The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority is holding the first of two scheduled "open house" meetings at its facility on Saturday to discuss its plans to build a 380-foot tall energy-producing wind turbine. The first meeting, set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the BRSA's facility at 100 Oak St., is open to Union Beach residents only. A second meeting, open to all Monmouth County residents, will be held in December. The date has not been set, said Robert C. Fischer, executive director of the BRSA.

Township Committee members here hope someone can stop a state green energy bill now awaiting Governor Jon Corzine’s signature before it becomes law. The New Jersey State League of Municipalities (NJSLOM) and officials in towns throughout the state joined them in opposing the bill, whose Senate version was S1303. The bill passed the Senate in late February and the Assembly in late June.

The Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority has been given the OK by the state Department of Environmental Protection to go out to bid for construction of a 380-foot-tall, energy-producing wind turbine, officials said. ...The project price tag is estimated around $7.7 million. ...Union Beach officials have opposed the project, and they sent a formal objection in writing to the DEP in September.

Bayshore environmental group the Hazlet Area Quality of Life Alliance (HAQLA) is opposing a proposal that would place a 380-foot-tall windmill near a residential area along the coastline. HAQLA President John M. Curran III has written to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Monmouth County Freeholders in opposition to the wind turbine project proposed for Union Beach ...Curran calls for a countywide moratorium on wind towers/turbines "until the county and towns establish effective, controlling ordinances and regulations" governing renewable energy projects.

A plan for an energy-producing wind turbine proposed by the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority must satisfy several state Department of Environmental Protection regulations before actual construction can start, state officials said. ...PEER Director Bill Wolfe, a former DEP analyst, said the authority wants to start construction before finishing required studies on any environmental impact the turbine might have on area bird life.

"We are hiring someone with expertise who can help us in reformulating this ordinance that will be beneficial for all of the taxpayers," Vergano said. The question of where turbines should be allowed has sparked an ongoing controversy since Robert Burke, owner of the Wayne Auto Spa, sought Planning Board approval to install a turbine at his Hamburg Turnpike quick lube and carwash. His proposal was met with fierce opposition by alarmed residents who say the turbine would be noisy, fling ice from its blades and have other potentially negative health impacts.

Officials announced last week they will put Sparta's proposed wind power project on hold for the time being and explore other alternative energy options. New Jersey recently opened its energy credit market to national trading, which reduced the value of credits the township could earn for wind generated power. This would lessen the return on Sparta's investment in the project, rendering it substantially less cost effective.

If energy-generating wind turbines are built in the Atlantic Ocean off New Jersey, the state wants to limit how close to shore they can be. New rules proposed by the state's Department of Environmental Protection would ban such projects in all state-controlled ocean waters except for a half-mile wide strip from 2.5 miles offshore to the end of state waters at the 3-mile mark. ...the move is a result of concerns about the environmental impact of large offshore wind farms, particularly on migratory birds and bats.

Imagine energy-generating wind turbines spinning along the ridgeline on top of Jugtown Mountain -- or in any back yard in the township. The Planning Board doesn't anticipate an onslaught of applications soon, but it wants to be prepared. It's on the verge of drafting an ordinance that would regulate the height of a turbine, how far it would have to be located from a neighbor's property and how noisy it can be, among other details.

The three companies planning to construct wind farms off the New Jersey coast have agreed to not pursue any restrictions on fishing near the operations, which means commercial fisherman would be allowed to harvest their bounty between the turbines while anglers, pot fishermen and even scuba divers could fish right next to the structures.

Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey, one of three companies looking to create wind farms off of Atlantic City, is beginning to take scientific surveys to determine exactly where the wind farm should be located.

New Jersey and Delaware environmental officials say a wind farm planned for the Delaware Bay could disturb an important flyway for birds. Delsea Energy of Toms River, N.J., has a plan to construct 106 turbines in the upper Delaware Bay, on the New Jersey side of the shipping channel that divides Garden State waters from those controlled by Delaware.

A host of New Jersey environmental officials and scientists have lined up against another proposed "wind farm" in the Delaware Bay. In an Aug. 20 letter, Scott Brubaker, an assistant commissioner of the New Jersey state Department of Environmental Protection, listed numerous concerns about Delsea Energy's proposal for a 42 square mile field of wind turbines off the Cumberland County shore.

State environmental officials oppose wind turbines anywhere in the Delaware Bay, a position that could jeopardize an Ocean County firm's plans for a wind park there. The Department of Environmental Protection cited potential threats to migratory birds, oyster seed beds and other resources in an Aug. 20 letter to Delsea Energy, of Toms River. Scott Brubaker, the DEP's assistant commissioner for land use management, wrote "the Delaware Bay is not an appropriate area for development of wind energy."

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is being pressed behind-the-scenes to drop its opposition to wind farms in Delaware Bay, an internationally recognized migratory bird stopover, according to e-mails released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Documents reveal a powerful South Jersey Senator and a former DEP Commissioner pushing to reverse a DEP scientific finding that Delaware Bay "is not appropriate for a large-scale wind turbine project due to...impacts to migratory and other bird populations."

As offshore wind farms in the U.S. move closer to becoming a reality, there are still questions about the potential environmental impacts and best sites for in-the-water wind turbines. Coastal resource managers in New Jersey are getting in front of this burgeoning business by conducting an environmental baseline study that will help guide wind farm development off that state's coastline.

What good is a wind turbine if you have nowhere to put it? Cape May-based Fishermen's Energy is looking for the perfect spot to place a meteorological tower during a weeklong mission that is expected to begin within the next week about 10 miles off the Ocean City.

Unlike the deluded hero Don Quixote, municipal officials in this Bayshore town think they have the clout to derail a giant windmill proposed for their town. In this case, it's a 380-foot wind turbine with 118-foot blades that, according to a plan proposed by the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority, would sit on authority property in the west end of this 1.2-square-mile town.