Mohave County could see a cut in property tax and income tax revenue from renewable energy manufacturers looking to move into the area. On Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a legislative bill that would provide income and property tax incentives to businesses that manufacture items for renewable energy facilities, such as solar plants.

In Utah, state officials are fielding various combinations of energy proposals, a list that includes solar and geothermal installations and an energy storage project ...Scores of projects - some speculative, others well-funded and a few quirky - have surfaced with energy companies eager to take advantage of loan guarantees and tax breaks being promoted by President Barack Obama.

Arizona may not be the windiest state in the nation, but several projects are in the works to add wind-generated power to the state's electricity mix.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- A proposal made by the Arizona Corporation Commission that will require 15 percent of electricity generated to come from renewable sources by 2025 brings Arizona to the forefront of states with aggressive renewable portfolio standards.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A publicly owned Arizona utility is on the hunt for investors who will share its dream of restarting a shuttered coal-fired power plant in the Nevada desert that was abandoned by its other owners. Phoenix-based Salt River Project is working to build a new ownership group to buy and upgrade the 1,580-megawatt Mohave Generating Station. The plant, in Laughlin, Nev. near the Arizona border, was shut in December because its owners hadn't installed pollution control equipment required under a court-approved consent decree. The plant also faced other problems, including expiring coal and water supply contracts. To resolve a lawsuit by environmentalists concerned about the harmful effects of pollution from Mohave on wildlife at the nearby Grand Canyon National Park, the plant's owners agreed to either install pollution-control equipment or shut the plant by the end of 2005.

A California utility said Friday that it is dropping plans to build a high-voltage transmission line across the Southwestern Arizona desert and is scaling back the project to only its California portion, at least for now. Southern California Edison said it's halting separate efforts to win approvals from Arizona and federal regulators. The project had been approved by California regulators but rejected initially by the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Rebuffed by the state's high court, the Goldwater Institute is trying another venue in its effort to void a requirement that utilities generate 15 percent of their power from renewable sources. Legal papers filed Wednesday in the Court of Appeals by the organization which advocates and litigates on behalf of limited government contend that the Arizona Corporation Commission exceeded its legal authority when it approved the rules. Attorney Clint Bolick wants the judges to void the mandate.

Renewable energy is all the rage these days. With gasoline prices rising, with greenhouse gases and global warming at the forefront of public concern, the lure of pollution-free energy from windmills, photovoltaic solar panels and geothermal wells has never been stronger.

Navajo County Planning and Zoning officials have assured citizens that they would obtain additional information on a series of proposed wind and solar energy farms between Holbrook and Snowflake. Although much of that information is still forthcoming, Planner II Bill Fraley provided an update on what the county is doing to inform the public and help commissioners and supervisors make a decision on whether to issue special use permits for the project.

The state's highest court refused Tuesday to overturn a requirement on utilities to generate at least 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025. Without comment, the Arizona Supreme Court refused to hear arguments by the Goldwater Institute that the Arizona Corporation Commission exceeded its constitutional authority in imposing the mandate. The lawsuit challenged not only the requirement but the legality of the surcharge that utilities are passing along to their customers.

Environmental protection activists and proponents of the mining industry have collided over the U.S. Department of the Interior's recent decision to protect nearly one million acres of land near Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims ...Popovich said the demand for clean, carbon-neutral energy sources cannot be met without disturbing the environment and regulations should seek to minimize and remediate disturbances without banning them altogether. "A single wind turbine requires 4.7 tons of copper," Popovich said. "A typical hybrid vehicle on the road today needs about 100 pounds of lithium and other rare Earth metals to make its battery.

A Bureau of Land Management unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact and supporting Environmental Assessment for the proposed Dry Lake Wind Project are available for public review and comment through March 14. ...The proposed Dry Lake Wind Project would be located six to 18 miles north-northwest of the town of Snowflake, just east of State Highway 377 and southwest of the I-40 corridor. The project would provide up to 378 megawatts (MW) of wind energy and consist of multiple phases.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Safford Field Office is continuing to assess the Dry Lake Wind Project in Navajo County. The BLM issued its Environmental Assessment (EA) and unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on February 12 and was available for public review through March 28. Many public comments on the 200-page EA were submitted, all of which required careful review and consideration. "The BLM supports renewable energy development on public lands," said BLM Safford Field Manager Scott Cooke. "At the same time we must ensure that all environmental and socioeconomic concerns are addressed in our analysis, and this takes time."

Wind power may have as much potential as those ads on television promise, but don't expect to see giant turbines dwarfing saguaros on the skyline of the Sonoran Desert. Experts call the wind in Southern Arizona "marginal", and say Arizona overall has few hot spots for wind power. ...The wind, contrary to how we may feel in the breezy spring or during a monsoon storm, doesn't blow reliably in Arizona. Still, industry leaders say, Arizona has the potential for utility-scale wind generation in selected areas .

The Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission knows a bit more about wind turbines and wind power. At a work session held last night prior to the regular meeting, three experts in renewable energies and wind power gave a brief presentation ...Perhaps the most informative was Auberle, the man who headed the wind studies done for four prospective counties in the state that included Cochise. That study showed that only 2.2 percent of the county land was suitable for a wind plant and that plant would probably not be able to support more than a 60 MW (megawatt ) plant at that, based on data over the past 30 years from the National Weather Service and the restrictions on where wind farms can be placed. The most viable places for wind turbine placement in the county are in the Class 3 range, not good enough for a large plant.

A new federal proposal to help electricity flow more freely could help the energy-choked East Coast. But it could also infuriate landowners, who have traditionally gotten their way in fights against utilities in Delaware. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman last week named Delaware as part of his proposed eastern National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. It would run from New York to Virginia, and west to Ohio. A second corridor would run through California, Arizona and Nevada.

A proposed ordinance could lead to more wind turbines in nonresidential areas of Flagstaff as early as next spring. The Flagstaff City Council has instructed city staff to fast-track an ordinance that would allow nearly 100-foot-high wind turbines on lots as small as a half-acre in areas zoned for commercial or industrial use. Currently, the city's land development code is silent on wind turbines -- it doesn't specifically allow them nor does it forbid them.

A Flagstaff company that makes small wind turbines for homes, commercial buildings and even sailboats has laid off more than 10 percent of its staff because of the slowing economy. Southwest Windpower laid off 14 workers at its Flagstaff manufacturing plant on Friday.

Navajo Nation leaders are well aware that coal has fallen from favor in thisage of global warming. But to them, plans for a new power plant on the reservation mean more than rising temperatures and climate patterns. To them it is survival. The proposed Desert Rock Energy Project in northwestern New Mexico could add $50 million in revenue to their annual budget of about $130 million, excluding government contracts, and bring 1,000 construction jobs and 400 permanent positions to the plant and expanded mine. advertisement Environmentalists on and off the reservation are fighting the plans, saying that the region already suffers enough air pollution from existing coal plants and mines. They say the poverty-stricken tribe could see a bigger economic boost from developing wind and solar energy.

The organization filed a petition late Thursday, arguing that the Arizona Corporation Commission overstepped its authority by requiring APS to charge customers a monthly tariff to support renewable energy. The ACC passed a requirement in 2006 requiring public utilities to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2025, and earlier this year approved an increased tariff on APS customers to help the utility provide incentives for that power. Household APS customers can be charged a maximum $1.32 a month with the tariff. Small businesses have a tariff capped at $48.84, and industrial customers pay no more than $146.53 a month. APS will collect $34 million from the tariffs this year, and $95.7 million in 2012, utility officials said.