MONTPELIER, Vt. --Gov. Jim Douglas on Thursday said he was "disappointed" with the Public Service Board's approval a day earlier of a 16-turbine wind power project planned for the northeastern Vermont town of Sheffield. "I don't think industrializing our ridge lines is the right thing to do for the natural beauty of our state," the governor said at a news conference. "I don't think the modest amount of electricity that will be generated from wind turbines is worth the impairment of our ridge lines. "But I also respect the law," and the quasi-judicial board's role under it in making determinations about utility projects, the governor said, though he added he expected the ruling might be appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court.

State regulators today approved the 16-turbine UPC Wind project to be built in Sheffield, although they also required accommodations by the company before it can put up the project. If built the Sheffield project would be the first commercial wind power station in Vermont since the Searsburg facility was completed a decade ago.

A 16-turbine wind power project in Sheffield, Vt., about 25 miles south of the Quebec border, received its major state approval today.

New England's electricity rates, among the highest in the nation, will continue to depend almost entirely on the price of natural gas over the next two decades -- no matter what policies state leaders adopt for conserving energy and approving new kinds of power plants, according to a study being released today. The report, by Independent System Operator New England, which runs the six-state power grid and the region's $10 billion wholesale power market, offers no hope rates will drop significantly unless the price of natural gas plummets. That's an outcome few energy investors are banking on. Since 2000, as New England has grown more dependent on cleaner-burning natural-gas power plants, average homeowners' electric bills in Massachusetts have roughly doubled, along with an equivalent jump in the prices for wholesale natural gas. The ISO's "scenario analysis" examines 52 approaches to meeting demand for electricity through 2025, but takes no position on which are best. They include launching massive conservation efforts, building nuclear generators at existing nuclear plants, and making a huge regional push into cleaner-burning coal plants. Regardless of which scenario is pursued, 90 percent of the time in 2020-2025 the price of gas would determine the price of electricity, the report says.

E. Miles Prentice III, a New York attorney who owns an adjoining property, wants to know when the tower's coming down. Working through a local lawyer, Prentice challenged the process that led to its construction early last year. The windmill, he said, would dominate his otherwise-pristine views. The Huntington Board of Zoning Adjustments backed him up. Mark Smith, who serves on the board, said the foundation should never have gotten the green light to build from the zoning office; he said a hasty judgment call by then-Zoning Administrator Roman Livak sidestepped community concerns.

Anticipating the need to replace the supply of about two-thirds of the state's electricity, 200 Vermonters will sequester themselves in a hotel for a weekend in early November to study energy options and consider how to balance Vermont's energy portfolio for the next generation. Energy discussions - whether considering wind, nuclear, or hydroelectric power - attract crowds of special-interest groups and political activists. The competing rhetoric can be overwhelming. The goal of the $500,000-plus worth of studies - the largest energy sampling ever conducted in the United States - is to cut through the slogans and give policymakers a fresh look at how Vermonters envision the state's energy future, said Stephen Wark, the Department of Public Service's consumer affairs director. Vermonters will pay for the bulk of the studies, through rate charges on utility bills and state tax dollars. "We are looking for mainstream Vermonters, not advocates," Wark said. "What we are looking for is people with an open mind, people that are willing to learn and share their opinions with us."

The money from Noble will make a huge difference for Clinton. "We're almost positive we can do away with the town tax," Lagree said. "We'll still have the school tax and county tax." Lagree said inflationary increases are built into the payments. The town is now looking at various improvements it has not had a chance to make.

MONTPELIER -- Democrats came up 12 votes short of overriding the governor's veto of an energy bill in the House on Wednesday, then couldn't quite pull off an effort to resurrect the bulk of the bill. Together with a failed veto override of a campaign finance bill it meant two political victories for Republican Gov. Jim Douglas over the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Democrats weren't casting it that way. "It's a huge loss for Vermonters," said Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin, D-Windham. He said legislators succeeded in raising awareness about global warming and that the veto proved Douglas is out of touch with Vermonters on the issue. Douglas disagreed. "Some of the rhetoric has been noisy but devoid of fact," he said. His work on establishing tough auto and greenhouse gas emission standards shows his dedication to the issue, he said. Douglas also said he would meet today with his cabinet to begin implementing parts of the bill.

Legislators in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic passed a number of bills applying to the electric power industry, with several states committing to emissions reductions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other states making broad organizational changes to their regulatory processes.

Simply polling residents about a complicated topic like whether the state's utilities should buy power from wind projects, nuclear power, Hydro-Quebec of any of the other sources of electricity available when the current contracts expire would prove of limited benefit, experts and officials decided. So instead the "public engagement process" requested by the Legislature and created by the department will have three parts. In all it is expected to cost roughly $520,000. The heart of the process will consist of deliberative polling, in which roughly 200 Vermonters selected from a telephone poll of 5,000 candidates will spend a weekend hearing from experts about power sources from wind to coal. Their responses to the worthiness of different possible energy sources - and the expected cost of each - will then be part of a report that will give utilities and policy makers guidance as they seek new supplies. Also included in that study will be the results of five meetings from around the state on energy supply issues, which will include polling of those attending. Finally there will be an Internet site that will also gather information on Vermonters' preferred electricity sources.

