It might seem like federal regulators are fast-tracking the development of Nevada's first commercial wind farm. But the 160-megawatt Spring Valley Wind project has actually been in the works for over four years, as the developer gathered additional information sought by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). A private contractor is currently putting the finishing touches on the draft Environmental Assessment for the 66-turbine project, which would be located on BLM-administered lands between State Route 893 and U.S. Highway 50 as it veers north toward Sacramento Pass.

Duke Energy representative Robert Charlebois began Thursday afternoon's public meeting on the company's plans to build a large wind farm here by trying to make clear to residents that he had learned from earlier rejections. "I remember the first meeting walking out with the unambiguous understanding that our original proposal was completely unacceptable to the town," Charlebois said of a meeting in January on the wind project. "We went back to the drawing board."

Searchlight's residents have plenty to say about the idea, too -- much of it negative. About 60 locals, the majority of them against the project, came out for Thursday's meeting. Among their concerns: how the turbines would affect vegetation, wildlife, views, property values, quality of life, tourism, air safety, air quality, historic preservation and outdoor recreation.

On a vacant piece of land near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the promise of solar energy has collided into the demands of military training. And a solar project that would have featured a vast field of mirrors, a molten-salt storage facility and a 600-foot "power tower" appears to be heading for defeat.

Over the objections of some Wilcox Ranch residents, Washoe County commissioners today approved a resolution to sponsor a regional planning amendment to create a new utility corridor for wind turbines in the mountains of Warm Springs Valley. The 17-mile route would be for a 120-kilovolt line to bring power from up to 70 wind turbines that Nevada Wind wants to put on Virginia Peak to a major power transfer station to the south in Tracy

Concerns over a proposed wind farm near Searchlight dominated a Tuesday town hall meeting hosted by County Commissioner Steve Sisolak in the rural community. ...Duke Energy has proposed erecting large wind turbines on public land surrounding Searchlight and many residents are worried that the wind project will ruin their views of the surrounding hills, damage wildlife and drive away tourists.

The developer of a proposed wind farm about 30 miles east of Ely in Spring Valley told the White Pine County Commission Feb. 11 that the company plans to build the $250 million project next year despite a financial collapse of its Australian parent corporation. Acknowledging the company's financial problems, representatives of Babcock & Brown told the commission the company still projects construction between April and December of next year with completion in December 2010.

Nevada needs billions of dollars in new transmission lines if it is to capitalize on its renewable energy potential and become a net exporter of clean energy, Gov. Jim Gibbons said in a statement. He and other Western governors have called for changes in tax laws to further stimulate transmission line development.

A wind farm that would be Southern Nevada's first could sprout 30 miles south of Boulder City near Searchlight as soon as 2011. Some Searchlight residents, though thankful planners have already moved turbines because of their concerns, worry that the wind-powered energy plant would be ugly, noisy and deadly to wildlife. Yesterday, about 60 Searchlight and Cal-Nev-Ari residents met with planners ...

A planned windmill project would hurt the local economy and has no place in the county, Storey County officials said Tuesday. The 69 windmills proposed by Reno-based Great Basin Wind for mountains north of Carson City and west of Virginia City would affect tourism in the historic mining district and cause other problems, county commissioners and staff said.

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.

Storey County officials want the public to tell the federal government what it thinks about a plan to build windmills on mountains north of Carson City and west of Virginia City. ...Most of the project would be in the National Historic District and about half would be in the Comstock Historic District.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has aggressively promoted the development of renewable energy in Nevada, may be able to see some tangible results from his home in Searchlight in a few years. Duke Energy on Thursday said it proposes to build a wind farm that could cost up to $600 million dollars and generate 300 megawatts a few miles southeast of Searchlight.

Federal land managers said Monday they will gather public comment and assess the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to build dozens of wind-power turbines on the mountains north of Carson City and west of Virginia City.

Lincoln County Commissioners, during their regular meeting November 10, said they were not opposed to the development of wind-generated power in the County, but would rather seek different locations than the ones being proposed. Mission Edison Group, a subsidiary of Southern California Edison, had approached the County about building wind generators on Mt. Wilson and Table Mountain, both a little north of Pioche. County Commissioners have said they do not think those locations are the best places for such large generators.

Just as new wind power plans are being announced around Nevada, the state's counties are seeking power to kill such projects. ...It was the Wilson and Table mountains project that aroused county officials. A supposed threat to the habitat for deer and elk has hunters concerned, and hikers are upset for aesthetic reasons. Damage to the land when construction gear and material is hauled up the mountains would be repaired, sponsors of the project said, but not everyone accepted those assurances.

According to Sierra Pacific Power Co. spokesman Fay Anderson, there are several locations in Nevada being studied for wind-generated electricity projects, the farthest along outside of the Virginia Range project being in Elko County. There also are projects proposed for Lincoln, Clark and White Pine counties. ...

Before Nevada can become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, it will have to come to peace with the hunters in Lincoln County. In that rural stretch north of Las Vegas, county commissioners oppose plans to blanket four mountaintops with enough tall wind energy turbines to power 250,000 homes. Nothing against a wind farm, the elected officials say, they just don't want windmills atop prime elk and deer habitat where families have come for generations to hunt on federal lands. The dispute is opening a new front in the cultural and environmental wars in the West.

The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday announced it took the first step to approve right of way for the first direct transmission line between Southern Nevada and Northern Nevada electrical grids. Great Basin Transmission, an affiliate of independent power producer LS Power, received a final environmental assessment from BLM, finding "no significant impact" resulting from the transmission line.

The federal government will do a sweeping study of the environmental effects of solar power plant development on public land in the Southwest, in part to speed up approval of solar projects. But for developers, the study may be a fast track to the slow lane. While the Bureau of Land Management, which controls 67 percent of Nevada land, including many rural areas where solar arrays would be located, completes a lengthy study, the agency will impose a moratorium on new applications to put solar panels on federal land. Developers will have to wait at least 22 months - until at least spring 2010 - for the results of the study.