The Virginia State Corporation Commission on Feb. 26 denied the Virginia Department of Historic Resources' complaint against Highland New Wind's 38-MW Highland project in Highland County, Va. SCC Senior Hearing Examiner Alexander Skirpan Jr. recommended Jan. 25 that the commission dismiss DHR's complaint, which said Highland New Wind failed to comply with a number of conditions stated in the SCC's Dec. 20, 2007, final order approving the project. The department said the sunset provision in the SCC's final order requiring Highland New Wind to begin construction by Dec. 20, 2009, had expired. Although the project has begun grading and moving earth on the site, the DHR said the project was in violation because nothing has been constructed. Construction is expected to begin this spring.

A Virginia company is seeking state approval for a proposed $250 million wind farm on the Barbour-Randolph county line. Arlington, Va.-based AES Corp. wants to build up to 65 turbines on a ridge top near Elkins that would connect to an existing Allegheny Energy. Inc. 138-kilovolt transmission line, according to a Jan. 31 filing with the state Public Service Commission. If local, state and federal regulators approve the project, AES said the turbines could begin transmitting electricity by the end of 2009.

A Richmond-based energy company has bought a 50 percent stake in a wind turbine project in Grant County, West Virginia that residents are seeking to block. Dominion, one of the country’s largest energy producers, announced today it plans to develop the first phase of the 300 (m) million-dollar project, to be located near the company’s coal-fired energy plant at Mount Storm.

Legislation that could have trumped Tazewell County's two-year-old ridgeline protection ordinance has died in the General Assembly. ...Area leaders argued the bill was an attempt to override a local county ordinance that prohibits the development of tall structures, including wind turbines, on East River Mountain and other protected ridgelines.

Gov. Bob McDonnell signed into law Wednesday offshore drilling legislation intended to realize his goal of making Virginia the East Coast's energy superpower. The bills supporting offshore oil and gas exploration and directing royalties from drilling back to Virginia each hinge on actions by the federal government and Congress.

State regulators have approved scientific surveys for a test project that aims to build one of the first offshore wind turbines in the United States, in waters at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Virginia Association of Counties is urging localities across the Commonwealth to oppose a renewable energy bill as it is currently proposed by a Virginia Beach lawmaker. The legislation sought by Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, would weaken local government land use authority, and could override local ordinances.

Vail Resorts will not install wind turbines atop its slopes or use direct wind energy to power its chair lifts. Instead, it will purchase from Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy renewable-energy credits equal to the amount of electricity it uses.

Vail Resorts Inc. said Monday it will not renew its three-year commitment to purchase wind-energy offset credits. ..."going forward, we intend to channel our efforts on more comprehensive projects, which help protect the climate and also offer habitat and watershed benefits to local communities, such as the Hayman Restoration Project," Katz said.

Windmills that Vail Resorts recently proposed to put at Eagle's Nest atop Vail Mountain are little more than "toys," one energy expert said. "They would have trouble running a 10th Mountain hut," said Randy Udall, former director of Aspen's Community Office for Resource Efficiency, in an e-mail, referring to the backcountry cabins near Vail. The new proposal significantly downsizes a 2003 plan that would have put four 100-foot-tall, 100-kilowatt windmills on Ptarmigan Ridge above the Back Bowls, creating enough power to run four chairlifts. ...The $400,000 windmills proposed in 2003 would have powered four chairlifts and paid for themselves within a decade, Vail Associates said. But the company withdrew the proposal shortly after it was proposed. The reasons are unclear, although the Division of Wildlife expressed concerns about dangers to birds. The project would have needed approval from the U.S. Forest Service, which owns most of Vail Mountain. "We decided not to pursue the 2003 wind turbine proposal for a variety of reasons that seemed relevant and practical at the time," ...

Villagers battling plans for a wind farm in Worcestershire are to stage a walk through the countryside they fear will be destroyed by the proposals. Families living in the Vale of Evesham will gather tomorrow for the walk along the Wychavon Way and Blossom Trail, close to where Scottish Power Renewables is planning to build 10 turbines measuring 125m (410ft) on land owned by farmers.

But the fact that interest is out there for such a project is a sign of things to come, said Rick Webb, operator of www.vawind.org and a senior scientist with the environmental sciences department at the University of Virginia. "This is probably the tip of the iceberg," he said. Eighteen miles of national forest ridgeline, most of which is on Shenandoah Mountain, stands to be affected by the proposal, Webb said. "It's industrializing our national forest," he said. "The question is whether it's worth the trade-off. In my conclusion, it is not. The electricity produced is just a drop in the bucket."

The decision to approve a wind farm in the Den Brook valley is to be challenged at the High Court - for a second time. Mike Hulme, of the Den Brook Judicial Review Group (DBJRG), claims the noise condition imposed by inspector Andrew Pykett is "defective". Mr Hulme said: "Our assessment of the decision leaves neighbours surrounding the wind farm proposal vulnerable to sleep disturbance from potentially health-damaging noise pollution created by the industrial scale turbines.

A report written by the council's principal planning officer detailed eight reasons for refusing planning permission for four 328ft high turbines on a four hectare site on Mynydd James mountain between Cwmtillery and Blaina. ...These included worries over the stability of the ground on which the turbines would be built, the visual impact on the area and the negative effect on tourism.

Mr Jelbart and his neighbours estimate the wind farm development will wipe $20 million from the value of nearby properties. "Our land is being used as a buffer zone for an industrial site," he said.

To prepare for a planning review of the resource management plans that guide wind energy and other development on public lands, the Bureau of Land Management's Rock Springs and Rawlins field offices are hosting a series of open houses to collect information for a "visual inventory" of southern Wyoming.

Wind farms could be more valuable to local communities than riverboat casinos, but not if they don't pay their fair share of local property taxes. "The ones we've looked at, on average, the state is assessing each windmill an average of $1 million," said accountant Gregory Guerrettaz, president of Financial Solutions Group in Indianapolis. "So right there, you could be losing a differential of $4 million on taxes during the life of that windmill."

JUNEAU - The public relations officer for Horicon Marsh Systems Advocates has filed a lawsuit in Dodge County Circuit Court against the 21-year-old Lomira man who vandalized three of his yard signs opposing the $250 million Forward Wind Energy Center.

Michael J. Elsinger, N10201 Arthur Road, Lomira, was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service at the Horicon Marsh Haven Center or with Friends of the Horicon Marsh. He must also pay $490 in restitution, a $150 fine plus court costs and write letters of apology to all of the victims of his crimes within 60 days. Ryan M. Koll, 21, P.O. Box 119, Theresa, and Elsinger's accomplice in the anti-wind farm sign crime spree, pled guilty on Feb. 16 to one count of theft and received a $243 fine plus paid restitution.

A reward is being offered for vandalism of wind turbines at Mason County's Lake Winds Energy Park, the Ludington Daily News is reporting. Details of the vandalism wasn't immediately known.