Vail Resorts Inc. said Monday it will not renew its three-year commitment to purchase wind-energy offset credits. ..."going forward, we intend to channel our efforts on more comprehensive projects, which help protect the climate and also offer habitat and watershed benefits to local communities, such as the Hayman Restoration Project," Katz said.

The private developer partnered with CSU to build a $500 million wind farm near the Wyoming border is "actively" working to get the project back on track after being given 60 days to sort things out, CSU officials say. Wind Holding LLC was notified in July that it was in danger of seeing its deal with the university's nonprofit development arm cancelled.

On a drive to the Pawnee Buttes overlook in Weld County, the slowly rotating turbines of the new Cedar Creek Wind Farm spread east from Grover across the Chalk Bluffs, providing a decidedly postmodern backdrop to one of northeast Colorado's most famous natural scenes. ...Birdwatchers, she said, are concerned the windmills might harm birds. One of the bird enthusiasts concerned about the Cedar Creek Wind Farm is Ken Strom, interim director of the Audubon Society's Colorado branch.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday that he would veto legislation requiring a third of California's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, choosing instead to mandate the change through an executive order. The Democratic bills that passed the state Legislature just before the end of the legislative session Friday would have set up the most aggressive renewable energy standards in the nation. But they also sought to limit the amount of energy from sources such as wind, solar and geothermal that could come from out-of-state.

Debtors are knocking at their door and time is running short for promoters of a $500 million wind farm to deliver or lose their lease. The Colorado State University Research Foundation on July 23 voted to give Wind Holding LLC 60 days to pay vendors who are threatening to take legal action to recover the cost of goods and services provided. By the same deadline, Wind Holding must begin construction of the wind farm and secure an agreement with a transmission provider.

Public interest is catching up to a fast-moving plan to build a major electrical transmission line from Pueblo to the San Luis Valley. ...Another federal mandate seeks to fast-track the transmission lines needed to move renewable energy. Some of the nation's best wind and solar sites are remote areas. A decision on the San Luis Valley route could come by early next year. Others say, not so fast.

Despite the push towards cleaner energy, one Colorado town is putting a hold on wind turbines used to generate electricity. Concerns over how the turbines look in Estes Park have prompted the town to put a temporary halt to any new electricity-generating windmills.

Community development director Bob Joseph told the Estes Valley Planning commissioners Tuesday night that a public meeting held last Thursday night regarding residential wind turbine regulations has led to some useful discussions. "We're starting to see people's opinions form," he said. "We're hearing them. We will continue with this effort to get some kind of code adopted during the moratorium."

Disgusting, ugly, atrocious monstrosities... These are words some local residents used to describe residential wind turbines a few homeowners have purchased and installed on their properties in and around Estes Park. The one wind turbine within town limits, located on Highway 7, steered the focus of the meeting on Thursday, called to open public discussion on re-regulating the turbines. Due to public opposition, town officials issued a 120-day temporary moratorium.

An amendment to the city's zoning ordinance regarding additional rules and regulations for wind energy systems was recommended to the mayor and council Tuesday in order to help protect the city's character and integrity. "In a nutshell, (the amendment) says that only small wind turbines will be allowed as an accessory use in most zones, subject to a public hearing and approval by the Zoning Board of Appeals," said City Planner David Umling.

The would-be developer of a $500 million electricity-generating wind farm at CSU is financially "overextended," facing construction liens from its vendors and in danger of seeing its deal with the university cancelled, officials said Tuesday. ...According to its contract with CSU, Wind Holding is to build a wind farm at the university-owned Maxwell Ranch near the Wyoming border. But Wind Holding has not yet submitted its construction permit application to Larimer County and has already made a $50,000 payment to CSURF as a result of delays. The company also paid CSURF $50,000 when the lease was first signed.

The would-be developer of a controversial $500 million wind farm to serve CSU has been notified it's in default of its agreement with the university, officials said today. ...Wind Holding has 60 days to remedy the default, although CSU did not immediately specify the exact nature of the problem. Under its contract with CSU, Wind Holding is to build a wind farm at the university-owned Maxwell Ranch, near the Wyoming border.

Wind farms and solar power plants may offer free fuel costs and no carbon-dioxide emissions, but don't assume there's universal support from environmentalists, according to industry observers. "The world is changing," said Andrew Spielman, a partner at the Denver office of Hogan & Hartson LLC who works on renewable-energy projects. ..."There are more complexities with renewable projects," he said, "and it's no longer an assumption that the environmental community will approve and support renewable projects."

Rural electric cooperative managers told the Public Utilities Commission on Thursday to keep its hands off their power supplier. Clean-energy advocates, however, urged the state to take a greater role in regulating Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, saying the coal-heavy company's power plants affect everyone, not just its customers.

A showdown is shaping up as state regulators consider whether to increase oversight of Colorado's second-largest electric utility, a wholesale power provider owned by several rural cooperatives. ...the PUC said more oversight might make sense given Colorado's emphasis on developing more renewable energy and concerns about climate change.

A wind turbine manufacturer with sales offices in Boulder has been ordered to pay its former Canadian employees the back wages they're owed, according to Prince Edward Island's labor department. Entegrity Wind Systems, which operates two manufacturing plants in Canada, laid off 35 employees in June, the majority of its workers.

Xcel Energy and the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association have filed with the commission for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the lines, which the companies say will increase the reliability of the grid in the valley and increase their ability to export electricity generated from wind and solar farms in Southern Colorado. ...An administrative law judge will hold a pre-hearing conference Friday in Denver to consider the intervention requests. The utilities commission has until Jan. 26 to decide on the applications by Xcel and Tri-State.

A plan to erect an array of windmills in eastern El Paso County won't be blowing a yearly windfall the county's way. That's because wind energy facilities are considered business personal property, and the county ditched its personal property tax about a decade ago.

But the project -- which comes with a $400 million to $500 million price tag and is pending large amounts of research to determine its viability -- is not without skepticism. Jackson and the 35 other local residents formed the group to protest the initiative because, they say, preliminary preparations for the project herald a largely unattainable goal, pitting the university's contractor against a mychallenges. The group cited a number of problems that threaten the legitimacy of the project.

Area residents got to air out their opinions on small wind turbines during a public forum last week. About 50 people attended the April 30 forum to ask questions and voice their opinions regarding small wind generators. Several homeowners in the community have installed or are thinking about installing, small wind turbines to generate electricity at their residences. Community Development Director Bob Joseph presented a slide show of small wind turbines that are being installed in Europe.