Watertown attorney David P. Antonucci, representing Concerned Residents of Hammond, filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court here. The town has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit, once it is served. The lawsuit alleges the wind farm ordinance approved Oct. 27 by the Hammond Town Council should be overturned because the environmental review process was not followed properly. The ordinance created regulations for wind farms, including setbacks, heights and locations for wind turbines in the town.

According to local officials involved in the project, a proposed Freedom- Farmersville wind park is on long-term hold. Noble Environmental approached the two towns approximately two years ago with its idea for a joint wind project that would be located on the border of the two Cattaraugus County townships.

This past summer Tom Stebbins, project manager at the Fredonia Branch of Horizon Wind Energy approached the Pomfret Town Board to update the progress of a potential wind farm within the town. At that time Horizon was eying a start date sometime in 2010. ...Stebbins said Horizon has run into many wetlands in Arkwright, and accompanied with the newly fallen snow, has delayed operations there, backlogging farms next in line like Pomfret.

In a few brief years, New York State has become famous for its wind farms. Thanks to government subsidies and aggressive targets for the production of clean energy, hundreds of turbines now dot the landscape upstate. But the planning and building of wind farms may be slowing. In late October, Noble Environmental Power has asked the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for more time to finish some of its projects.

County commissioners paved the way Monday toward granting a tax abatement to wind power giant Duke Energy. ..."I didn't feel like it's a benefit to the citizens of Ector County," he said. Simmons said wind turbines deteriorate quickly, and chances are they won't be worth much once a 10-year abatement is up, leaving little to nothing to collect property tax off of. He also said there's no guarantee permanent jobs would be created in Ector County since the majority of the Notrees Windpower Project is located in Winkler County.

A group in Hammond aimed at overturning the recent wind farm law has been growing steadily in numbers and influence. Concerned Residents of Hammond, which began in late October after the town enacted a law regarding the creation of wind farms, has grown from 25 to 70 members. ...The original goal of the group was to have the town enact a moratorium on further development of wind turbines and test towers.

Wind development in New York has hit a bit of turbulence. The nationwide financial crisis has put the brakes on a wind farm under construction in northern New York and another developer has aborted possible projects in eastern and central New York after trouble securing land. And wind energy companies are now being asked to abide by a code of ethics by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

The town wind law committee created to produce a zoning amendment to deal with wind farms added a sound measurement protocol and changed setbacks from roads during its meeting Thursday afternoon. The sound protocol came from recommendations from the acoustical engineering firm Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Sudbury, Mass., based on a wind development zoning law written for the Association of Towns and rules for noise studies written by Cape Vincent resident Clifford P. Schneider.

Separately, Otter Tail seeks to charge customers who will get wind-generated power from its portion of the new Ashtabula Wind Farm a separate fee above the usual rates. ...[the]proposed increase is known as a "renewable resource cost recovery rider 2009." Under state law, utilities are allowed to charge extra for the cost of generating electricity through alternative forms such as wind farms.

Although the DEC has cleared the use of slag on wind farm access roads, the state Department of Agriculture and Markets has concerns. In a Sept. 8 letter to Invenergy regarding the High Sheldon Wind Farm, Agriculture Specialist Michael J. Saviola said ...the Department does not support the use of any adulterated industrial byproduct material (such as steel slag) as road base on, or adjacent to, structural lands used for the production of food and/or forage crops," Saviola wrote.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a public investigation of an energy-trading deal that has cost municipalities millions of dollars this past year. "Conducting the investigation behind closed doors just won't do," Schumer said. "We need FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) to open up the books and determine both how much this cost New Yorkers and if that money can be given back to consumers."

Otter Tail Power Co. wants to increase a special charge to electric customers that helps pay for its wind energy projects. ...Otter Tail is asking North Dakota's Public Service Commission to increase the charge, starting Jan. 1. It would raise the payment from $1.45 to $3.83 monthly.

Noble Environmental Power's wind-energy projects in Cattaraugus and Allegany communities face an uncertain future both because of the global financial crisis and a legal snag. During a meeting of the Farmersville Town Board meeting Monday night, Town Supervisor Joe Brodka announced he had been advised that the area's development director for Noble was no longer employed and that the local energy projects may be shelved or assets sold, due to financing difficulties.

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.

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.

A proposed wind farm in northern Young County took a major step toward reality Monday when commissioners voted to approve a tax abatement plan for British Petroleum. After more than two hours of negotiations between BP and representatives from Young and Archer counties, Young County legal counsel Alan Carmichael announced an agreement had been reached.

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.