The influential Cape Cod Commission is appealing a state board's recent decision to grant the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm a suite of local permits, warning that the move could mean little local say in future energy projects across the state. The appeal, to the state's highest court, was one of three announced yesterday - the town of Barnstable and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound filed others - over the consolidation last month by the Energy Facilities Siting Board of nine local permits for the 130-turbine project into one "superpermit.''

Last night's hearing was the first of two public meetings being held to take comments on a study that identified up to 947 megawatts of potential wind power on state land. The second session is scheduled for next week in the Berkshires.

Following on the heels of the Cape Cod Commission, which began an appeal process last week, the town of Barnstable has filed paperwork with the Supreme Judicial Court to challenge the Cape Wind proceedings. In a release issued Monday, the Cape Cod Commission confirmed its plans to appeal the comprehensive permit granted to Cape Wind Associates last month.

As the state moves forward with proposed legislation for siting wind turbines, planning board officials in some hilltowns want a public hearing in western Massachusetts, where the mountains, open space and vast areas of state-owned land could be prime locations for commercial windmills. Last month, the Rowe, Heath and Hawley planning boards all sent letters to legislative co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications expressing concerns that the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act would 'significantly restrict Massachusetts communities' home rule authority.

Boxford officials are investigating whether it makes sense for the town to install a wind turbine that could provide power for all of the town's operations. However, officials must first go through a number of steps to see if the town is eligible for state grant money and if Boxford, with fewer power needs than surrounding communities, would receive a net benefit.

The Cape Cod Commission has petitioned the state's highest court to overturn the approval by the state Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) of the Cape Wind project. At stake for the commission, though, is more than just the question Cape Wind's future; it is the broader principle of its power in regulating development, and by extension, the power of its sister body, the Martha's Vineyard Commission.

With the appeal period ended, the Douglas Woods wind farm project is moving forward with the installation of a test tower and negotiations over connection agreements. The Zoning Board of Appeals approved height and use variances last month for the 13-turbine farm proposed by American Pro Wind.

The Cape Cod Commission has announced it will appeal to the state's highest court to overturn the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board's approval of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm. In October 2007, the commission denied the proposal by Cape Wind Associates to build 130 wind turbines in the sound, citing a lack of information necessary to approve the project.

Massachusetts is searching for every blustery nook and cranny it can find, from the tops of former dumps to a vast military reservation, as it whips up its push for wind energy production. Gov. Deval Patrick has already set a goal of generating 2,000 megawatts of wind power in Massachusetts by the year 2020 - an effort that may require the installation of as many as 3,000 wind turbines.

Gov. Deval Patrick's ambitious wind power plan for Massachusetts is pitting green vs. green. Patrick is pushing legislation that could bring some 1,200 forty-story wind turbines to mountaintops, scenic roadways and coastal vistas, but outraged critics say the pro-business initiative strips communities of a valued voice in where and how the onshore industrial turbines are built.

A public hearing on a proposed 331-foot-tall wind turbine for the Berkshire East Ski Resort is scheduled for June 25, but town planners want to make sure the structure will be on town soil before they begin a special permit hearing process. For nearly a century, the Charlemont-Hawley town boundary has been in dispute and since at least 1989, there have been calls to resolve the difference legally.

A storm is brewing over who will end up as the primary construction contractor for the $45 million Berkshire Wind project on Brodie Mountain in Hancock and New Ashford. The Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corp. ...has selected Reed & Reed as the primary contractor for the 10-turbine wind power project. But with a bid of $10.9 million, Reed & Reed was not the lowest bidder. It was the third highest.

In line with Governor Deval Patrick's goal to ramp up the state's production of energy from alternative sources, three area communities passed new rules this spring allowing the building of wind turbines - just the start of long and potentially costly journeys to see whether wind power will work at the local level. Now, with approval by residents in hand, officials in Groton, Holliston, and Hopkinton - and in one case a private individual hoping to start a wind farm - are looking for sites to test whether the wind is strong enough to justify construction costs, and trying to figure out how to pay for the turbines.

The Selectmen got more than they bargained for when they sat down with Zoning Board of Appeals alternate Marshall Rosenthal to discuss his re-appointment to the board. Rosenthal got himself put on the Selectmen's agenda when he failed to receive a notice of his re-appointment to the board. Selectmen Chairman Scott Koczela said the Selectmen are reviewing all ZBA appointments after three members abruptly resigned after the board's last public hearing about Minuteman Wind LLC's request to install five, 425-foot wind turbines.

On Thursday, June 25 (a change from the originally scheduled date), Town Meeting will take up two issues. The first is a citizen's petition to sunset the wind turbine bylaw. The second will ask Town Meeting to adjust the amount of needed private funding to move forward with the synthetic turf field project passed at the November 2008 Town Meeting. ...If passed the intent of the article is to disallow any application or consideration of a wind turbine special permit. The article's stipulations would take effect on the date of the first public advertisement of the special town meeting.

Officials in Massachusetts have approved a comprehensive permit allowing developers to go forward with Cape Wind, the long-stalled 130-turbine wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound. ...The Mass. Energy Facilities Siting Board's seven members voted unanimously last week to grant a Certificate of Environmental Impact and Public Interest to Cape Wind Associates LLC, the private developer behind the project.

The Patrick administration's long-term goal to get hundreds of wind towers built in the state could become a whole lot easier if a fast-track permitting bill that the administration is pushing on Beacon Hill becomes law. The bill could essentially give the administration the power to override local authorities for projects slated for certain areas.

The wind turbine waiting game will continue, as Town Meeting referred a proposal that would have set up town regulations for the structures to the Planning Board. There is no bylaw on the books that would allow residents or businesses to harness wind power via turbine in town. A year in the making, the proposal was intended to protect Framingham residents while carving a niche for an emerging technology.

A proposed bill that aims to streamline the permitting process for land-based wind turbines has some Cape officials worried it will give the state veto power over local zoning regulations. The Green Communities Act Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law last year created a commission to analyze whether fossil fuel projects have an unfair advantage over renewable energy projects.