Cattaraugus County residents who fear their communities will be subjected to wind-energy facility laws and contracts, wind tower views and wind turbine noise learned Monday night that wind energy has already become a public policy in New York State. About 60 residents attending Monday night's wind energy forum in Olean Public Library were advised to lobby the governor and state elected officials concerning a proposed power plant siting bill now making its way through the State Legislature. The bill - known as Article X - and other legislation being considered in Albany would revive the Public Service Commission's expired provisions for power plant siting.

THE Assynt Foundation has made an unexpected U-turn on its proposal for a controversial wind farm in north-west Sutherland. Plans for the six-turbine development have been put in the “deep freeze”, Foundation development manager Mark Lazzeri told a packed public meeting this week. The surprise announcement effectively stymied what had been widely expected to be a particularly angry and heated debate over the issue.

Local wind energy developer Allan Kettles failed to get any further with his application for a small windfarm north of Pincher Creek earlier this week. ...MD Councillor Rod Zielinski pointed to a series of typographical errors in Kettles application for a six-turbine windfarm last month. Planning commission members also expressed concern that some information was missing from the application, which would help them to make a decision on the merit of the project. As a result they requested Kettles fill in the blanks and make the necessary corrections before they reviewed it again.

Wind turbines could be built next door to Peterborough’s Flag Fen – one of Europe’s most important Bronze Age sites. Anglian Water is consulting on plans to put up four turbines on its sewage works site in Third Drove, Fengate, which is a quarter of a mile from ancient remains at Flag Fen. The turbines would be 80 metres high and the blades 45 metres long, making it an instantly recognisable symbol across the flat Fenland landscape. While Flag Fen’s general manager Georgia Butters admits that four giant turbines don’t exactly sit with the centre’s aim to give visitors an authentic Bronze Age experience, she has agreed to compromise -– for the sake of the environment.

Empire State Wind Energy may develop a large-scale wind farm in eastern Wayne County in addition to the smaller projects already under discussion in Lyons and Sodus. Keith Pitman, CEO of the Oneida-based company, met Thursday with representatives from Rose, Huron, Wolcott and Butler and said yesterday that all seemed interested in working together to bring wind power to their towns. Backed by Tom Golisano, the billionaire founder of Paychex, Empire State says it will build only projects acceptable to host communities and return most of its profits to them through taxes, payments-in-lieu-of-taxes and fixed-cost energy sales. In other recent presentations to area town and village boards, Pitman has said that the company will pay for the turbines and assume the financial risk of operating them.

"The California Bureau of Land Management has had over 100 applications in the desert, many of them in the 1st District," said Apple Valley Town Councilman Scott Nassif, who found out about the projects through concerned residents. "My fear that there was a proliferation of these projects has come to fruition." Once they get a foothold on a certain area, they just multiply from there, Nassif added. ..."My concern is there is other uses for the desert such as mining, cattle grazing, recreation and military operations," Mitzelfelt said. "I don't want to see all of our remaining desert that's available to people covered in windmills and solar plants."

A joint public hearing before Kittitas County commissioners and the county Planning Commission examining the 69-turbine Invenergy wind farm west of Vantage is set for March 12, according to county planning staff. ...Planner Joanna Valencia, with county Community Development Services, said the hearing before the two decision-making bodies will take testimony on the impacts of the proposed, $250 million wind farm and the adequacy of the applicant to mitigate or lessen those impacts. The company, Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC, filed for the wind farm under provisions of a new ordinance for wind-power projects within a 500-square-mile east-county area designated as a pre-identified zone for wind farms.

The board initially considered a wind turbine article largely drafted by Kraft Group attorney John Twohig ..."They voted no action because the installation, siting and adjustment of wind turbines is a quickly evolving science and one that they still had significant concerns about, particularly as to the impacts on abutters and nearby residents," Wason said.

Public lands are off the table. That was Florida Power & Light Co.'s message Tuesday morning as the company announced it would no longer pursue three wind turbines on state-owned land at Blind Creek Park. Instead, it will move ahead only with the six turbines proposed for land it owns around the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant on Hutchinson Island. The issue was set to go before the County Commission tonight, as commissioners were to consider writing a letter to the state denying an easement for the Blind Creek property. Because the county manages the land, its approval would have been necessary.

The wind may be blowing hard enough in Florida to produce electricity after all. Florida Power & Light Co. said Thursday it intends to explore building a wind-power project near the coastline of St. Lucie County.

