Michael Vickerman, Executive Director at Renew Wisconsin, said, "Small wind farm proposals currently are forced to wade through a quagmire of overly restrictive local ordinances during the zoning and permitting stages of the projects. Many of these local ordinances were designed by small groups of wind opponents to specifically prevent the construction of turbines in the area. This bill puts smaller wind developments on a fair track for consideration and approval.

But the seemingly benign wind turbines do have their opponents. In fact, based on information gathered by Renew Wisconsin, the turbines are usually opposed by area residents. The group said only two of the 19 wind projects in Wisconsin during 2007 lacked local citizen opposition. One of the most active opponents is Mike Winkler, whose longtime family home is near the Marshfield turbines. His novel, "Wind Power - It Blows," is a fictional account of fighting wind turbine installations. Winkler and his family sued the Town of Marshfield and We Energies in 2004 to stop the Blue Skies, Green Fields project. But a Fond du Lac circuit court ruled Winkler had no standing because the wind turbine agreement was between the town, the utility and renting farmers, not the Winkler family.

Responding to counties and towns that are restricting development of small wind farms, one lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would call for similar standards to be enacted for wind turbines across Wisconsin. The proposed bill was among the initiatives recommended by the state's Task Force on Global Warming. ... Local ordinances that restrict wind power could make it harder to reach the goal, required by state law, for Wisconsin to generate 10% of its power from renewable energy by 2015, the task force said.

A wind turbine placed 36-feet too close to a rural Johnsburg home has generated some controversy in this township of 1,100 in the northeast corner of Fond du Lac County. Ordinances require that wind turbines be placed at least 1,000 feet - a distance of more than three football fields - from homes. However, a We Energies turbine located on a neighbor's property near resident Bill Winkler's town of Marshfield home came up short, by a little more than a first down. ..."We are prepared to find a resolution, even if it means moving the tower," McNulty said.

Most of the firms trying to put up wind farms in east central and northeast Wisconsin are familiar with Mike Winkler. He has been fighting them for five years. A resident of Malone, in Fond du Lac County, Winkler considers the rush to build networks of wind energy towers a folly that will do little to meet the region's needs for electricity. Now, Winkler has written and is privately publishing a book that raises his concerns. The book is a 93-page paperback titled, "Wind Energy...It Blows!"

The push has both environmental and economic ramifications because politicians and the business community are hopeful that the state can exploit home-grown technology and the use of biofuels such as those that could be produced by the state's paper- and wood-product industry. But tackling climate change while balancing competing agendas will be daunting. Environmentalists on the 29-member panel fear Doyle won't go far enough, while representatives of business worry a shift away from energy sources such as coal will lead to higher electric prices.

State Rep. John LeMahieu, R-Cascade, told the Assembly Energy and Utilities Committee that town board members take "a lot of grief" from the public when they approve wind farms. He cited the recall election held Tuesday involving a Calumet County board supervisor who favored a wind farm project. "Unless the towns approve them, we won't have wind farms in this state. They're certainly not going up in the city of Fond du Lac," he said. Under LeMahieu's bill, $208,000 in utility aid payments would be shifted this year from Fond du Lac County to the towns in which Cedar Ridge, Forward Energy and Blue Skies Green Fields are located.

Criter, 71, who has represented District 16 since 2002, defeated political newcomer Ralph Prescott, 53, in a special election Bjork's group initiated over votes Criter cast in July and October that the group believes were a conflict of interest. Criter, a farmer in the Town of Brothertown, has expressed interest in leasing land to developers who are scouting the county for places to locate 400-foot wind turbines. Landowners could make about $8,000 for every turbine their land will support. Criter doesn't believe either vote violated state ethics rules, which bar elected officials from benefiting financially from their office.

A special recall election is set to take place, and one of the driving forces behind this recall is the wind. The signs of opposition are in place on some streets around the county. Lee Bjork, who wants Jerry Criter removed, said, "We want honesty, we don't want conflict of interest, and this recall is our only way of reaching that point." For the past several years, Criter supported the idea of putting wind turbines on his land -- something developers would pay property owners to do. Bjork says the conflict of interest comes when Criter cast votes on the wind turbine issue, since he could gain financially from it.

The recall's instigators, who collected 261 signatures to force the special election, admit they're worried about how the turbines will affect life in Calumet County. But the reasons they give for recalling Criter include a vote he cast in July, which amended a county ordinance to include guidelines for the test towers that measure wind speeds. The petitioners, who call themselves Citizens for Responsible Government Calumet County, contend Criter violated the state's ethics code, which prohibits elected officials from voting on matters in which they have a financial interest. An exception, however, permits public officials to vote on amendments to existing ordinances. In October, Calumet County Dist. Atty. Ken Kratz investigated allegations that Criter's vote was illegal and concluded it was within the law.

