GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  Monday, August 3, 2026    By Environment+Energy Leader | Infrastructure + Energy Systems   Wind and Solar's Safe Harbor Fight Outlives the Tax Credit Deadline The July 4 deadline decided which wind and solar projects tried to qualify for federal tax credits, but it never decided which legal rule they qualified under, and that gap is now sitting on someone's balance sheet as an open liability with no expiration date. The deadline did not decide which legal rule these projects qualified under, and that unresolved question is now an open liability with no expiration date . A federal court restored a cheaper path to establish tax credit eligibility just four weeks before the deadline, but the ruling itself remains under appeal . Any project that used the restored rule to qualify is carrying a tax credit position that could still be reversed, retroactively, once a higher court weighs in . That is not a closed question left over from a passed deadline. It is a live expo...

  In what Wind Concerns considers to be a “major step forward” in the battle against damaging industrial wind turbines, the County of St. Paul, Alberta, has passed an amendment to establish a 1500m setback of turbines from human dwellings. It’s significant because the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC), who gives the thumbs up or down to energy projects, has said they will respect those distances. During their consultation with municipalities in the Spring of 2026, the AUC stated: Where a municipality sets setback distances in its land-use planning documents, and the setback distance falls within the approved minimum and maximum ranges, the AUC intends to accept and apply those setbacks in future facility application decisions in that municipality…. The maximum setback reflects the 1.5-kilometre noise receptor review distance already used under Rule 012… The minimum setback [800m] is based mainly on noise requirements in established AUC Rule 012. “ Proposed Standardized Setbacks fo...

  The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has released its 2025-2044 System & Resource Outlook (The Outlook), a long-term planning assessment that finds New York will need substantial new investment in reliable generation and transmission infrastructure to serve growing electricity demand and state policy targets.   Press release:   https://www.nyiso.com/-/press-release-nyiso-report-highlights-need-for-new-generation-and-transmission-investment-to-meet-growing-demand-and-state-policy-targets

By Seth Appleby Published: Jul. 16, 2026 at 5:42   TOWN OF LEWIS, New York (WWNY) - In Lewis County, windmills dot the skyline. “We’ve been very open. We have a large number of windmills in Lewis County,” said County Manager Tim Hunt. A company wants to add another 50 wind turbines in the southern part of the county, but local officials say they have little control over the project and don’t expect a significant tax benefit. WPD Group, an energy company based in Germany with offices in California and South Carolina, is proposing a new wind project in the towns of Leyden, West Turin, and Lewis, as well as across the border in Oneida County. 7 News reached out to WPD for more details and has not heard back, but according to documentation, 50 turbines could be added. ‘No local control over this project’ Hunt said the local towns and the county have no say in the project - their power stripped away by the state. “They’ve moved the citing to ORES, the Office of Renewable Energy so ther...

  By The Editors   July 16, 2026   T he governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, has issued an executive order that places a one-year moratorium on the construction of data centers that use more than 50 megawatts of power to operate. Signing the instrument — which is the first of its kind in the United States — Hochul said that it was her “responsibility to take action and lead.” Indeed, it is. But this, alas, is not leadership. Two elements of Governor Hochul’s approach are defensible. She has requested legislation that would repeal New York’s generous sales and use tax exemption for internet data centers, a subsidy from the early 2000s that is unfair to taxpayers and that has no place in a competitive free market. And she has demanded that the owners of new facilities contribute to a state fund that will be used to improve the electrical grid — an ask that, depending on the details, may be necessary to offset the increase in prices that can result from a sudden spike in dem...

July 15, 2026   Francis Menton   For a couple of years now, I have been collaborating with a small group of friends here in New York to see if we can introduce some rationality into the State’s completely insane energy plans. The other three members of our little cabal (Roger Caiazza, Richard Ellenbogen and Constantine Kontogiannis) are a scientist (Caiazza) and two engineers who are knowledgeable about how the electrical grid works. Our efforts have included things like submitting comments on various regulatory proposals, intervening in Public Service Commission proceedings, and even bringing court proceedings to try to block crazy and impossible schemes from taking effect. So far we have scored exactly zero public successes, although we do occasionally receive communications (always confidential and never in writing) from various bureaucrats who say things like “I know you’re right, but I can’t speak up or I will lose my job.” On Monday (July 13) we achieved our latest defea...