MADISON -- A state senate panel has advanced a bill that would create a statewide standard for siting wind farms in Wisconsin. But senators changed the plan to add protections for people who live near the massive wind turbines.

The plan would phase out the current patchwork of local wind ordinances that developers complain is slowing renewable energy development. In its place, the Public Service Commission (PSC) would come up with statewide standards on where to place wind turbines. What concerns some rural landowners is that the PSC has allowed turbines as close as 1,000 feet away from neighbors.

But under a provision passed by a senate panel, the PSC would have to consider the health effects of wind turbines when they decide how far to set them back from homes.

Green Bay Republican Senator Robert Cowles sponsored the change, charging that some wind farms have been placed too close to people that it damages their quality of life. If the bill becomes law, the PSC would have to devise standards that protect people's health from noise and other hazards.

Cowles also backed a change that would require wind farm developers to maintain proof that they have enough money to decommission a wind turbine if they need to. So if one stops operating they're not left standing, or what he considers the "worst case scenario".

Cowles was one of the lawmakers who helped kill a similar bill last session, but he joined all majority Democrats in voting for it in committee with these changes.

Only one lawmaker voted "no" yesterday. Elkhorn Republican Senator Neil Kedzie said he was still concerned about taking away control from local governments.