The township has long been embroiled in litigation with Broad Mountain Development Co. LLC over that company's plans to construct 27 wind turbines in the Fountain Springs area. The project is strongly opposed by many residents, and one of the issues before the courts is the fact that at the time Broad Mountain developed its plan there was no specific mention of wind turbines in its ordinances.

Township supervisors on Thursday gave Gamesa Energy USA permission to use the 90-meter blades manufactured now in Ebensburg. Previous plans called for using 87-meter blades, manufactured outside of Pennsylvania. The difference in length is about 10 feet.

White-nose snydrome has the potential to devastate bats, which also are dying from impacts with wind turbines, Whidden said Feb. 25 during a lecture at Penn State Hazleton. Even before the new threats appeared to the nine species of bats regularly seen in Pennsylvania, one of them, the Indiana bat, was on the federal endangered species list, and that state listed the small-footed bat as threatened.

The Portage Township supervisors are attempting to streamline the permitting process and reduce the local costs of having an on-lot residential or small-business wind turbine. A revamped ordinance based on an original statute adopted in 2005 will be advertised next week with plans for adoption in April, Supervisor Kenneth Trimbath said.

The company that wants to build more wind turbines in Butler Township filed an appeal Monday in Schuylkill County Court challenging changes to the ordinance trying to restrict them. Broad Mountain Development Co. LLC, Gilberton, alleged the township supervisors did not follow the prescribed legal procedure in purporting to enact amendments to the zoning ordinance, thereby making them invalid.

"They stole our peace with a smile on their faces," says Judy. Hal has been speaking out about the unexpected noise problems from the newly erected turbines for a year now. The sound has been described as that of a jet engine taking off, an expressway, or the constant drone of a tractor. The Grahams say that leaseholders in Cohocton were told the sound of the turbines was likened to that of a refrigerator running, but that's not what they hear.

Although the publicity has died down, two large-scale industrial wind energy projects in northern Potter County are moving forward. Township governments have been adopting regulations that are accommodating to the wind turbines. By turning to the townships, wind developers have circumvented countywide regulations approved in 2008.