No parking and no turbines. Lyme's Town Council extended the moratorium on wind energy development for a year and enacted a parking ban along County Route 125 at its meeting Wednesday night. The moratorium, which was proposed as a three-month period, was passed through Oct. 15, 2010. An appeals court decision on a lawsuit against the zoning law passed May 6 will be announced in January or February. Then the law would be "tweaked," Supervisor Scott G. Aubertine said.

The Denmark Town Council on Monday night heard further comments on a proposed wind power zoning law but postponed any action until the full board could discuss it. "It'll be up for discussion when our supervisor is back," Deputy Supervisor David W. Thoma said. ...The Town Council has held previous public hearings on the proposed law but was required to hold another one due to several changes to the draft.

Wind farms in upstate New York are interfering with National Weather Service Doppler radars, making it more difficult to detect and assess approaching lake effect snow storms. The spinning blades on the towering turbines can cause problems by reflecting some of the radar's signal, which can be falsely interpreted as wind or precipitation. The reflections can make storms coming off lakes Erie and Ontario look stronger than they actually are, but the structures can also act like a wall and hide a storm from forecasters.

Town of Allegany board members were told that they will have to put more zoning laws into effect if they are going to have control over wind-turbine companies that may try to move into the community. During a special meeting Monday at Allegany Town Hall, board members heard comments from Dan Spitzer, an attorney with Hodgson Russ LLP in Buffalo who is advising the town board on wind-turbine issues. The small town-hall meeting room was filled with residents who were concerned with the possibility of a wind-turbine farm moving into the Chipmonk area. ..."It's a very complicated topic and the one thing I say, whether I'm representing the community or representing the developer, is that it will change your community for a generation, at least," Mr. Spitzer said of a wind-turbine farm.

Supervisor Patrick Eaton said a recent ban on wind turbine farms by the Yorkshire Town Board has caused Allegany Town Board members to rethink its position regarding proposed wind turbines in the Chipmunk area. Another issue expected to have an impact on the proposed 32-turbine Everpower wind farm in the Chipmunk area in the southwest portion of the town of Allegany is the town's portion of PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) payments negotiated by the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

The Italy Town Board voted last night to deny an application from a company that wanted to build an 18-turbine wind farm in the picturesque Yates County town. "We're all very pleased, and surprised. All of us who have been fighting for so long - our jaws were on the floor. We couldn't believe what we were hearing from our town board," said Kathy Johnstone, a town resident and a vice president of the Finger Lakes Preservation Association, which opposes the project.

The Italy Town Board took three actions Monday night to stop the development of a wind farm in the town. Ecogen LLC applied to develop up to 24 turbines in 2007. Since then, the project was adjusted to 18 turbines ...As a group of steadfast town residents watched, the board carefully reviewed and made minor revisions to a six-page resolution denying the application for a special use permit to build and operate a wind farm on Emerson Road. The board agreed unanimously to adopt the resolution denying the application.

The Indian River Central School District is looking into putting a wind turbine on one of its campuses to decrease the district's energy costs and carbon footprint. ..."We are proposing a study to assess the wind we have," district Business Manager James R. Koch said, at the Board of Education meeting on Thursday night.

To meet a developer's request for speed, the Jefferson County Industrial Development Agency will begin laying out a property tax relief program for the proposed Galloo Island Wind Farm. While the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement will follow the formula developed for a uniform tax-exempt policy, JCIDA will not seek approval of the uniform policy now. That would require all affected taxing jurisdictions from the four proposed wind projects to sign on, which officials believe would take too long.

The owners of a defunct mine in St. Lawrence County are looking into the feasibility of building what would be the second commercial wind farm ever proposed in the Adirondack Park. Representatives of Benson Mines Inc. have been meeting with the state Adirondack Park Agency to discuss a plan to build as many as six to 10 wind turbines on the company's 3,000-plus acres in the town of Clifton. Bernard Melewski, the company's lawyer, stressed that the project is in its infancy.

The Prattsburgh Town Board appears to be in no hurry to act on a road use agreement with wind farm developer Ecogen, despite a written request by the firm to pass it this month. Board members decided last week to instead rely on the advice of town Highway Superintendent Chris Jensen, who told the board he wanted the agreement to be reviewed by Hunt Engineering before any formal action is taken.

A public forum hosted Wednesday night by the Town Council on proposed changes to the zoning law became an outlet for many residents' fears about a wind energy project still in its infancy. People packed the hall of the Henderson Fire Department and Free Library building for the forum, organized to gather input from the public as the council ponders changes to the town zoning law that would make regulations more friendly to a possible wind project. Many residents directed questions squarely at developer Sherret E. Chase, vice president of development for United Wind Energy

The Lewis County Planning Board on Monday night signed off on plans for the 39-turbine Roaring Brook wind farm project in the town of Martinsburg. Board members voted 4-0 to approve the proposed 78-megawatt project, with several recommendations to the Martinsburg town Planning Board. County Planning Board member and Legislator Richard C. Lucas, R-Barnes Corners, abstained.

A crane operator reportedly escaped injury late Monday morning when the crane he was using to maintain First Wind turbines collapsed. Wayland State Police reported the work-related accident occurred around noon Monday on South Wheaton Road in the town of Cohocton. The operator - who was not identified - suffered minor injuries.

A public hearing will be held Saturday morning in Italy, Yates County, on a proposed 18-turbine wind energy project now pending before the Town Board. Ecogen LLC, based in suburban Buffalo, is seeking town approval to erect 415-foot-high turbines, each rated as capable of generating up to 2.3 megawatts of electricity.

A bombshell was dropped at the Arkwright Town Board meeting with an announcement by Tom Stebbins, project manager for the Arkwright Summit Wind Project. He said that Horizon Wind Energy will not begin building turbines in Arkwright next April, as he had earlier indicated. "We will continue the permitting process and our commitment to the town with regard to this project," he told the town council.

Permits for small-scale wind turbines gained a fast permitting track in the Adirondack Park. Combining regulation with New York state's push for alternative energy sources, staff at the Adirondack Park Agency established a general permit to move residential wind power more quickly through the regulatory review process. APA commissioners unanimously approved the measure at their recent meeting.

General Electric Co. grabbed a major foothold into Europe's growing offshore wind market Monday by completing the acquisition of a Norwegian wind turbine company. The $18 million deal for ScanWind was originally announced last month.

Wind-farm-lease holders may soon be able to opt for lump-sum payments for their anticipated lease agreements instead of waiting for periodic checks. Chuck Hinckley, the former chief operating officer of Noble Environmental Power, is now CEO of American Wind Capital Co. in Essex, Conn., which just announced that it has had an infusion of cash from investment bankers and a private energy-technology investor.

The New York Independent System Operator, the North Greenbush nonprofit that operates the state's wholesale electricity market, has told federal regulators that three power plants in upstate New York may have been trying to inflate profits by making artificially high bids. The NYISO won't publicly reveal the names of the generators -- or just how much they might have cost consumers.