NARRAGANSETT, R.I. - Gov. Don Carcieri's administration this week unveiled a report calling it feasible to build wind farms off the coast of Rhode Island as part of a plan to get 15 percent of the state's energy from wind in five years. Wind is plentiful in pockets along Narragansett Bay, and wind farms could supply much-needed energy to the Ocean State. But in a region where other wind projects have met with opposition, and in a state that prizes its shoreline, there's a lingering question over whether residents will support such a project. "Is aesthetics going to be a problem for people? That's the question. That's really the only question," said Andrew Dzykewicz, commissioner of the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.

Bluewater mayor Bill Dowson says the most common concern over wind turbines in the municipality is site lines along the lakeshore. Dowson says the municipality is looking at establishing a bylaw similar to the one passed in South Huron and proposed in Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh that would require a distance of 400 metres from homes and 600 metres from urban developments.

Campaigners are celebrating victory after plans to build three large wind turbines in the heart of the Hawker country were thrown out. North Cornwall councillors went against planning officers' recommendations and last week refused plans by West Coast Energy to build three 81-metre (260ft) turbines near Crimp, just outside Morwenstow. One of the main reasons for refusal was "unacceptable visual impact with an accumulative effect with Forest Moor in Bradworthy."

Campaigners have won their battle to overturn plans for a five-turbine windfarm on the unspoiled coastline of the Solway Firth. Around 1,000 villagers, visitors and business owners from Allonby and the surrounding area sent letters of objection to Allerdale Council when Nuon Renewables submitted plans to build the 102m turbines at Brownrigg Hall Farm, just outside Allonby. Today councillors on the Allerdale development panel rejected the plans on the grounds the windfarm would have a detrimental visual impact in the landscape and harm tourism in the area.

A scheme by the National Trust to use a 42ft tall wind turbine as an alternative to installing an £11,500 mains electricity supply in the conversion of a former school is expected to be rejected. It has raised concerns about a possible clash between the need for renewable energy to tackle climate change issues and the difficulty of meeting National Park planning policies. The North York Moors National Park Authority is being recommended today to reject the change of use of the former School House in Bransdale, near Helmsley, into a community hall because of "the unsightly wind turbine".

The visual effect of more wind turbines on an already crowded landscape could cost the proposed Motorimu wind farm 45 turbines. Motorimu Wind Farm Ltd (formerly Energreen Wind) has applied for resource consent to build a wind farm with 129 turbines. In a report to the consent hearing, due to begin next Thursday, Palmerston North City Council planner Jeff Baker recommends consent be granted for only 84 of the turbines. In a visual assessment report, landscape and resource planning consultant Clive Anstey said the wind farm as proposed would have very adverse cumulative effects.

Will wind generation towers adversely impact one of Vermont’s iconic views, the long shimmering expanse of deep Lake Willoughby in the Northeast Kingdom? That is a question that officials in the town of Westmore have raised. They say they are concerned the sight of the proposed Sheffield Wind Farm on mountains located from two to five miles from Lake Willoughby, which is in Westmore, could affect the town’s prestigious National Natural Landmark status.

Residents are celebrating after plans for a wind farm near Beverley were thrown out. East Riding councillors unanimously rejected proposals to build a wind farm with 12 turbines up to 100 metres high at Routh, because of concerns they would spoil the views from Beverley Westwood. As reported on the Mail’s website yesterday, councillors voted against the scheme proposed by Ridgewind Limited amid fears views of Beverley Minster, in particular, would be ruined.

Councillors are being recommended to turn down plans to build a windfarm at Routh, near Beverley, because officials claim the huge turbines will damage views of historic Beverley Minster. An application by Ridgewind Ltd, who want to site 12 of the 100-metre high turbines on land north of Hall Farm at Routh will be considered at tomorrow’s (Tuesday (January 30) meeting of East Riding Council’s Planning Committee. The scheme has sparked objections from several parish councils in the area, including Tickton and Routh Parish Council and Beverley Town Council.

It seems few in this town of about 1,500 people can agree on UPC Wind Management’s newly completed $85 million project, which makes the unassuming potato-growing and truck-brokerage community home to New England’s largest wind farm. But there’s one thing everybody can agree on: The place sure looks different. Long before a visitor arrives at Mars Hill, the towers become visible along what used to be just another mountain. The total height from the ground to the tip of the blade is 389 feet. Each tower has three blades, which spin in winds whipping west to east toward Canada just a few miles away.

Plans to build a wind farm with turbines up to 100 metres tall are set to be thrown out - amid fears they will spoil views of historic Beverley Minster. Proposals for 12 “monster” turbines at Routh, near Beverley, will be considered by East Riding Council’s planning committee on Tuesday. But concerns the turbines will ruin views from Beverley Westwood have led council planning officers to recommend the plans be refused.

