The Farmersville Town Board will meet in a special session at 7 p. m. Monday to discuss the possibility of placing a moratorium on permits for wind-energy generating facilities. Officials also canceled a public hearing Wednesday on a proposal to increase wind project application fees and amended the town's law regulating wind farms. The board met in a closed-door session Sept. 24 with the town's wind-energy consultant, Donald Swanz, and a representative of Noble Environmental Power, which has met with the board several times to discuss a possible wind farm to connect with a proposed project, Noble Freedom Windpark in the neighboring Town of Freedom.

The oil cleanup at Dawson Point near Marysville was finished Friday afternoon, but residents in the area are still not allowed to drink from their wells. ...About 396 gallons of diesel fuel was spilled Wednesday morning during fueling of the Sea Hound, a tugboat operated by Nadro Marine Services Ltd., a contractor based in Port Drove, Ontario. ...The tugboats are used to push barges loaded with supplies and parts from Ogdensburg for Canadian Hydro Developers Inc.'s 86-turbine Wolfe Island Wind Project. So far, 28 wind turbines have arrived.

Shell Oil and Cinco Energy Land Services are looking to build commercial wind farms on both state and private land in Rensselaerville and New Scotland. Representatives have been approaching residents about leasing their properties. Shell has been tight-lipped about the project's details, and neither town has zoning regulating the building of windmills. Part of this project involves building on the Partridge Run State Wildlife Management Area in the Helderbergs.

Wind power in Tompkins County took another step toward becoming a reality with the completion of a wind law for Enfield. The Enfield Town Board is still months away from adopting the law, but a draft of it was reviewed by the board and its attorney, and is now in the hands of the Tompkins County Planning Department for additional scrutiny.

About 10 households on an island near Kingston, Ont., have been told to drink only bottled water after a tugboat spilled about 1,500 litres of fuel near shore. The diesel fuel spilled into Lake Ontario near Wolfe Island around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from a boat carrying equipment for a controversial wind turbine project. Some residents have fought hard against the project, saying they are concerned about the environmental effects of installing 86 turbines on such a small island.

Environmental Conservation added several sections that will be required in the environmental impact statement for Galloo Island Wind Farm, under the final scoping document it has released. ... He specifically cited security and archaeological concerns that were added to the scope. There are remains of historic activities or features that may be destroyed during construction, such as features from the cedar shingle industry. A mitigation measure was added under which photographic and written documentation of the feature would be completed before it is destroyed.

Last week the agency announced that it had implemented a centralized wind forecasting system that will enable the ISO to better predict how much wind will be generated at each wind farm in the state. ..."Because of wind's intermittent nature, something like this is critical," Klapp said. "Take a wind farm that's putting out 10 megawatts of energy. We can't assume that's going to be consistent. [The forecasting system] tells us what we can expect." Unexpected ebbs in supply could cause reliability problems, he said.

The boundary for the wind turbine overlay district is set tentatively as Route 6 to the west and the riverfront district to the north. The town's wind zoning amendment committee agreed to those boundaries at its meeting Thursday afternoon. ...The lakefront district is excluded under the Route 6 boundary, as is a section of agricultural district land west of Route 6. "There are people out there that would be affected," said Beth A. White, president of Voters for Wind.

The Yates County Planning Board approved proposed incentive zoning amendments to the Town of Italy's comprehensive plan that would make way for wind energy development. Incentive zoning refers to designated areas in the town where wind turbines would be allowed and developers eligible for financial incentives. At Thursday's meeting, board member Dave Christiansen asked Italy Town Supervisor Margaret Dunn why the town didn't address the zoning issue during its moratorium on wind farm development.

Cattaraugus County has retained its ability to tax alternative energy systems - including wind farms, solar energy systems and on-farm methane digesters - with a 16-2 vote for passage of a local law Tuesday. The law applies to facilities within the county, including as many as four potential wind farm projects under consideration, and effectively disarms a state tax code provision exempting these energy sources from taxes. ...The vote came after residents and elected officials from the towns of Freedom, Machias and Farmersville stated their opposition in a 45-minute public hearing. Most said they were told the IDA's payment-in-lieu-of- taxes (PILOT) agreements will unfairly take a share of the wind farms' monetary payments.

