Town Board approved a 90-day moratorium on new wind projects. I emailed the town supervisor on 041416 to get a status update. John Hart, town supervisor, emailed me back on 042016 to confirm the board had approved the moratorium. Hart said the board is planning to adopt new regs that will increase set backs to 1,760' to property line or 3.63 times the height of a proposed windmill. Project will have 7 turbines, all GE 2.3MW

The Ellington Township Board of Trustees enacted a four-month moratorium on wind turbines at a special meeting. The move puts the Tuscola III wind farm project on hold. The project would be about 100 megawatts and cost about $200 million.

The board voted 4-3 in favor of a zoning ordinance that halts all wind-energy development for 90 days or until a new ordinance can be passed.

Gage County Board of Supervisors strengthened commercial wind energy regulations by lowering noise limits to 45 decibels in the day and 40 db at night. Setbacks were also increased to 3/8 of a mile from non-participating residences.

The Randolph Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously rejected a permit application for a meterological tower that was being sought by Iberdrola Renewables.

On March 16, the Lincoln Township Board sent a letter to the Huron County Commission saying it was officially opposed to a proposed DTE wind project. The letter, signed by all its board members, has two sentences: “We feel that Huron County has done our part as far as Green Energy. We feel that no additional turbines should be allowed in Huron County.”

The township, located in Tuscola County, enacted a 1-year moratorium on wind turbine construction to “better protect the public health, safety and welfare” of residents."

In January, the Orange Planning Board unaminously appoved a restrictive wind ordinance. It was added to the March warrant for the March 8 meeting. The ordinance restricts noise to not exceed 33 dbA, anywhere, at any time on a non-participating property.

Voters approved a warrant article by a margin of 413-225 at a town meeting on March 8. The vote is aimed at stopping the Spruce Wind project being pushed by EDP. All five NH towns that have been targeted for the Spruce Wind project -- Alexandria, Canaan, Dorchester, Groton, and Orange, have voted to reject the project.

Town held a referendum on its wind ordinance, which was voted down 105-60. At issue is a proposed wind project by Invenergy, which wants to build wind turbines on 25,000 acres in Moore, Argyle, Lamotte, and Wheatland townships.