RALEIGH - State senators came to no conclusion today about whether to keep windmills from lining mountain ridges.

A bill debated on the Senate floor would set up a system of permits for windmills across the state.

It includes rules supported by three mountain Democrats in the Senate, which would ban windmills except those shorter than 100 feet and used only to power a single home.

A fourth Democrat, Sen. Steve Goss of Boone, argued for returning the bill to its original form that would allow wind farms.

"This is an ongoing technology," he said. "Don't kill it before it starts."

Sen. Martin Nesbitt of Asheville compared windmills to the buildings banned by a 1983 ridge law.

"We don't want commercial developments on top of our mountains," he said. "They bring with them roads, transmission lines and everything else that totally destroys the mountains."

After Democrats huddled privately, the bill was sent back to the Senate Agriculture Committee for more work.