Nine people interested in municipal wind turbines spoke from the audience for more than an hour at Thursday's Frostburg mayor and council meeting, most of whom praised an ordinance that, if passed, will permit the power generators. "You have given us a lot of food for thought," Councilman Richard Weimer told those who spoke. "We have our work cut out for us. We have heard a lot of valid concerns here."

A year ago, Barry and Urszula Antonelli received county approval to install a 120-foot wind turbine at their new house in Phoenix and neighbors immediately appealed that decision. Realizing there were no specific zoning regulations for windmills or wind turbines, the county's planning staff has spent the past year working on recommendations to regulate wind turbines for residential use.

A start-up wind company official said with federal stimulus funding and state permits, the doors to the former Bayliner plant at Mexico Farms could have local people back to work by the holiday season. John Congedo, president of AC~Wind, listed online with a Grantsville address, told the Times-News Tuesday that AC~Wind has contracted with Brunswick Corp., parent company of Bayliner, to use its facilities in Cumberland and Salisbury.

A Federal Hill woman seeking to become the first Baltimore resident with a wind turbine on her roof failed to win approval from city officials yesterday. The effort by Marsha Vitow brought opposition from neighbors concerned about safety and aesthetics and confounded city officials ... David Tanner, executive director of the board, said the members had a long debate but decided wind turbines were not a legal exception.

Two planning issues are going to wait for a decision in Mineral County as the county commissioners ask the planning commissioners to review potential wind turbine regulations and prepare to look over a draft of the exotic entertainment ordinance. "We're asking (the planning commission) to look at the public good," Commission President Wayne Spiggle said. "We're trying to figure out what we're going to look at in 10 years."

Despite a potential windfall of $300,000 a year or more for schools, the Mineral County Board of Education will not take a position in support of the proposed Pinnacle Wind Farm prior to the September hearing on the project to be conducted by the West Virginia Public Service Commission. Officials from U.S. WindForce appeared before the school board earlier this month to preview the project atop Green Mountain just west of Keyser, as well as the plan to divert about three-quarters of the wind farm's property tax revenue to the school system. Opponents of the project appeared before the board at the same time.

A battle is brewing between Baltimore County and such community organizations as the Pikesville-Greenspring Community Coalition over windmills in residential neighborhoods. The county is devising regulations allowing windmills with restrictions. But PGCC and other community groups are opposed to windmills in people's backyards.

The mayor and council recently approved a first reading of the ordinance that would allow personal wind turbines as tall as 165 feet in Frostburg's backyards. At the Aug. 20 public meeting, the city officials are scheduled to have subsequent readings and a vote on the matter, though some talk has surfaced about postponing that action until September. "A structure this high is equivalent to a 16-story building," Bambacus told the elected officials in an e-mail.

A contract has yet to be drafted, but there was discussion during a work session Tuesday among the county commissioners and representatives from US Wind Force as to how the company would guarantee tax money to come into the county. "I'm trying to protect the people in Mineral County," Commission President Wayne Spiggle said. "I want to try to ensure they have the tax income from this industry. This industry has a unique taxation base."

Frostburg city officials intend to allow residential wind turbines as high as 165 feet, according to an ordinance read for the first time and passed 4-0 at the mayor and council's public meeting Thursday. Vacationing councilwoman Susan Keller was absent. The ordinance will be presented again at the Aug. 20 council meeting, at which time public comment will be heard and a final vote taken.

Saying the Mineral County Commissioners "need more facts" in regard to the ongoing controversy over wind farms, Pamela Dodds and Judy O'Hara of the Allegheny Front Alliance spoke to the officials at length Tuesday in an attempt to debunk several claims being made by proponents of wind energy. "I believe you need some more facts in order to better understand the claims that are being made," Dodds said. "U.S. Wind Force has made sweeping claims that are inaccurate and misleading."

With support for the proposed Pinnacle Wind Farm growing - at least as measured by the volume of letters sent to the West Virginia Public Service Commission - the PSC has established the time and place for the fall hearing on the proposed 23-turbine wind farm just west of Keyser.

While representatives of U.S. Wind Force were asking the Mineral County Board of Education Tuesday for their endorsement of the proposed Pinnacle Wind Farm, a member of the Allegheny Front Alliance asked them to think very, very carefully before they make any decision.

Though the Mineral County commissioners heard from US Windforce on the Pinnacle project on Green Mountain last month, the Allegheny Front Alliance got the chance Tuesday to try to refute some of the wind developer's claims. The group's nearly hour-long presentation included sentiments that the energy provided by the project was not needed in West Virginia, but in the other states on the PJM grid.

A $1.2 billion, 150-mile power line that would cross Maryland and lay high-voltage cables under the Chesapeake Bay for the first time has been proposed to ease the threat of blackouts on the growing Delmarva Peninsula. But the proposal is generating opposition from environmentalists, landowners and even business interests in mostly rural Dorchester County, who worry that the project could disrupt farming, damage sensitive marshlands and blight the area's growing tourism.

The renewal of an easement on county property will help Clipper Windpower's subsidiary, Criterion Power Partners, proceed with financing on its project on Backbone Mountain. "The commissioners agreed to extend the easement," Monty Pagenhardt, Garrett County administrator, said. "(The wind developers) are at a point where they are finally trying to get the financing.

As the Pinnacle wind farm project continues with the state Public Service Commission process, so do plans for the Community Benefits Fund, a $50,000 annual contribution from US Wind Force to the community for the lifetime of the project.

Finally face-to-face, the Mineral County Commissioners questioned representatives of U.S. Wind Force Tuesday evening, sticking to the topics that would directly affect the county and its residents. At the top of the question list was the subject of taxes, and how much the company expects to pay into the county once the 23 wind turbines are in place on Green Mountain.

The Mineral County Commissioners got their first chance to sit down one-on-one with representatives of US Wind Force to discuss issues of concern and clarify rumors. The meeting included wind power companies trying to request exemption from the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) as a public utility.