Florida Power & Light Co. is moving forward with plans to place wind turbines on state land at Blind Creek Park despite one county commissioner coming out against the site and the county attorney advising against it. County Attorney Dan McIntyre released a memo late Wednesday advising commissioners to not allow FPL to put turbines on the land, which is co-owned by the state Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund (affiliated with the Department of Environmental Protection) and the South Florida Water Management District. The county helped the state buy the land, currently leases it and acts as the land manager. McIntyre opposed the plan because the county contributed $3.6 million to the state to buy the property, using money from bonds issues approved by voters to buy and protect "environmentally significant lands and wildlife habitat."

The turbines would take up only 3 or 4 acres of dunes in the 409-acre park, FPL officials say, but to opponents like Coward that's too much. "It doesn't make any sense to me to promote green energy at the expense of our green spaces," said Coward. "I don't know that you could pick a worse site." Other commissioners are less certain about what to do, and want more information. "None of us are wind experts," said Commissioner Charles Grande, "although some of us are known for producing hot air."

St. Lucie County shouldn't allow wind turbines anywhere on Hutchinson Island even though Florida Power & Light Co. cut its plan from nine to six turbines, several residents told county commissioners Tuesday night. "FPL's proposal for six windmills on its own property has all of the same environmental concerns as Blind Creek Park," said Julie Zahniser of the Save St. Lucie Alliance. She said there are threatened and endangered species in that area, and she doubts there's enough wind to make it feasible to generate enough electricity.

Facing the possibility of two commissioners withdrawing support for its wind turbines, Florida Power & Light Co. pulled out of a planned state meeting set for today. The decision came after commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday to send a letter to the state Acquisition and Restoration Council, which oversees the use of public land, telling them they shouldn't consider the turbine proposal until the county has weighed in. FPL is seeking to place six turbines on its own land on Hutchinson Island and another three on state owned land at Blind Creek Park that is leased by the county.

Florida Power & Light Co. will not go before a state agency this week to discuss its wind turbine plan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection said Wednesday. The Acquisition and Restoration Council, a state agency affiliated with DEP that oversees the use of public conservation lands, was set to meet Thursday and Friday in Tallahassee. The item is no longer on the agenda, said Sarah Williams, a DEP spokeswoman.

With the use of public lands off the table, the next battle in the war over bringing wind turbines to Hutchinson Island is beginning to take shape. Florida Power & Light Co. announced Tuesday morning it would no longer pursue turbines on state-owned land managed by the county at Blind Creek Park and would instead move ahead with just six turbines on land it owns around the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant. Local residents packed commission chambers for Tuesday's commission meeting where the turbines were originally set to come up for discussion. At the end of the night, commissioners agreed to work on a letter to the state outlining some general concerns they had about the Blind Creek location.

Town Meeting last night temporarily shot down a bylaw that would have set up guidelines for wind turbines, with critics saying the measure was inflexible and incomprehensible. Meeting members referred the proposed bylaw back to a committee that will include two members of the Planning Board, two members of the Standing Committee on Planning and Zoning, two members of the Greener Framingham Committee, and one member from the Board of Selectmen. That task force is to report back to fall Town Meeting with its recommendations, said Town Moderator Ed Noonan at the conclusion of the Town Meeting session. The town does not have a wind turbine bylaw.

After two years of talk, Town Meeting is poised to vote on a proposal that would allow residents, businesses and the town itself to harness wind power. Currently, the town does not have a wind turbine bylaw, and people are lining up on both sides of the new proposal. ...Town Meeting member Yaakov Cohn, who served on the wind turbine bylaw committee, called the proposal poorly written, weak and sloppy.

For weeks, Yaakov Cohn wrestled with the ramifications of alternative energy. His wind turbine research found him delving into German court cases and poring over studies from Wisconsin. Last night, the fruits of those labors were presented to the Planning Board in the form of a 10-page proposal that would establish a wind turbine bylaw. The measure sets guidelines for turbine height, noise, and blade glint, or shadows. However, in its current form, the measure may not draw the board's endorsement or pass at Town Meeting.

Town Meeting last night delayed a vote that could have set up guidelines for wind turbines, electing to table the measure. Town Meeting member Tom O'Neil, who served on the committee charged with crafting the bylaw that would set rules for turbines, made the motion to table the proposal. During a break in the proceedings, O'Neil said the bylaw Article 25 on the warrant was not ready to be approved.