HINESBURG — Vermont could get half its electric power from renewable sources within 10 years, including 20 percent from wind, if it gets busy developing the resources now, says a new report. The report by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, issued Thursday in the front yard of a company that makes testing equipment for potential wind power sites, comes against the backdrop of a debate over energy policy that has grown increasingly heated and increasingly political this election season.

Voters overwhelmingly opposed the wind tower proposal slated for neighboring Sheffield and Sutton on Tuesday evening. The unanimous opposition provided the town selectmen with precisely the overwhelming sense of direction they lacked last fall. “I think it was clear,” Selectman Robert Croteau said. “It’s not like we only had 25 or 30 people or even 60 or 70.” An estimated 120 voters turned out to make their position, and that of their town, unmistakably clear. That clarity, however, may have little effect on the Public Service Board (PSB), which must decide whether to issue a certificate of public good for the 16 towers UPC Vermont Wind wants to build.

(East Haven, VT - AP) - The state Public Service Board travels this week to the tiny northeastern Vermont town of East Haven to look at the site of a proposed wind power project. At the center of the debate over the proposed East Haven Wind Farm is how pristine the surrounding forest is and whether it would be spoiled by the project.

RUTLAND, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2006--Catamount Energy Corporation (Catamount) and Marubeni Power International, Inc. (Marubeni) announced today that they are ending development of the Glebe Mountain Wind Energy Project in Vermont.

New England Energy Alliance Survey Finds Consumer Concern about Future Electricity Supplies, Desire to Choose Electricity Supplier and Support for Addressing Global Warming

Five wind turbines proposed for Georgia Mountain are either a way to save the planet from dependence on fossil fuels or an environment-wrecking boondoggle, according to public comments at Tuesday evening's Vermont Public Service Board hearing. The board is considering whether to allow the Harrison family, which owns a concrete and construction business, to erect five 400-foot tall wind turbines on the mountain, which straddles Milton and Georgia.

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- More than 100 candidates for federal, state and local offices in Vermont have signed onto a plan by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group to reduce dependence on foreign oil and emphasize renewable sources of electricity. VPIRG asked 329 political candidates across the state to sign their pledge and 111 signed the document while 27 candidates provided position papers, which support similar goals.

A Vermont-based company is planning to construct an 80-foot residential wind tower on Little Equinox this fall. Earth Turbines, a start-up in Williston that develops residential turbines, filed a joint petition Friday with Endless Energy Corp. and NRG Systems to the state's Public Service Board to erect the turbine and continue to use the 100-foot wind measurement tower already on the mountain. ...The town was notified along with adjoining property owners through the permit process. In the application, it states both the turbine and the tower "can be removed by Dec. 31, 2010."

"There's no way this school can continue," she declared during an interview last week, because of the threat wind turbines pose to the special environment school officials have tried to create for their students.

MONTPELIER — After 27 months and more than $1 million, the developers of a four-turbine wind project proposed for a mountaintop in East Haven have been told that the Public Service Board (PSB) should reject its application because the project will have an undue aesthetic impact in a nearby land preserve.

The Deerfield Wind Project was handed a setback when two state agencies weighed in on the recent U.S. Forest Service draft Environmental Impact Statement. As a result, the project now faces greater scrutiny in the application process for a certificate of public good. ...On Tuesday, the Deerfield Wind Project suffered another setback, this time with the application process. The Public Service Board granted a request to suspend hearings to allow concerned parties more time to review documents by the project's attorney.

WORCESTER— Absent interest in lower-priced fuels, New Englanders should brace for continued high electricity prices, the byproduct of a regional system heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and coal, the head of the region’s power grid said yesterday.

Changes to a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton will put Barton in the center of activity and that has some residents concerned. Residents urged selectmen during a meeting of the board Monday night to file for party status with the Vermont Public Service Board so the town can have a say in the process, Rupert Chamberlin, chairman of the board, said Wednesday. “Near as I can tell, there is a lot of concern,” Chamberlin said. “But the select board hasn’t taken a stand yet.”

