A law in the town of Centerville regulating wind farms was annulled by the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division because the town failed to comply with the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR). ...The decision, which was made on Nov. 14, was prompted by a lawsuit from the Centerville Concerned Citizens (CCC), a group of landowners in the town who claimed that the Centerville Town Board worked along with the Noble Environmental Power to craft a local law that accommodates Noble's proposed Centerville Windpark without fully looking at the environmental impacts.

During his community forum in Irondequoit last night, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told a group of Hamlin residents that he'd send an environmental attorney to look into the town's wind tower regulations and the circumstances under which they were passed. He was responding to repeated requests from a group of town residents, all members of the Hamlin Preservation Group.

Alfred residents found that where there is wind, there is a window of opportunity in a special Monday night meeting at the Alfred Station Fire Hall. Keith Pitman, president and chief executive officer of Empire State Wind Energy from Oneida, gave an hour-long presentation to Alfred residents to gauge how interested the community is in developing a wind project. So how did the Alfred community react to the possibilities of wind power? Compared to some other communities looking at wind, very peaceful.

That summer in Delaware, Bluewater Wind finalized its contract to build a wind farm of 70, 130-meter-tall turbines 13 miles off the coast of Delaware. After a 59 percent rate hike in state energy prices, state legislators passed House Bill 6. This consumer retail act mandated the creation of a new power plant within the state of Delaware. ...According to the [Bluewater] Web site, "There were no significant negative impacts found on fish, flora and fauna." Delaware Audubon Society Conservation Group is showcased in supporting the project, saying it's safe for birds. ...[Thomas Kunz] says there is evidence suggesting that the offshore wind turbines Bluewater proposed to build would attract bats, causing them to die.

The Farmersville Town Board voted Monday to replace its 2007 town law regulating wind farm projects with a shorter and more general version, while also lifting last month's temporary moratorium against wind energy facilities. "The old law had stuff that should have been in a host community agreement [between the town and the wind farm developer] and not in the law itself," said Town Supervisor Joe Brodka.

Details of a wind farm on rugged hills southwest of Brooklyn have been made public. The 28-turbine proposal for Long Gully will be discussed at public meetings in Wellington this week before a resource consent application is lodged with the city council in mid-December. State-owned Mighty River Power would own and operate the farm and Windflow Technology, a Christchurch turbine manufacturer, would construct it.

The passage of a resolution by the Legislature last Wednesday established Herkimer County's negotiating position regarding payment in lieu of taxes agreements for wind projects: Closing an interconnected effort amongst affected municipalities and school districts over four years in the making. Ongoing proposals by Iberdrola Renewable Energies to build wind turbines include: The Hardscrabble Project in the towns of Norway and Fairfield, with Owen D. Young Central School District; and the Jordanville Project in the towns of Stark and Warren, with West Canada Valley Central School District. The resolution sets a PILOT payment of $8,000 per megawatt.

While satisfied with existing wind turbines, town officials are looking to better regulate any future wind projects, both large and small. "We just want to make sure they are done to manufacturers' specs," Lowville Town Supervisor Arleigh D. Rice said. The Town Council earlier this month held a public hearing on a proposed wind power zoning law but is awaiting review by the Lewis County Planning Board before adopting it, Mr. Rice said.

Wind farms could be having a radical impact on North Sea wildlife, a new study warns. ...In a paper published this month in the Journal of Marine Systems, Goran Brostrom, of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, warns that generating power at sea threatens marine life.

Wind turbines are not operating in Noble Environmental Power wind parks in Clinton and Ellenburg because its power substation is expanding to include Chateaugay. "It is a safety condition," said John Quirke, executive vice president of development. "We can't have people working in a live building. ...Noble's wind-farm development in the North Country has hit snags, including allegations under investigation by the State Attorney General's Office that company representatives may have bribed or influenced public officials in some communities.

The Holland Town Board, in the initial stages of writing a law on wind farms in the town, may adopt a moratorium on such entities as early as next month. Wednesday, the board unanimously approved a public hearing for 8 p. m. Dec. 10 to impose a moratorium on wind farms until a local law regulating them has been adopted. Eleven months ago, the board organized a subcommittee to investigate the sometimes controversial source of power. Since then, the group has studied various town ordinances to create a law that will suit the town.

No action was taken on the proposed Enfield wind law Wednesday, but town officials did discuss revisions to the law. Town Supervisor Frank Podufalski read recommendations from the Tompkins County Planning Department to about 25 people in attendance that suggest a decrease in the allowance for noise, permit fees and increased setbacks from property lines and easements.

Windmills were put on hold in the town of Throop as the board voted unanimously to impose a six-month windmill moratorium at its Wednesday night meeting. No site plan approvals, building permits or certificates of compliance, variances, or requests for rezoning related to wind power generating facilities will be considered for six months after the moratorium law is filed with the state.

The setbacks in the proposed Enfield wind law are not large enough, according to a letter from the Tompkins County Planning Department to Town Supervisor Frank Podufalski, but following that advice could kill the wind farm proposal for a site near Connecticut Hill. The planning department recommends increased setbacks between property lines and the wind towers ...If the Enfield Town Board does not adopt the recommendations, it will need a supermajority, which means four votes on the five-member board, to pass the proposal into law.

Extracting energy from wind changes regional air currents, which can in turn affect how the nearby ocean circulates, according to Goran Brostrom of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Oslo. In a paper published this month in Journal of Marine Systems, Brostrom shows in a model that winds swirling at 11 to 22 miles per hour downwind of large farms are uneven. As they blow over the ocean they can roil the waters, causing upwelling. ...the effect is enough to bring nutrient-rich waters up from the depths, which marine life can thrive on.

Noble Environmental Power has 257 wind turbines up in northern New York and about half of those have been generating power since early this year. But they recently stopped spinning. Noble said that's because of work being done at a substation, and once the work is complete, the windparks in Clinton, Ellenburg, Chateauguay and Altona will be running.

Shell WindEnergy Inc. has offered to pay legal expenses for landowners in the Albany County hill towns who had considered leasing their land to Shell for two large wind farms. Shell, a subsidiary of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, told landowners this week it was abandoning the project for various reasons, including "insufficient" response to its offer and "potential permitting issues."

A group of concerned citizens has banded together in Hammond to try to get a moratorium on wind development, even though the town has passed an amendment to its zoning law that controls wind farms. "At this point we're just talking to citizens who've been to board meetings," said William A. Rogers, spokesman for the Concerned Citizens of Hammond. "We just want openness from the town and citizens' input." ..."Citizens were shocked how quickly the law went through," Mr. Rogers said. "There wasn't a lot of back and forth."

The proposed Deerfield Wind project, an expansion of the state's only existing wind energy facility in Searsburg, could have a big effect on the bear population in the area. But exactly how big is a matter of dispute, with the U.S. Forest Service hedging its bets until the Vermont Public Service Board makes a decision on whether construction of the 17-turbine project would be in the "public good." The state technical hearings on the project, postponed from September, are due to start in early December. ...Forrest Hammond, a wildlife biologist and bear expert for the state of Vermont, said the bear habitat on the western ridge was so important to the regional bear population that the agency had gone on record against the western part of the project.

It seems the proposed Enfield wind law - whether it passes or not - is going to leave some residents unhappy. ...Dissenters at the meeting complained the proposed law contains setbacks of 450 feet from structures, such as homes, and 100 feet from property lines. ...Town Supervisor Frank Podufalski said he appreciated the turnout, and said Enfield "has a golden opportunity to pass a law with the right restrictions."