Forty-seven additional mechanics liens have been filed by a Michigan construction company against Noble Environmental Power. The Aristeo Construction Company filed the liens on April 17. ...The liens are in addition to 19 such documents filed Feb. 13 in connection with the Noble Wethersfield Wind Park.

Town Board members plan to decide next week whether they consider an application from EcoGen LLC to develop 18 wind turbines complete. ...If the board deems the application complete, its next steps include declaring itself lead agency, completing an environmental review form, sending a referral to the Yates County Planning Board and setting a public hearing 62 days from the date the application is deemed complete.

Board members received other input from those in attendance, including comments from acoustical engineer Rick James, of Michigan. James told the board, based on the state Department of Environmental Conservation recommendations for decibel increases, the acceptable noise level for the region was 27-30 dBA. The current standard for wind farms in Steuben County is 50 dBA. "Fifty decibels is based on the needs of the wind developers," he said. "It is not based on science ... it is a smokescreen."

The proposed Ripley-Westfield Wind LLC wind farm project moved another step closer to reality Tuesday. The proposed project, which would generate 125 megawatts of electricity, was the subject of the Industrial Development Agency's meeting.

The state Power Authority announced an initiative today that could lead to the construction of a billion-dollar wind farm off the Lake Erie or Ontario shoreline. The project would involve building a wind farm and also seeding a local industry to manufacture and assemble wind turbines, authority officials say.

If the investors behind the failed New York Regional Interconnect powerline project want to try again, they will have to start back at square one, New York regulators say. Tuesday, the New York Public Service commission officially dismissed NYRI's Article VII application which sought permitting authority for a 190-mile long high voltage transmission line.

Members of the Cape Vincent-based citizens organization's legal committee wrote and posted a petition online for Gov. David A. Paterson, which had more than 390 signatures as of Thursday evening. The group opposes large-scale wind power development.

Noble Environmental Power has refinanced three of its wind parks, including two in the North Country. Noble recently announced that it has received long-term capital for its Altona, Chateaugay and Wethersfield wind parks. ...GE Energy Financial Services invested more than $200 million in the three wind parks as part of a syndicate of banks and financial institutions.

Town officials and a few dozen residents heard expert opinions on the impacts of wind farm development at a community forum Saturday morning organized by the town Planning Board. The hearing, held at the Henderson Fire Department and Free Library building, was part of the board's effort to review portions of the zoning law that deal with wind energy development.

The New York Regional Interconnect said Friday it is suspending plans to build a 190-mile power line in the state, saying a recent decision by federal regulators makes the $2.1 billion project too risky. The company had asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reverse a rule established by the region's power grid operator, saying it gave utilities too much power over the project. But the commission denied the request this week.

The town of Westfield will no longer be hearing the name "Babcock and Brown" so often, now that the board passed resolutions changing the name of the responsible party to Ripley-Westfield Wind LLC and State Line LLC. "Babcock and Brown is in the process of divesting its windpower division, including the Ripley-Westfield project," Town Supervisor Martha Bills said.

A standing-room-only crowd voted Tuesday night to support studying possible development of a wind farm on Mollyockett Mountain. The Wind Power Committee, chaired by Selectman Mark Silber, and representatives from Kean Project Engineering Inc. of Turner answered questions from about 40 residents.

About $9 million of mechanic's liens filed in New York against Noble Environmental Power will have no effect on the company's ability to finance its $257 million plan to erect 33 wind turbines on peaks in Coos County and should not worry the people of New Hampshire, according to the company's chief financial officer. ...Christopher Lowe [Noble CFO] said that most of the liens are being settled and that the same issues would not be repeated in New Hampshire.

A total of 19 liens have been filed in connection with the Noble Wethersfield Wind Park completed last summer. The liens are the latest blow to Connecticut-based Noble Environmental Power, which experienced a spate of difficulties including a turbine collapse March 6 in Franklin County. ...Each of the 19 liens was classified as "mechanics lien," which is filed when a person or business doesn't receive payment for a service or materials. Each lien renders the property owner unable to obtain a clear title to the property. The liens can also damage the owners' credit scores, affecting the owners' ability to obtain loans and lines of credit.

Nearly 50 liens attached to property whose owners granted easements for wind-farm operations here are expected to be cleared up within 10 days. Representatives from Noble Environmental Power reportedly are calling each of the impacted families in northern Franklin County to assure them the liens will be gone in about a week.

While liens were being filed against Noble Environmental Power and its subsidiaries in Franklin County, similar documents are being filed on landowners in Clinton and Wyoming counties including one filed in Clinton County by a local business owner. According to documents at the Clinton County Clerk's office, a total of $6.4 million in liens have been filed on various subsidiaries of Noble Environmental Power LLC.

Just a week after it was first reported that mechanics liens had been filed on three area property owners on land used by Noble Environmental Power LLC, 43 more such documents were filed in the Franklin County Courthouse including two on the Village of Chateaugay. ...Late Tuesday and early Wednesday, the 43 new liens totaling just shy of $3 million were filed in the Franklin County Clerk's office.

A state appellate court has unanimously upheld a lower court's ruling that the town of Cape Vincent can classify industrial wind turbines as utilities. The Wind Power Ethics Group, a citizens organization that opposes large-scale wind power development, brought an Article 78 suit in state Supreme Court in March 2007 against the town's Zoning Board of Appeals, claiming it incorrectly classified the turbines as utilities.

Several property owners who entered easement agreements with an arm of Noble Environmental Power now find themselves with mechanic liens on their land after the company reportedly failed to pay a bill to an electrical company. On March 11, three separate mechanics liens were filed in the Franklin County Clerk¹s office in connection with properties used by Noble for development of the Noble Chateaugay Windpark.

The Lyme Town Council will vote on extending the town's moratorium on wind power turbines at its April meeting. At the council meeting Wednesday night, members said the moratorium should be extended while the legal battle over the town's wind development zoning law continues. A public hearing on the moratorium will begin at 6:15 p.m. April 8 at the town office.