News stories tagged with "wind"

(01/11/12) The prospect of wind energy development has divided north country communities from Cape Vincent to Clinton County. New York's new Article X law gives developers the option to seek state review of where to put their wind farms. But prior to Article X, accepting and siting the big turbines was up to each town. And companies can still choose local rather than state review.

More than once, the conflict over wind has spilled over into local politics. That has been the case in both Cape Vincent, on Lake Ontario, and Hammond, on a windy ridge overlooking the St. Lawrence River. In both towns, last fall's elections pitted incumbent supervisors who favor regulation of wind power against challengers who had already signed leases with energy companies to place wind turbines on their land. Joanna Richards reports on the likely impact of those elections. more

(01/11/12) Politics and price are pitting gas drilling against offshore wind on the Great lakes.
Our Front and Center partnership with WBEZ in Chicago looks at hopes for economic revival in the nation's rustbelt.

In the Cleveland area, politicians and businessmen have been pushing for years to build a wind farm in Lake Erie. But the project's financing is up in the air, and as WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports, state politics is tipping the balance toward hydrofracking, and away from what could be the first major offshore wind development in the Great Lakes. more

(01/05/12) Governor Cuomo's agenda for the coming year includes more than $20 billion for capital projects aimed at boosting the state's infrastructure.

One of the big ticket items is a $2 billion plan to develop new high tech utility lines designed to feed electricity from producers in the North Country and Quebec to consumers downstate. Brian Mann reports. more

(12/21/11) Most experts agree we need to move toward renewable energy to save the planet. Giant wind farms are already up and running across America - from the high deserts of California to the North Country's Tug Hill Plateau. And from coast to coast, communities have been divided over wind power development. Supporters around the nation imagine wind providing clean energy--and green jobs--for generations to come. But wind farms have a downside.

In 2009, dozens of wind towers were installed on Wolfe Island on the Canadian side of the border, just where Lake Ontario feeds into the St. Lawrence River. The turbines rise like thirty story buildings, transforming the landscape and sharply dividing a once-sleepy farming community. This audio collage, produced by Chris Trimmer and Aleksandra Bragoszewska of Kingston, Ontario for Front and Center, captures the low roar of the turbines and the dissonance they've spread in the community.

(07/26/11) Wind power projects have been controversial in the North Country ever since the Maple Ridge Wind Farm started turning in Lewis County more than five years ago. One of the big questions remains: how do wind turbines affect the local economy?

Now a team of researchers at Clarkson University has some answers. Assistant professor Martin Heintzelman and PhD student Carrie Tuttle found that wind projects can depress property values by as much as 17-percent. But, they can also have a positive effect on real estate.

The researchers collected information about 10,000 property sales in three counties, including Lewis, between the years 2001 and 2009. They mapped the sales of these properties. They mapped all the wind turbines. And they considered every factor they could think of that might be a variable in the sales price: the size of the property, the house, whether it's in a village, what was happening with the general real estate market. Professor Heintzelman spoke with Julie Grant about what they found. more

(01/27/11) Earlier this month, you heard David Sommerstein's report on the 2010 Kite Skiing Festival on the Tug Hill Plateau. Skiers and snowboarders tether themselves to high performance kites that harness the Tug's strong winds and pull them along open farm fields.

While David was at this year's kite skiing festival, he learned there's something else you can do with a kite - kite buggying. Here's David for today's Heard Up North. more

(11/12/10) Towns across the North Country have been consumed by commercial wind farm projects. Wind power has divided neighbors, even families. It's turned the results of elections in places like Hammond and Cape Vincent. A recent planning board meeting in Cape Vincent dealing with wind power devolved into a physical altercation.

The town of Henderson, on the shore of eastern Lake Ontario in Jefferson County, has side-stepped future wind clashes. It's become the first North Country town to ban all wind turbines - industrial ones, private ones, even wind test towers.

Henderson town supervisor Ray Walker voted with the 4 to 1 majority passing the law Wednesday night. He told David Sommerstein a mostly anti-wind citizens' group came up with a set of zoning regulations after a year of research.

(11/12/10) The wind debate hasn't been very civil in communities across Upstate New York.
The Innovation Trail's Emma Jacobs and Ryan Morden visited East Meredith and Litchfield in Central New York. Both have populations just over a thousand people. Both have been approached by wind power developers. And both have residents are at odds. Emma Jacobs reports.

(10/19/10) A recent report from the agency that monitors New York's electric grid says the state can quintuple the amount of wind power pulsing through the system by 2018. But wind developers say the chances of hitting that mark are slim.

Wind farms are having trouble making profits for their owners. As the Innovation Trail's Zack Seward reports, more incentives may be needed if the state wants to meet its renewable energy goals. more

(05/03/10) Last week, President Obama turned his attention to rural America. He visited an ethanol refinery in Missouri, a small CSA farmer in Iowa, and wind turbine blades manufacturer in Iowa. The message was that while farming is important to rural communities, most rural people get their paychecks off the farm. New industries like renewable energies will be key to reviving small towns.

On Air Force One, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said that rural America is facing "a silent crisis." David Sommerstein got a chance to interview Vilsack to ask what he meant. Vilsack says the recession hit rural America decades ago. He says 90% of counties with persistent poverty are in rural areas.