Controversial windfarm plans could leave Fylde coast residents with falling property prices and a ruined view, a councillor today claimed. And Coun Ron Shewan is demanding that Wyre Council opposes the scheme which would put windfarms only three miles off Fleetwood. He said: “We have one of the most beautiful seafronts you could get and it would be a detriment from the environmental point because of the sea view.”

The head of one of the country’s largest windfarm developers has claimed the public’s perception of towering turbines is changing - he says many people now like seeing them on the landscape.Bruce Woodman, chief executive of Cornwall Light and Power, said more people were coming round to the sight of wind turbines, leading to a fall in objections........ But windfarm opponents disagreed with his comments. Gary Watson, from Buckland-tout-Saints residents’ association, which is planning to fight proposals for the three 90m turbines near Goveton, said the turbines were “an industrialisation of the landscape”.

Rival camps have clashed over controversial plans to build more than 200 Blackpool Tower-sized wind farms off the Wirral coastline. Benefits of the giant turbines were blown into question by a damning report, whipping up Wirral and North Wales protestors into a whirlwind of opposition. The allies fear that Wirral has been seriously misled by understated images of the impact from the borough,’ and pledge to lobby NPower’s Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm project, set to be located in the Irish Sea. In light of recent evidence which found that wind farms fail to produce as much energy as the government had anticipated, watchdog group The Wirral Society is hoping to win the support of local MP’s and preserve the area’s maritime views.

To help the public understand more about the impacts wind developments will have on our local economies in Steuben County, the Steuben Greens have organized a panel discussion on wind issues with five local activists on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 7:00 pm. The program will be held at 198 Main St. in Hornell. Brad Jones from Naples will speak on his research into the promises of wind power. Steve Trude and James Hall from Cohocton will update us on the efforts of their group, Cohocton Wind Watch, to get more accountability in the DEIS process. Valerie Gardner and Jack Ossont from Yates County will discuss how their group, Democracy NY, works with local communities who want to reclaim decisionmaking powers.

An environmental watchdog has added its voice to the opposition to plans to build nine massive wind turbines on the edge of Exmoor.The Devon branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) said it would “forcefully object” to an application by npower renewables to build the 360ft tall turbines at Batsworthy Cross between South Molton and Tiverton. Bob Barfoot, chairman of the CPRE in North Devon, said the proposal went against the organisation’s national policy for onshore wind turbines.

Canadice is not outlawing wind farms, but the town wants to make it pretty difficult for any 400-foot turbines to get built here. That’s the gist of a proposed wind-farm law up for public inspection on Monday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Town Hall. It’s not the official hearing that precedes a Town Board vote; that could come in January. But it is the first time the public can read and comment on a full text that the Wind Farm Study Group has been revising over the last year. The 11-page law would prohibit industrial towers in places where the Planning Board feels they would detract from the view.

Anti-windfarm campaigners reacted jubilantly to the end of a plan to build 15 100-metre tall wind turbines on the ridge between Boxworth and Elsworth. Planning inspector Andrew Pykett, who held a three-week public inquiry into the proposal in October and November, has rejected an appeal by an energy company against refusal of planning consent for the development. Dr Pykett said the windfarm would dominate the character of an area “of quintessentially English lowland landscape in composition, scale and appearance” to the extent that much of its existing quality would be overwhelmed.

When Fatima Hamioni and Gary Colclough built their dream home from scratch, they made sure its stunning view of the countryside was its main feature.But now a wind farm could be built on neighbouring land, ruining their rural outlook. The couple had been hoping to sell their home in Knighton, on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border, for £395,000 so they could move to Alsager. But the week they put the three-bedroom property on the market, they discovered Nuon Renewables was thinking of erecting nine 100m tall turbines nearby. The couple spoke out after around 120 people braved the wind and rain to attend a public meeting on the issue at Knighton Village Hall. Ms Hamioni, aged 36, said: “No-one in their right mind will want to pay £395,000 knowing there is a possibility of a wind farm. You are buying the view.

Britain’s oldest national conservation body, the Open Spaces Society, has lodged an objection to plans to build nine 360ft high wind turbines on the edge of Exmoor, which it said would be a “blot on the landscape”. The Open Spaces Society (OSS) has submitted an objection to North Devon District Council against the plan by npower renewables to build the turbines at Batsworthy Cross between South Molton and Tiverton. Kate Ashbrook, the OSS’s general secretary, said the turbines would be visible for many miles and would spoil people’s enjoyment of the area.