Last week, the Bureau of Land Management authorized the establishment of special offices in Wyoming and other Western states to expedite that renewable energy development on federal public lands. BLM officials said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne issued a Secretarial Order on Friday that will allow the agency to establish coordination offices in Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada.

A San Diego company that owns Southern California utilities is considering building a wind energy park on the western Navajo Nation, near Cameron, and has been in talks with chapter officials there. Sempra Energy has five wind-testing meters installed on Gray Mountain, to study the wind there. "Gray Mountain is a particularly good site and has some of the best wind resources in Arizona," said company spokesman Hanan Eisenman.

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.

City residents will get a chance to review and comment on a proposed windmill ordinance tonight, more than a month before the Flagstaff City Council does. If passed, the ordinance could lead to nearly 100-foot-high wind turbines being installed on lots as small as a half-acre in business zones. Currently, the city's land development code is silent on wind turbines -- it doesn't specifically allow them, nor does it forbid them. The council directed staff in October to fast-track an amendment to the code that would allow wind turbines in industrial and commercial areas.

After a year's worth of hot air, Kingman's City Council on Monday finally voted to establish new development standards for wind turbines within the city limits. Council voted 4-3 to approve a text amendment to the city zoning ordinance instituting regulations for small wind energy systems. The split vote came after more than an hour of discussion and public testimonials in which several Council members voiced second thoughts on the amendment, citing renewed concerns with minimum lot sizes, setback requirements, and whether or not turbines were even a worthwhile means of cutting energy costs.

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.

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.

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 Kingman Planning and Zoning Commission will consider no fewer than three amendments to the zoning ordinance at its meeting this evening. The first of the three amendments would create a new subsection within the city's General Development Standards covering standards for small wind energy systems.

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."

Salt River Project has agreed to purchase electrical energy from Arizona's first wind energy farm to be built about 18 miles northwest of Snowflake. The 20-year contract between SRP and the builder, Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables, is considered a significant development in the ongoing drive for renewable energy sources in Arizona. Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes, who has been critical of SRP as well as Arizona Public Service for using out-of-state renewable electrical power, praised SRP's decision to purchase the first wind-driven energy produced in the Grand Canyon State.

Western Wind Energy Corporation, based out of Vancouver, has purchased 1,128 and leased more than 22,000 acres of land to the southwest of Kingman in anticipation of building Steel Park, a wind turbine farm that, once completed, is expected to generate up to 215 megawatts of electricity annually ...Western Wind has already applied for zoning and permitting to begin construction of the project. The first 15 megawatts of the project is expected to cost approximately $33 million, $6.2 million of which Western Wind has already invested. Salama said the project would begin construction within the next three to five years.

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.

Talk of a wind farm has blown into the artsy community of Bisbee, the latest in a long list of cities across the country now mired in the clean-energy debate. Some residents of the southeastern Arizona city support the renewable-energy source, while others don't want to see or hear turbines, typically hundreds of feet tall, spinning on their hillsides. The controversy highlights the dilemma faced by energy companies trying to pitch the inexpensive, non-polluting power source that, unlike many power plants, can't be tucked out of sight. ..."It's hard to get a handle on it because you want to save the environment, but you're destroying it to save it," said Todd Bogatay, a local architect and sculptor who crafted an off-grid home in the hills north of Bisbee. "There's got to be a better way."

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.

On Wednesday, the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will meet to gather information on permitting potential wind farms. California-based Clipper Windpower initiated the issue over possible wind generation in the Mule Mountains in Bisbee. The meeting, however, will not address any issues directly linked to Clipper's proposal ...

Rancher Dennis Maroney points to one of the sites proposed for anemometers on his ranch in McNeal. Clipper Windpower plans to determine the feasibility of a wind farm by installing the anemometers to measure wind speed and direction. On Wednesday, the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a work session to discuss the ins and outs of wind farms. "This is a fragile area," said Maroney as he tapped on the second "x." "The higher elevations of the mountains are not a good location for wind turbines." He worries about the environmental damage that could occur if a wind turbine power generating installation goes up in the high slopes. Road construction alone could cause irreparable damage. ...So just what are the regulations concerning the construction of wind turbine power generating projects? That's one of the questions that the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will be asking at Wednesday's work session on wind power prompted by Clipper Windpower's excursion into the county. And they have asked some leaders in the renewable energy industry to come and talk about the in's and out's of wind turbines.

The 33-foot-tall metal structures also have generated quite a bluster at Bullhead City's municipal headquarters, where council members fret about the prospect of turbines popping up on properties throughout the community. So, the elected leaders passed a law, and the Endlines decided to fight City Hall. ...Mayor Jack Hakim says he and others were worried about blocked views, blight, safety hazards, noise pollution and neighborhood bickering. Because no other city in Arizona had a wind-turbine ordinance, Hakim adds, they had to make one up. The result, after a lot of debate, was a measure requiring at least 1 acre of land for a turbine and allowing no more than one per parcel. The Endlines, who previously had installed their second turbine, were out of conformance. The city insisted they pay $440 for a special-use permit. Larry says he was outraged by the political "babble" but even more upset because the new code blocks many others from using wind energy.

Chapter residents approved a resolution Sunday supporting Independent Power Projects Inc.'s plan to conduct a feasibility study for a wind farm to be located atop Gray Mountain, and asking the Navajo Nation Council to support the chapter-based effort. "We're just giving them the OK to do the feasibility study. That's it. If there's going to be all those wind turbines that's going to be put up, then we're going to negotiate with that company just like we're doing with IPP," Colorado said. ..."If we're going to do a wind farm out here, we're going to do one that can serve the community," he said. If they're not going to provide power to the community, "they're out of the picture."

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.