Mayor Michael Bloomberg is backing off his suggestion to put windmills on city bridges and rooftops after newspapers mocked the idea with photo illustrations of turbines on the Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building. "There are aesthetic considerations," Bloomberg said. "No. 2, I have absolutely no idea whether that makes any sense from a scientific, from a practical point of view." ...David Carr, of the Alternative Energy Institute, in Canyon, Texas, said mounting turbines high above the city is "not very feasible." "I don't think this was very well thought out," he said.

Two town councilmen won't vote on a proposed wind farm ordinance, because they've signed contracts to lease their own land to a wind developer. ...A wind energy committee formed last summer collected lots of information and talked with several wind turbine experts to help them craft the proposed law. The Town Council in February enacted a 240-day moratorium on the construction of wind energy facilities within the town. The moratorium bans the issuing of permits for construction of wind turbines.

The Danish ship "Beluga Fighter" brought windmill parts to the Ogdensburg port yesterday. The windmills are destined for the Wolfe Island Wind Farm project in Canada. ...The transfer of the windmills should be complete by November.

In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy. The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration.

Many US residents are passionate about a future propelled by wind. "The promotion of renewable power such as home-grown wind-generated power in New York is essential," said Ed Bennett, president of New York Interfaith Power and Light, a church group that backs renewable sources of energy. "New York has a tangible renewable resource in wind power that could supply 10 per cent of New York's electrical consumption in the very near future." ..."But the industry faces all kinds of hurdles, from right of way issues to groups opposed to the aesthetic intrusion of giant wind turbines. There are a lot of [people] that are going to have to be convinced before we get to something like 300,000 megawatts of electricity from wind."

The local debates over wind power are driven in a part by a vacuum at the state level. There is no state law governing where wind turbines can be built or how big they can be. That leaves it up to town officials, working part time and on advice from outside lawyers, some of whom may have conflicts of their own. Two Franklin County towns, Brandon and Malone, have passed laws banning the wind turbines. But the issue remains unresolved in Burke, population 1,451, where two Town Board members recused themselves from the issue this year because they had leases with wind companies, leaving the board deadlocked.

Rancich appeared before the Enfield Town Board more than a year ago to lay out his business plan for the wind farm. A group of residents fervently opposed the idea, arguing about land rights, illnesses related to the turbines and concerns of dying birds. That hour-long meeting was loud - at times unruly - and for a bit, it made people in attendance wonder whether wind energy would ever come to Tompkins County. These days Rancich, 54, shows up to town meetings and sits through typical town business with nearly no chatter on wind, aside from discussion about where the planning board is on developing a local wind law.

More than three dozen Hamlin residents are suing the town over a new law regulating the development of wind farms. The Hamlin Preservation Group and 39 town residents filed a lawsuit Tuesday in state Supreme Court against the law, claiming it will allow electricity-generating wind turbines that will ruin Hamlin's rural nature and environment. The Hamlin Town Board unanimously approved the law at a contentious meeting April 24. One board member abstained because he had signed a lease agreement with a wind energy firm.

Legislator Jerry E. Burrell, R-Franklinville, told about 45 town residents, three Town Board members and others concerned about the property that the county intends to sell the parcels and get it back on the tax rolls. But he said the county has not hired a wind energy lawyer and has no intention of shutting the town out on a deal with Noble Environmental. The wind farm developer, which has been negotiating leases with landowners in Farmersville and Freedom, has constructed a wind farm in the Town of Bliss ...

The Town Council will release a preliminary zoning law regulating placement of wind turbines on its Web site as early as Monday. The council, meeting Thursday, also appointed an eight-member committee to examine the draft and make recommendations on the setback and noise requirements. ... In other wind news, the town's attorney made confidential conflict-of-interest determinations for each member of the Town Council and Planning Board related to contracts for wind turbines, either for themselves or for relatives.

A proposed wind farm in Scipio is no more. Timothy O'Leary, communications manager with Shell WindEnergy in Houston, said the plan has been suspended. "We continue to have an interest in developing this project and appreciate the support we've received from many people in the county for this proposed project. There are however, many variables in developing wind projects, not the least of which is securing land," O'Leary wrote in an e-mail.

Investigators from the state Attorney General's Office have been investigating two major New York wind energy producers - including the one putting up turbines in Cohocton. So far, however, the investigation has focused on First Wind's activities, not those of municipal officials who deal with the companies, according to Cohocton town Supervisor Jack Zigenfus. Zigenfus said Thursday he has not been contacted by the Attorney General's Office, nor have other town officials. ...According to James Hall with local advocacy group Cohocton Wind Watch, that is not true.

Legal costs associ­ated with lawsuits involving wind farms are making it dif­ficult for the town of Cohocton to pay what it owes Steuben County for road work. To give the town a break, the Legislature's Public Works Committee agreed Tuesday to give the town more time to pay $98,000-worth of road work done at the intersection of county Route 39 and state routes 21 and 371. "I know the perception is the town is floating in money," Cohocton Supervisor Jack Zigenfus told the com­mittee. "Actually, it's floating in lawsuits."

The company under investigation by the state Attorney General's Office announced Monday it plans to begin construction of its planned wind tower project in Prattsburgh in the spring of 2009. The Massachusetts-based company, First Wind (formerly known as UPC Wind), plans to put up 36 wind turbines in the Steuben County town that borders Naples in Ontario County. Last month, the citizens group Advocates for Prattsburgh sued to overturn a 3-2 vote by the Prattsburgh Town Board ...

Interim City Manager Edward Somppi, at Monday's regular meeting, said he is trying to arrange a tour of a wind farm near Lowville, N.Y., a town of about 3,250 people northeast of Syracuse. Council is deciding whether to sell 159 acres within the publicly owned East Conneaut Industrial Park to SGR Site Associates of Willoughby. SGR believes the property, when combined with privately owned land north and south of the city parcel, could be home to as many as 50 gigantic wind turbines.

After discussing the specifics of Ecogen LLC's planned Prattsburgh wind farm, he turned to the attendees. "I've always wanted to ask a lot of people in the town, ‘What do you think about them?'" he told the audience. Lest anyone think a wind company has designs on Naples, Duserick added, "No one's approached us yet." Still, he said, it's prudent to be prepared should wind developers express interest in building wind farms in Naples.

The below Blog entry includes excerpts from UPC/First Wind's SEC filing including the summary information on the NY Attorney General's investigation and three projects in New York: Steel Winds I, Cohocton I, and Prattsburgh I.

BP Alternative Energy revealed the setting of 95 turbines for the Cape Vincent Wind Farm on Wednesday ...The session seemed to change few minds; a map of the proposed turbines was met with skepticism by wind power critics and appreciation by those who have endorsed the Cape Vincent project. The proposed turbines, overlayed on a U.S. Geological Survey map with outdated road names, were spread around the town along red power lines. Their locations were bounded on the southeast by the Lyme town line, in the northwest by wetlands and elsewhere by a proximity to Lake Ontario and other waterways.

In Vermont the parties are still waiting for a decision on the Sheffield project, which was argued before the high court in May. A clerk at the Supreme Court said Tuesday she has no idea when a decision might be announced. Meanwhile, the opponents of big wind in western New York believe they are finally getting the recognition they deserve with this month's announcement by the AG's office in Albany.

The investigation comes as wind-farm companies are lining up at town halls with deep pockets and the promise of economic development for governments starved for new revenue to fund schools, fix roads and pay for emergency services. Roughly 65 wind projects are being developed in New York, and about eight are already operating, mainly in the Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes and the North Country. The state plans to have about 1,000 megawatts of wind power production.