that standard wind turbines would barely make the cut in Albany County, Coppinger said.

"By passing this particular regulation, you're severely limiting the turbines that can be erected in this county," she said.

Coppinger suggested changing the proposed noise regulations to 65 dBA (A-weighted decibels), which falls between the sound level of a conversation (50 dBA) and a big truck (80 dBA).

The other part of the noise issue, Coppinger said, is the proposed regulation requiring a 1,000-foot buffer in the middle of agricultural zones.

"Really, what we want to protect is sensitive receptors; we want to protect people from hearing turbines," she said. "So, to have a buffer in the middle of grazing land in northern Albany County isn't really getting at the issues that we need to protect - residences, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, churches, places where people are going to hear the turbines."

The second major issue Coppinger said that concerned the WPPC was the definition of a primary structure, which includes residences, barns, commercial buildings, hospitals and daycare facilities.

According to the proposed regulations, Coppinger said a wind turbine must be built at least one-quarter mile from a primary structure.

Therefore, she said WPPC would like to have barns removed from the definition of a primary structure. Doing so would eliminate the conflicts that arise when a non-participating landowner builds a barn within one-quarter mile of a wind turbine or farm on a participating landowner's property.

"All of a sudden, that quarter-mile buffer is impinging on our participating landowner's ability to have turbines in the best location on his land," Coppinger said.

Tony Hoch, district manager and water quality specialist for the Laramie Rivers Conservation District, said he wanted the commissioners to consider changing how long a wind energy company has to perform noxious weed control on its property from two years to five.

"We feel like that should be five years," he told the commissioners. "It takes years to get native grasses re-established."

Hoch said he also would like to see "minimizing impacts to wildlife" inserted into the proposed regulations' general provisions section.

"We feel like minimizing impacts to wildlife is going to allow us to keep doing wind development," he said.

Hoch also added that he would like to see protections for private property rights added into the proposed regulations.

Bill DeGraeve of True Ranches in Albany County applauded the commissioners for tabling their decision on the proposed regulations until Jan. 6 or later.

"I think there are a lot of suggestions - good proposals on the table - that really need to be considered," he said.

DeGraeve suggested the commissioners host an "aggressive" work session between now and Jan. 6 to address additional public concerns with the proposed regulations.

For more information about the county's proposed wind energy regulations, contact the Albany County Planning Office at 721-2568.