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.

Those who build large houses in Vermont could face hefty state fees if some lawmakers succeed in their efforts. Under the Senate version of the proposed law, those who put up new houses larger than 4,000 square feet would be charged unless their buildings were energy efficient. A similar bill likely to be introduced soon in the House is even tougher. Fees assessed under it on such large houses will go directly to a fund promoting renewable energy production in the state.

large energy company formally asked state regulators to approve a wind project in Searsburg and Readsboro on Monday. If PPM Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Scottish Power, is successful, its Deerfield project would be built next to the state’s only operating wind farm, the 11-turbine Searsburg project built by Green Mountain Power in 1997. At between 15 and 24 turbines and having a capacity as high as 45 megawatts, the proposed Deerfield project would be the larger of the two independently owned and operated projects. Searsburg has a capacity of about 6 megawatts.

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.

Industrial wind turbines dominated the news in 2006 in northern Caledonia County, as they did in 2005. Readers can also look forward to more stories on wind in 2007. This is also true for news on the Ginn Development at Burke Mountain and a proposed merger between the village of Lyndonville and the town of Lyndon.

Now, the state Public Service Board is refusing to approve the money that would have gone to the utility for removing the dam in Milton, a few miles upstream from where the Lamoille River flows into the lake. The board said it had to weigh the benefits to fish against the environmental benefits of generating enough power for 3,000 typical Vermont homes without discharging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, citing a 2005 law that calls on the state to get an increasing share of its power from renewable sources. Recent cases involving wind power projects "have illustrated the difficulty in siting renewable energy projects in Vermont," the board said. "Although Peterson Dam does not constitute a new renewable generation source" like those envisioned in Act 61, "it is a stably priced, existing renewable energy source that state policy declares should be 'retained and supported'."

MANCHESTER — According to town officials, when it’s 12 days until Christmas and temperatures are in the 50s, it’s time to do something about global warming and Manchester is taking an unprecedented step. On Wednesday, the Select Board voted to approve a budget for 2007 that includes two new budget items, both for $6,145. The first will be a ballot item asking voters to contribute money to offset the carbon dioxide emissions created by the town’s energy use. The second would pay for the town to study and implement ways to reduce energy.

State officials have withdrawn some of their objections to a large wind project slated for the Northeast Kingdom after reductions in the scale of the project, but there is still a list of changes they would like to see before any turbines are installed in Sheffield or Sutton. And the Division of Historic Preservation continues to object to the proposed project by UPC Vermont Wind because of its potential impact on Crystal Lake State Park, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places. “We did not envision the first proposal as something that could work,” said David O’Brien, head of the Department of Public Service. “I think the revised filing is certainly responsive to concerns raised by the department and other parties.” The department does not decide if projects get approval or not, but does try to make the projects that are approved better, O’Brien said.......O’Brien added that the position of Gov. James Douglas towards large-scale wind projects has not changed. “The administration is certainly not excited about the industrialization of the ridgelines,” he said. “It’s something we are exceedingly cautions about. The ridgelines of Vermont have been specially protected for generations.”

The Vermont Department of Public Service has concluded that if the two turbines proposed for Norris Mountain in Sutton are eliminated, UPC Vermont Wind will have met its burden on orderly development. Sutton residents are opposed to the wind project and on Nov. 8 voted to spend another $50,000 on legal fees to fight the project. The town has already spent $25,000 on a lawyer plus another $11,000 raised by individual donors and proceeds from spaghetti suppers. The Sutton town plan and zoning regulations do not allow tall structures on ridge lines. “By eliminating all turbines from within the town of Sutton, the decision-making process of the town is respected,” wrote Robert Ide, director for Energy Efficiency for the DPS. “By allowing all other remaining turbines within the town of Sheffield, that town’s decision-making process has also been respected.”

