www.windaction.orgfacts, analysis, exposure of wind energy's real impactsWindactionhttp://www.windaction.org/articles/c111+116?theme=atomXarayar2006-06-12T02:16:27Z
Wyoming researchers study impact of wind farms on antelope, elk.340332012-01-08T00:47:32Z2012-01-08T00:47:32ZHard winters usually limit animals to certain areas where wind blows snow away and food is available. If those are the same places where turbines exist, and elk or antelope avoid turbines, it could hurt the winter survival rate of the herds, Beck said.
"It is an area of research that we don't have a lot of information on.Commission comments on wind farm proposal.338922011-12-22T17:59:32Z2011-12-22T17:59:32ZThe county requests the most restrictive development criteria be placed upon enXco uniformly on lands under BLM administration as well as privately-owned and state-owned lands. The project will encompass a total of 7,652 acres -- 48 percent of which is privately owned, 44 percent under the BLM's administration.Groups discuss wind farm impact on historic sites.337792011-12-03T12:01:19Z2011-12-03T12:01:19ZU.S. Bureau of Land Management archeologist Pat Walker met with several state and federal historical and cultural organizations in Rawlins. The purpose was to develop an agreement between the Power Company of Wyoming, the developer of the 1,000-wind turbine farm located south of Rawlins, and the historical and cultural societies.Bondurant petitions against turbines.328952011-08-29T10:14:33Z2011-08-29T10:14:33Z"The proposed ‘windmills' will not be small and quaint - there will be FOUR WIND TURBINES ATLEAST 45 feet tall plus a building and fence to secure the power plant," reads the declaration for the petition, led by Bondurant resident Keith Scharff.
The request for a petition was attached to a letter sent to property owners within 1,000 feet of the Ordway property.Large Wyoming wind farm project gets environmental report from feds.325642011-07-24T16:22:13Z2011-07-24T16:22:13ZThe Bureau of Land Management released the draft of the environmental impact statement, or EIS, for the 1,000-turbine Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind project planned by Power Co. of Wyoming LLC.
Wind permitting OK'd.300302010-11-19T14:00:06Z2010-11-19T14:00:06ZThe commissioners voted 5-0 Nov. 15 at a special meeting to approve a revised draft of permitting guidelines. Those guidelines reiterate state statute in most instances but differ in a few. ...The commissioners also increased the setback to 10 times the height of the tower from a "permanent" residential dwelling or occupied structure.
Putting a value on viewsheds .283352010-07-16T12:47:42Z2010-07-16T12:47:42ZThe BLM's Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices are seeking public input as part of a planning review of the resource management plans that will guide wind energy and other development on public lands in southern Wyoming.
BLM officials said the agency is responsible for ensuring that the scenic values of the public lands within the two field office regions are considered before allowing uses that may have negative impacts.
Now you see them, now you don't.278162010-06-18T11:45:16Z2010-06-18T11:45:16ZNatrona County has only 11 of the 770 wind turbines in Wyoming, but their close proximity to Casper makes them a distinctive feature (they are impossible to miss), and probably will be for decades to come. Yet neither the county or Casper have any specific visual guidelines in their planning regulations concerning wind towers.Bigger is better? .258292010-02-26T15:00:51Z2010-02-26T15:00:51ZThe developer of a proposed wind farm on White Mountain has scaled back the probable number of wind turbines in favor of a larger turbine size for the project.
If fully built, as few as 185 wind turbines could be constructed on scenic White Mountain instead of the 237 under study by federal administrators, company officials said Wednesday night during a public meeting.
Residents divided over proposed wind farm .258282010-02-26T14:56:36Z2010-02-26T14:56:36ZJudy Mattinson expressed horror at the idea of spoiling the "sweet, peaceful viewshed" of the escarpment with wind turbines. "I can't see how you can move forward without impacting the beauty" of the area, she said. "The damage will irrevocable and unavoidable.
"Anybody who has not visited the mountain in the spring and seen the wildflowers ... can't know how beautiful it is," she continued. "And it won't be that way again."
