Another wind farm is planned for Schuylkill County. The proposal will come up Wednesday night at a zoning meeting at the North Schuylkill High School. There is opposition from people who live near the proposed site for the giant windmills. Even from a few miles away wind farms are hard to miss. They're usually located on mountaintops.

David Yoder's been farming for more than a third of a century. He's at least the fourth generation of his family who have lived and worked on the land on Cowpath Road near the border of Franconia and Salford townships that has been farmed "forever," Yoder said. Adding a 140-foot cellular tower and a power-generating wind turbine with a blade that reaches to a height of 163 feet will give the farm reduced electric bills and rental income from the cell tower and is similar to adding animals, crops or farm buildings, he said.

Bell Acres council has approved construction of an alternative energy center that will include a 60-foot wind turbine, but not without a few conditions. Several of the stipulations involve possible noise issues, while others are intended to address residents' concerns for dozens of great blue herons that nest about half a mile away on the Bell Acres-Economy line. In a 5-0 vote Monday, council gave the Alternative Energy Center permission to create an 80-by-80 foot display site for three alternative energy products.

A week after the Black Creek Township Zoning Hearing Board gave more time to a Sunbury firm looking to build wind turbines on Tomhicken Mountain, dozens of residents attended a township supervisors' meeting to both speak for and against Penn Wind's plans. Supervisors, however, discussed very little about Penn Wind's plans during the Friday meeting, which was rescheduled from Oct. 6. ...Sean Purdy of Penn Wind did not speak during the meeting. His company wants to install four turbines in Black Creek and 18 in neighboring Beaver Township, Columbia County.

Despite a recent report indicating Pennsylvania's significant growth in wind energy, local projects that once seemed imminent are all either dead or at a standstill. The state ranked second in growth with 29 percent, according to the American Wind Energy Association's report on the market for the third quarter of 2009. ...Two Luzerne County projects have withered on the vine, one dying after a very public legal fight and the other quietly.

The large wide load grounded Monday remained in town Tuesday, awaiting a part needed for repairs before it continues to West Virginia. Front Street remained closed from Route 54 to Mill Street, where the 150-foot-long, 100-ton windmill base sat on a trailer. The part for a damaged rear turning axle was ordered from Alabama and is expected to be delivered today, Danville Police Chief Eric Gill said.

Traffic on the Danville-Riverside Bridge was tied up for six hours Monday after a tractor-trailer carrying a wide load turned onto the bridge and got stuck. A crane was called in to move the trailer, which was hauling a section of a wind turbine tower. The truck became stuck at about 11:30 a.m. and was cleared from the bridge at about 5:30 p.m.