Nobody at the meeting except wind development company employees spoke in favor of the renewable energy project, which would produce up to 40 megawatts of power for Washington Electric Co-op in East Montpelier and other Vermont utilities. Vermont utilities are facing the loss of a large chunk of their stable low-cost power sources in several years and consider wind as an environmentally sound solution. But most of the roughly 90 people attending the first public hearing held in Barton said they did not see what they would get out of it except a spoiled view and noise from construction. Johnson and Larosa said they only prepared to address transportation issues and could not answer a broad range of questions ranging from “what’s your budget?” to “who owns the company?” This appeared to anger some people.

The Barton Planning Commission has held hearings on both its revised town plan and a petition, signed by more than 200 of Barton's 2,500 residents, asking that the plan specifically prohibit commercial and industrial wind. At the latest hearing, about 25 people showed up and watched a slide show produced by JoAnn Stefanski, who has been instrumental in launching the petition drive and fighting the possible introduction of commercial wind in Barton Barton's petition is in response to UPC Wind's intention to put up 16 wind turbines in Sheffield, a plan the Vermont Public Service Board has approved, and one that a slim majority of Sheffield voters said they supported at a special town meeting two years ago. A big and vocal minority continues to oppose the project and will file a Vermont Supreme Court appeal of the PSB decision next week. Meanwhile, they have asked for a halt to construction, saying that UPC Wind has failed to meet some of the 32 conditions that the PSB has imposed on the project.

When residents here show up next week at a special town meeting to decide if the town should take a position on the Sheffield wind farm proposal, the question of home rule will inevitably arise. Home rule or local control has suddenly come center stage of the wind debate, thanks in part to recent testimony on the Sheffield wind project from the Department of Public Service (DPS). Presented last month to the Public Service Board, that testimony specifically supports the siting of the project’s wind towers —everything else being equal — in the towns that want them.

BARTON – Officials here plan to canvass voters about the impact of a potential wind generation project nearby that has stirred up controversy since developers said they would re-route major construction traffic through the village. Barton is a small picturesque hill town located just north of the proposed 16-turbine Sheffield Wind Farm. It is several miles north of St. Johnsbury on Interstate 91 just below the Canadian border and is home to Crystal Lake State Park, a popular Northeast Kingdom tourist destination. Barton selectmen have warned a special town meeting for Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Barton Municipal Building to see if local voters want the town to weigh in before the Vermont Public Service Board as it reviews the project, and if voters want selectmen to endorse the project before the PSB. Barton borders both of the towns that would host the turbines, Sheffield and Sutton, and at least 14 of the 16 398-foot tall wind turbines would be in direct view of Crystal Lake’s public beach from about five miles away, according to application information.

The prospect of truck traffic carrying wind turbine parts through the village of Barton has prompted officials here to request details on plans for building the proposed Sheffield Wind Farm. “We had been hearing rumors they (UPC Wind Management) were coming up Route 16 (and) turning on to Duck Pond Road,” to deliver construction materials, said Brian Hanson, Barton Village supervisor, who oversees electricity, water, sewer and roads for village residents. “I found out from other parties, then we requested a meeting with them.”

BARTON — News that the Sheffield wind project will use access roads here to transport industrial turbines and towers to ridge line sites has prompted selectmen to seek an expanded role in the hearings before the Public Service Board (PSB). Following a Monday night meeting that saw citizens call for a more active role, the Barton Town Selectmen voted to petition the board for party status in the case. “I’m not saying one way or the other right now where we stand on the issue,” Chairman Rupert Chamberlin said in an interview Tuesday. He was reluctant to get the town involved in the ongoing debate over wind.

About 350 people turned out to talk about Vermont's energy future and how to fill future demand. Many different renewable energy sources were topics of discussion during the all-day event. Not included, however, was industrial wind, an omission that disappointed some attendees. Gov. Jim Douglas spoke to the group for about 15 minutes and never mentioned the word "wind." Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie was more to the point. "I am an unabashed supporter of wind," Dubie told the crowd.