The state of Vermont has changed its mind and now says it will not oppose a major wind energy project planned for the Northeast Kingdom. But the state Department of Public Service says it still has concerns about large-scale wind development. Officials say they are withholding final judgment on the Northeast Kingdom project until they evaluate the power supply deal the developer offers. VPR’s John Dillon reports:

Shumlin, the new president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate and a lifelong resident of Windham County, says one thing Vermont can do to fight global warming is to generate more of its own electricity — and clean energy. Windham County has long hosted the state's largest power generator — Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, he noted. Vermont Yankee, which is owned by the Louisiana power conglomerate Entergy, has provided about one-third of all the electricity consumed in the state. But Shumlin says it's time that Vermont started generating more electricity from wind power, the debate about aesthetics aside. Southern Vermont has hosted the state's only operating wind facility, he noted, in Searsburg in neighboring Bennington County. While the scale of the current generation of wind facilities is substantially bigger than the 198-foot tall Searsburg towers, aesthetics will have to take a back seat, he said. "I think it's a moral imperative to use them," he said of the wind turbines.

An out-of-state company has partnered with a Vermont environmental consulting firm to locate potential wind power sites in the state. Noble Environmental Power and Vermont Environmental Research Associates are exploring sites for wind parks throughout Vermont, including potential sites in Rutland, Bennington and Windsor counties. The wind parks would ideally be situated along some of Vermont’s ridgelines, where wind currents are strongest, said Anna Giovinetto, a spokeswoman for Noble Environmental Power in Essex, Conn. Giovinetto said the company is in the very early stages of evaluating potential sites. “I would say it would be probably a year before we could positively propose something for a specific location,’ Giovinetto said. “You have to do so much work in terms of evaluating a site not only for its wind resources and access to transmission but also in terms of the community acceptance and a bunch of other factors.”

WINHALL, Vt. -- The Stratton Mountain Resort has committed to offsetting 100 percent of its energy usage during the next three years through the purchase of renewable energy credits. The resort will pay a premium on top of its regular electric bill to support the development of renewable energy around the country.

EMDC, doing business as East Haven Windfarm, was issued a certificate of public good by the Vermont Public Service Board on Friday. The Ginn Company, owners of the Burke Mountain Ski Area, bought the development rights on East Haven Mountain from EMDC in April of this year. Part of the agreement at the time was that if any wind project was proposed in the future, Ginn would work with EMDC on the project. David Rapaport, vice president of East Haven Windfarm, said whether the 197-foot tower would be installed was up to the Ginn Company. “It’s not our decision,” Rapaport said Monday. “They bought the development rights. We think they may want to because of the electrical demand with their new development.”

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.

During a special town meeting Wednesday night, voters agreed 126-98 to spend an additional $50,000 over the next two years to fight a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton. It was standing room only in the multi-purpose room at the Sutton Town School as more than 200 people showed up to vote. About 15 people spoke either for or against spending the money authorization. “Sutton would be foolish not to have legal representation before the Public Service Board in these proceedings,” resident Sharon Nicol said.

Residents voted 126 to 98 by paper ballot to spend up to $50,000 to pay a lawyer to keep fighting the Sheffield Wind Farm after a contentious special town meeting Wednesday night......... Sutton voters opposed the project at town meeting, but selectmen held a vote Wednesday responding to a petition to halt spending without voter approval. Most of the 224 Sutton residents gathered at the Sutton School told selectmen to “appropriate funds to continue to fund a lawyer to oppose the UPC Sheffield Sutton Wind project,” but several disagreed.

Changes to a proposed wind farm in Sheffield and Sutton have led the Public Service Board to delay technical hearings on the case. Hearings had been set to begin in early December, but have now been rescheduled for late January and early February, according to a PSB memorandum.

"One of the reasons we did cow power as opposed to wind or just plain renewables is the homegrown nature of it and its connection to Vermont," he said. Customers can "drive by the farm and see where their energy is coming from and stop by for a visit if they want to."

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.”