A semitrailer was damaged Monday morning when it struck a 170-foot wind turbine blade being hauled on Illinois Route 130 on the north side of Charleston. No injuries were reported as a result of the collision that occurred shortly after 11 a.m. at the intersection of Route 130/Olive Avenue and Seventh Street adjacent to the Kirchner Building Center.

When the Bureau County Board voted to exclude a certain type of wind turbine from consideration for seven Walnut Ridge sites, the company was understandably concerned. ...On Nov. 17, Suzlon issued a statement regarding the S88. According to the statement, the problem with the S88 near Buda was with the V2 version, which has since been replaced with the V3 version.

A falling blade from a wind turbine near Wyanet in Bureau County last week has resulted in some fears, but one area school says there is no need to worry. The blade was 140 feet long and weighed 6 tons. Fortunately, it landed in a corn field and there were no injuries or damage to property. The Sherrard School District has just erected a wind turbine at its junior high and high school campus in lower Rock Island County, but there is no connection to the one that broke in Wyanet last Wednesday.

Lisa Linowes, executive director of the group, said the failure in Wyanet is evidence that wind energy isn't as safe as its proponents claim. "This whole thing about safety worries us a lot," she said. "In the last year, there have been at least 15 cases, and those are just cases that have been reported."

A wind turbine blade came crashing to the ground Wednesday, halting energy production at a small-scale wind farm southwest of Wyanet because of what may be a defective design. In all, four turbines on Richard Shertz's property - all part of the AgriWind facility in central Bureau County - have stopped turning after a blade on top of one of the towers broke off about 9:30 a.m. "It was the loudest noise I've ever heard," he said. "I thought it was thunder."

Shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, a rotating blade on a wind turbine at Schertz's farm broke off, plunging to the earth in a cornfield about 150 feet west of the turbine. ...The spokesperson said the investigation into this turbine had just started, but the company was in the middle of a blade retrofit program across the United States to correct an "unfortunate" design issue in the first generation of this blade.

The permits for the 14 turbines were tabled at the board's June 14 meeting upon request of the wind farm developers after rural Walnut resident Kurt Geldean opposed the turbines, saying they would interfere with the use of his private airstrip. Addressing the zoning board Wednesday, Mike Donahue, representing Walnut Ridge developers Midwest Energy, said a verbal agreement was reached with Geldean just prior to the start of the meeting. The verbal agreement called for the withdrawal of five turbines, with Geldean agreeing not to oppose the other nine.

Ottawa city commissioners Tuesday put the brakes on an agreement to expand an enterprise zone to include a wind energy farm south of the city. In September, Chicago-based Invenergy asked the city to expand its enterprise zone that now stretches from Ottawa to Grundy County to include about 225 acres for a 66-turbine wind farm south of Ottawa. The turbines will be erected in Brookfield, Allen and Grand Rapids townships. ...for two commissioners, the crux of the arrangement entailed another part of the agreement. "I'm not in favor in that Grand Ridge (Energy) has asked the Ottawa Fire Department to provide emergency response services," said Ed Whitney, commissioner of public health and safety. "I know they're giving us a lot of money but I think we're selling ourselves out."

There were no injuries at a crane accident Monday night on a Lee/La Salle County wind farm. “It was an unfortunate accident,” GSG Wind Energy vice president Bruce Papiech said. The accident occurred at a wind turbine site about five miles north of Mendota near West Brooklyn Road. Papiech said the crane was lifting a turbine off a truck when the boom folded over. He could not provide much more detail because of insurance reasons.

A report by the Department of Defense on where wind farms can be located does not go far enough and leaves future projects up to military approval, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday.

Illinois’ senators said Friday that they no longer are blocking President Bush’s nominee for a Pentagon post after learning from the Defense Department that one of its recent report won’t be detrimental to wind farms in their state.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama are blocking Senate confirmation of a Defense Department nominee in an attempt to pressure the Pentagon into releasing a study that is holding up wind turbine construction in Illinois and other states.

EUREKA - Woodford County volunteer firefighters are asking for more than eight times as much money originally offered from the developers of a wind farm so they can be trained to combat potential emergencies involving the gigantic turbines.

Illinois' senators are blocking President Bush's nominee for a Federal Aviation Administration post as they seek his administration's answer to whether wind farms interfere with military operations.

The idea has been brought up in just about every county in the Stateline. Wednesday night in Ogle County members of the public were invited to come up and voice their opinions to the zoning board of appeals. The room was packed with concerned citizens, so much so that some were forced to listen to testimony from the hallway. Every person that stood up to talk was against the proposed wind farm.