Maryland regulators have, for the first time, granted fast-track status to a wind-power project in the state's mountainous western panhandle.

The 5-0 vote Wednesday by the Public Service Commission exempts California-based Clipper Windpower Inc. and its Criterion Power Partners subsidiary from having to obtain a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for its 40-turbine project in Garrett County, as power plant developers must do.

Clipper and planners of other proposed wind projects contend the certification requirement has hamstrung wind energy development in western Maryland because opponents acting as interveners have used it to challenge and delay projects. Meanwhile, wind farms have sprung... [continue via Web link]