SWANTON - Tom Salmon spoke at length of the state's recent history of finding practical energy solutions Thursday, including details of his tenure as the state's governor in the mid ‘70s. When he was finished talking about the past, Salmon offered an emphatic solution for the state's future: keep the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Salmon, speaking during an energy forum at the Swanton Industrial Park, said Vermont Yankee has been a great source of energy for the state since its inception in 1972, and should be considered for renewal when its current contract expires in 2012. The forum was one of three sponsored by the Vermont Energy Partnership, the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery and the Franklin County Industrial Development Corporation. "Vermont Yankee is not the enemy my friends," the former governor said. "Vermont Yankee does not contribute to global warming."

MONTPELIER - With doubts growing about their ability to override a veto of key energy legislation, the Legislature's Democratic leaders on Tuesday offered to drop from it one of Gov. Jim Douglas' least favorite provisions: the tax increase on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Douglas wasn't buying it.

WEST RUTLAND - A wind-energy developer wants access to about 50 acres of town land. Noble Environmental Power, which is studying building what would be the largest wind farm in Vermont in the area around Grandpa's Knob, went before the Select Board on Monday to inquire about buying an easement on the parcel that Town Manager Thomas Yennerell described as "near the ridge line." Yennerell said the company offered a base rate of $2,000-$3,000 a year, with additional payments based on electricity generated by wind turbines placed on the land. He said the board did not offer an immediate answer. "They looked at it and said they'd discuss particulars at a future date," he said.

Dottie Schnure, a spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power Corp., told Channel 3, "What the study is going to do is give us information about whether we can build a plant in-state or multiple plants in state, what the cost of those will be." The utilities, including Greem Mountain Power, Central Vermont Public Service, Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, Washington Electric Cooperative and Vermont Electric Cooperative, chose a Massachusetts consulting firm, Concentric Energy Advisors, to do the study. Schnure said the study is due to be completed by the end of the summer.

This year's massive energy bill hasn't yet reached Gov. James Douglas' desk, but supporters and opponents of the legislation are already putting a lot of energy into preparation for a likely July veto override vote. That vote will determine the fate of a tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, a proposed heating fuels efficiency program and a host of other energy issues. It may also become a test of wills between advocates and Democratic leaders in the Legislature on one hand and Douglas and industry heavy hitters on the other.

Michael and Marilyn Gardner are getting closer to building a combination cell phone tower and windmill on their farm on Mann Hill Road. A joint meeting with the Gardners, the Planning Commission and the Design Review Board is pending to finalize permits for the structure. According to Michael Gardner, the DRB began reviewing to the permit application process recently and a meeting will be scheduled in the next couple weeks.

MONTPELIER -- When the Legislature adjourned May 12 and set a July 11 date for a possible veto session, Gov. Jim Douglas said he thought it was a typographical error. It was no error. Members will return July 11 to consider a promised gubernatorial veto of an energy bill. That date will be the latest the Legislature has ever held a veto session. It will also make for an unprecedented hiatus -- a full two months -- between the end of the regular session and the veto session. Last year was more typical -- the Legislature adjourned May 10 and set a June 1 veto session that didn't end up being used.............One bill that Douglas said he will definitely veto is the Legislature's cornerstone energy bill, which would establish an energy-efficiency utility and offer incentives for renewable energy such as wind, hydro and solar power. Douglas takes issue with the energy-efficiency portion, a large part of which would be paid for with an increased tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

A portion of the wind energy generated from newly installed wind turbines located in PEI was wheeled through PEI and New Brunswick and sold to the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) via the international interconnection node in Keswick, N.B. The renewable energy certificates (RECs) that were generated from this transmission were sold separately to independent buyers located in the NEPOOL.

Town residents on Friday voted against a proposal to expand the wind turbine project on Green Mountain National Forest land in Searsburg and Readsboro......."The showplace town does not want another one," said Brouha. "That says something."

An energy bill that is the centerpiece of the Legislature's work this session cleared the House by more than enough votes Friday afternoon, but not with enough votes to clear a likely veto from the governor. Representatives bantered back and forth for about three hours, lauding the merits of energy efficiency and renewable energy, but disagreeing about the wisdom of a tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant that would pay for the efficiency measures. They voted 85-61 for the bill, mostly along party lines. Gov. Jim Douglas wouldn't directly say Friday night whether he would veto the bill, but said, "I think everybody understands my view on raising taxes we don't need."