Looking 20 years into wind future.226902009-08-14T19:20:37Z2009-08-14T19:20:37ZWind farms are becoming a familiar site along Wyoming's interstates and highways.
Residents know wind development is out there and that there is a lot of it. What they do not know is how the industry will alter the state's landscape in the future.
All eyes on wind development .226812009-08-13T01:33:35Z2009-08-13T01:33:35Z"Wyoming is not only a recipient for proposals for transmission, we're also (electricity) generators," Lahti said.
And wind turbines, which can reach 400 feet, will dominate the views in parts of Wyoming unless state and federal governments, historical preservation organizations, tribes and industry avoid cluttering the landscape before they build, he said.
Sweetwater wind farm debate hinges on placement, visibility.219172009-07-05T11:42:38Z2009-07-05T11:42:38ZIt seems likely that any expansion of Tasco Engineering Inc.'s proposed wind farm on scenic White Mountain in southwest Wyoming -- from the 36 wind turbines already permitted by the county to possibly 237 wind towers -- will hinge on whether a some sort of deal about the placement of the turbines and their visibility from town can be reached.Wyo. wind power boom could drive sage grouse to endangered list .214552009-06-04T00:52:22Z2009-06-04T00:52:22ZDevelopment of wind energy and sage grouse protection are on a collision course in Wyoming, where state officials are worried that a future Endangered Species Act listing for the chicken-like bird could ruin the golden egg laid by the Obama administration's renewable energy mandates. ..."The bird does well in the existing conditions that are out here. It's the new threat from wind energy that has got us so worried," said Aaron Clark, special adviser on energy infrastructure to Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D). "I don't think you could justify a [federal endangered species] listing for that bird in Wyoming without the threat from wind development."Commissioners question Chevron wind project.210432009-04-29T15:19:52Z2009-04-29T15:19:52ZThe Natrona County Commissioners formally voted on Feb. 3 to approve a zoned use control area and the conditional use permits that would allow wind turbines within the former north tank farm area of the closed refinery.
Construction was planned to start in May.
But last week, the preparations for the county's first WECS (Commercial Wind Energy Conversion System) generated a gust of concern from the Natrona County Commission.
Neighbors dispute Chevron's intentions .209702009-04-29T02:45:13Z2009-04-29T02:45:13ZA community meeting to clear the air about Houston-based Chevron Global Power's proposed wind farm kicked up clouds about county regulations and company behavior at the Evansville school on Tuesday evening. ..."The issue is about you," responded Charlie Miller of the Elkhorn Creek Ranch LLC, whose property shares the southern fence line of the site.
"Nobody wants this except you people," Miller said later. "Take it back to Houston with you."
Sweetwater County debates impact of wind energy development.208992009-04-24T17:58:22Z2009-04-24T17:58:22ZThe wind energy boom blowing through Sweetwater County will be a gale force soon and could threaten the region's quality of life, a host of speakers said this week.
Officials urged residents to get involved early and often in the decision-making process. To be determined is where, how and how much energy development will occur in the county's mostly undeveloped wind power industry.
A land rush in Wyoming spurred by wind power .190052008-11-27T07:42:11Z2008-11-27T07:42:11ZA quiet land rush is under way among the buttes of southeastern Wyoming, and it is changing the local rancher culture. The whipping winds cursed by descendants of the original homesteaders now have real value for out-of-state developers who dream of wind farms or of selling the rights to bigger companies.
But as developers descend upon the area, drawing comparisons to the oil patch "land men" in the movie "There Will Be Blood," the ranchers of Albany, Converse and Platte Counties are rewriting the old script.
Planned wind farm raises concerns.189332008-11-23T03:25:24Z2008-11-23T03:25:24ZA planned wind project near Hanna in Carbon County has raised concerns from some about how it might affect natural and cultural resources in the area.
The Medicine Bow Conservation District and the Hanna Historical Society asked Horizon Wind Energy not to harm natural or cultural resources when building its 154-turbine wind project.
