An upstate municipality that had no laws, codes or requirements governing the installation of wind turbine facilities until after a new town board imposed a moratorium cannot retroactively preclude a company from constructing energy-producing devices in Steuben County, an appellate panel in Rochester has held.
Matter of Ecogen Wind v. Town of Prattsburgh, 859/13, centers on the windmill-like turbines that dot the landscape of a growing number of rural towns. The state Department of Environmental Conservation encourages the turbines as a means of generating energy without burning fossil fuel or emitting greenhouse gases.