A draft wind ordinance developed by a town of Union committee should be an example state officials consider during discussions of state wind turbine siting standards, state Rep. Brett Davis said. Because wind energy regulation is a controversial statewide issue, Davis said he will push for a legislative council study committee to discuss the issue. "I think there are so many competing interests that are involved from all different sides that everyone needs to sit down at a table and really work through this," he said. Davis, R-Oregon, met with members of the Town of Union Wind Study Committee over the past few months while they researched and developed a draft ordinance regulating wind energy. Committee chair Tom Alisankus presented the recommendations to the plan commission Thursday night.

Door County concluded almost a year's worth of research on commercial wind turbines Tuesday with passage of a revised wind energy ordinance. The Door County Board passed, 17-3, the ordinance that regulates commercial wind turbines in excess of 170 feet. Sturgeon Bay Supervisor Chuck Brann was absent. The supervisors adopted the ordinance after reducing the outdoor sound level maximum requirement from 55 decibels to 50 decibels. Sound made by a commercial turbine cannot exceed the 50 decibels for any period of time when measured outside at the property line of inhabited structures or places of "frequent public gathering," according to the adopted ordinance.

Regulations being considered for wind turbines in Union Township would make a proposed wind energy project in the township impossible, the wind developer said this morning. Wind turbines in Union Township would need to be at least one-half mile from homes and 1,000 feet from property lines, according to a proposed wind ordinance presented to the Town of Union Plan Commission on Thursday night. The town’s Wind Turbine Study Committee was charged with investigating wind turbines and writing a proposed ordinance to regulate them.

Wind turbines sited in Union Township would need to be built at least one-half mile from homes and 1,000 feet from the nearest property line, according to a proposed wind ordinance presented to the Town of Union Plan Commission tonight. ...The recommended setbacks are the absolute minimum, Alisankus stressed, because the information the committee gathered suggested even greater distances of up to 1 1/2 miles. Ordinances can only regulate turbines in regard to public health and safety, he said.

Trempealeau County's wind farm ordinance hasn't yet generated a lawsuit, but that might be AgWind Energy Partners LLC's only choice. At least that's how Jordan Hemaidan of Madison-based Michael Best & Friedrich LLP sees it. "There are many considerations that have to go into when or whether or not to file a lawsuit," he said. "AgWind is not pursuing one at this time, but it reserves the right to bring a lawsuit forward at the time of its choice." Hemaidan represents the Holmen-based wind farm developer and, earlier this month, he sent a letter to county officials saying judicial review of the ordinance and a court order overturning it could be in order.

Trempealeau County believes a threat of a lawsuit over wind turbines might be a bunch of hot air. A little more than a month after the Trempealeau County Board passed one of the most restrictive wind ordinances in the country, the developers seeking to build a wind farm have now told the board to revise or they'll sue. A Madison, Wis., law firm representing AgWind Energy Partners sent the county board a letter Jan. 14 stating the county's zoning ordinance that governs the placement, height and noise of wind turbines is illegal because it contradicts the state's model in several ways. Zoning director Kevin Lein said the letter is threatening, but has no substance. "The consensus was to let it go for now," Lein said.

A moratorium on construction of industrial wind turbines continues in Calumet County. On Jan. 15, the county board approved a 70-day moratorium, the third one enacted since the board began studying the issue in 2003. Wind turbines have become a contentious issue between wind-energy companies and farmers in support, and other farmers and county residents in opposition. A news release from RENEW Wisconsin states the moratorium in Calumet County and restrictive ordinances in Manitowoc County have halted four wind projects totaling 200 megawatts, enough to power 60,000 homes.

Dozens of Calumet County residents have expressed worry about how noise and vibration from the huge turbines will affect adjoining property owners. "We need to take our time, because if we don't do it right we're not going to be able to change it in the future," Supv. Alice Connors said. "This is a very, very important decision, and I think we need this moratorium to learn from our neighbors." Others suggested a long moratorium would just drag out what has already been a long process. Opponents have demanded tougher restrictions since the county adopted the existing ordinance in mid-2006.

...largely fruitless debate over recommended changes to its ordinance regulating wind energy, the board passed a 70-day ban on permits for wind turbines. ...Ron Dietrich, a member of the committee that proposed the changes, which would increase the distance between turbines and houses, schools, hospitals and other structures, said he was disappointed the longer moratorium didn’t pass, but glad the board hadn’t rejected the committee’s recommendations.