YOUNGSTOWN — As objections to the notion of a wind power project in Lake Ontario continued to grow last week, the New York Power Authority refused to release information that could reveal if all the agitation is much ado about nothing. Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Richard M. Kessel said the agency would not release the contents of bids from five developers for the wind turbine project. The developers were given 17 locations from which to choose — 10 in Lake Ontario and seven in Lake Erie — or they were allowed to choose their own if they could show their site was technically feasible.Kessel was urged to release the information by Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston, and State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, because it would show whether any of the developers really is interested in a wind farm in the slot between Youngstown and Wilson, the only Niagara County location the Power Authority’s analysts considered worthwhile.

Meanwhile, the County Legislature, which voiced unanimous support for the county being considered for the wind farm in May 2009 and again in March, will be asked to make a 180-degree turn Tuesday. Legislator Clyde L. Burmaster, R-Ransomville, whose district includes Youngstown, will offer a resolution opposing the wind turbine project, at least in Niagara County waters. It came about after a July 12 meeting organized by the Youngstown Yacht Club, which illustrated the level of opposition in that community.

Similar resolutions of opposition have already been passed in Chautauqua, Wayne, Oswego and Jefferson counties. Legislator Renae Kimble, D-Niagara Falls, acknowledged last week that Niagara County wouldn’t be in the running for the wind turbine project at all if it weren’t for her. Kimble said she teamed up with staffers from Rep. Louise M. Slaughter’s office to persuade the authority to change its plans. Somerset Supervisor Richard J. Meyers pointed the finger at Kimble in an interview last week. “They wanted to put [the project] five miles out,” Meyers said, “and she yelled and said, ‘Niagara County wants a part of this,’ so they moved it in to two miles.” The five-mile limit the Authority analysts first wanted wasn’t just aesthetic. It pertained to the depth of the water, enabling developers to place the 420-foot-high turbines in water less than 150 feet deep, to keep a difficult installation job from becoming tougher.