A small classroom in St. John's parish was filled with curious citizens Wednesday night, gathered to ask questions and discuss zoning for possible wind turbines. The purpose of the meeting, held by the Wind Energy Committee, was to "put the horse before the cart" and examine possible zoning laws before wind energy companies take a closer look at the town. "The point is, they are talking to the east and west," Wind Energy Committee Chairman Peter A. Paquette said. "We want to be ahead of the game."

The New York Independent System Operator has a new wind-power forecasting system. ...The system was installed this month. Wind power is variable in nature, which means adjustments must be made to the grid to accommodate its changing levels. The system will help the NYISO predict how much power each wind project will feed into the system.

The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency is not mentioned in a proposed local law intended to sidestep a blanket state tax exemption and maintain the county's ability to tax wind farms and other alternative energy facilities. But some Cattaraugus County Legislators said Monday that mistrust of the agency, along with a lack of understanding of the proposed law, probably will scuttle the second attempt in a year to bring it to a vote. The decision is likely to be made after a public hearing at 3 p. m. today in the legislative chambers on the third floor of the County Center in Little Valley.

A year after nixing an offshore wind farm near Jones Beach, the Long Island Power Authority will explore a new, larger proposal with Con Edison for a field of up to 100 turbines off the coast of Queens. LIPA chief executive Kevin Law today is expected to announce the formation of a working group with Con Ed to study the feasibility of a "significant" wind farm, possibly 10 miles off the Rockaways. If the two utilities can agree on a plan, they will draw up a request for proposals, perhaps early next year. Law emphasized that any plan would have to be economically feasible. LIPA's financial picture already includes tentative plans to overhaul old fossil-fuel plants and take on the state's largest solar energy project, on top of a $6.6 billion debtload.

Gary Davidson, a project manager for Horizon Wind Energy, was present to answer questions from citizens and board members during the September 10 Town Board meeting. When asked to explain the process for developing property, Davidson explained, "We typically approach landowners. We have wind maps, we try to match up wind with nearby transmission [facilities]. At some point, we usually try to introduce ourselves. Our history here in Ashford goes back about five years working with land owners on Dutch Hill."

When the Benton County Planning Board meets at 5:30 p.m. today, it will decide the fate of a meteorological tower slated to go up off Sibley Road in Sulphur Springs. ...The company has already leased the wind rights to 2, 000 acres in Benton County in order to study the winds as a part of the project called the Honey Creek Wind Project.

A legal roadblock attempting to sideline wind development in Cohocton was dismissed Tuesday morning. Steuben County Supreme Court Judge Marianne Furfure sided with Cohocton town officials, wind development company First Wind and leaseholders Tuesday morning, dismissing three lawsuits filed by Cohocton Wind Watch to overturn the special use permits that allowed the 50-turbine project to be built.

Nearly 70 concerned residents and neighbors spoke out about potential rezoning for wind turbines in the Italy Valley at a public hearing Saturday. The discussion continued a forum that began at a meeting last week in which emotional residents protested the proposed changes, which would allow developer Ecogen LLC to move forward with plans for wind turbines in two areas in the southern portion of the town. About two-thirds of the speakers on Saturday opposed wind development, said Town Board member Malcolm MacKenzie. Of those, many surmised that developers are not concerned about the best interest of the residents.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer will meet with the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about a problem he says has cost state communities millions. "We must get to the bottom of this greedy scheme," Schumer said in a statement. Between January and July of this year, energy-market traders were using deceptive trading practices, the senator said, which slammed consumers with millions of dollars in unnecessary, additional fees and put the state at risk for blackouts.

Windhorse Power's turbines are allowed in Beekmantown - again. Though approved by the Beekmantown Zoning Board of Appeals in early 2007, an Article 78 proceeding had kept the project in legal limbo. But the New York State Appellate Court recently upheld a State Supreme Court decision from Aug. 23, 2007. That decision dismissed the Article 78 proceeding started by the West Beekmantown Neighborhood Association in March 2007.