New York's far-reaching investigation into allegations that wind developers paid local officials to approve their energy projects moved into the state of Vermont this week. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that his office issued a subpoena to Reunion Power, a wind energy developer with offices in Manchester Center and Hackensack, N.J., as part of its ongoing investigation.

The Select Board voted unanimously Monday to sign a 30-year lease with Vermont Community Wind Farm to put turbines on municipal forest land West Rutland owns in Ira. The company is seeking to build an 80-megawatt wind farm in and around Ira. In return, the company will pay the town a total of $3,000 for the three-year "development phase."

The president and spokesman of Vermont Community Wind Farm stood before a crowd of about 80 people for more than two hours in Ira's Town Hall. ...Much of the feedback amounted to "go away." People in the audience held up signs opposing the project. David Potter, who represents part of Ira in the Legislature, even objected to the company's name.

Another delay has stopped the progress of the Sheffield windmill project. The retirement of the Commissioner of Transportation, Bonnie Rutledge, has put a hold on Barton Village's issuance of the permit First Wind needs to use Duck Pond Road to transport the wind turbines to the Sheffield site. This delay is bad news for First Wind but good news to the project's opponents.

Every day, all day, weather radar shows a small but intense thunderstorm northwest of Plattsburgh, N.Y. Further to the west, in central New York, where much of Vermont's weather comes from ...But these daily storms are not real. They're an unintended side effect of the wind farms cropping up on windy plateaus and mountains all over the nation.

Public Service Department spokesman Stephen Wark said he could not think of an occasion when a town plan prevented a utility project. ...Many residents of Ira expressed interest at two recent meetings in amending the town plan to keep out a proposed 80-megawatt wind farm. Members of the Planning Commission have cautioned that they are not sure such a move will work.

An impending development proposal has stirred up strong interest in the rewrite of the town plan. Planning Commissioner Tim Martin said the town undertook the five-year rewrite of the plan before learning about the proposal to put most or all of an 80-megawatt wind farm in Ira.

Site of proposed wind project.(Host) Vermont Community Wind says it's scaling back plans on a proposed 80 Megawatt wind farm west of Rutland. Project developers say they're eliminating 15 of 60 potential turbine sites, which they hope will appease growing opposition to the project. VPR's Nina Keck has more.

A developer told residents Thursday he doesn't plan to put any wind towers in their town. Vermont Community Wind Farm spokesman Jeff Wennberg said all potential sites in Middletown and Tinmouth, along with several in Ira, have been dropped from the company's plan to build an 80-megawatt wind farm in the southeastern part of the county.

More than 100 people attended a two-hour Vermont Public Service Board hearing regarding the Georgia Mountain Wind Project Tuesday night at Georgia Elementary School. The purpose of the hearing was to garner public input on the proposed project, which would place three to five wind turbines atop Georgia Mountain on the Milton-Georgia town line.

John Petell had the solar array installed in his yard late last year as a way to reduce his home's reliance on the electrical grid. The Petell solar panel dispute has become a small version of the controversies over the aesthetics of alternative energy proposals across the state.

More than 150 people gathered Tuesday night in Georgia to debate a proposed five-turbine wind farm on Georgia Mountain, the first commercial wind-energy project up for consideration in Chittenden County. ...At issue is whether the Harrison family should win permission to erect five, 400-foot-tall turbines atop Georgia Mountain in the towns of Georgia and Milton.

A short, steep stretch of Duck Pond Road in Barton Village has become the last line of defense for people who don't want the 16 big turbines of the Sheffield wind project to arrive through Barton - and those who don't want the project no matter how it gets to Sheffield. Last week the contractor, First Wind, got the permits for overweight and oversize trucks it needs from the town of Barton, where most of the Duck Pond Road route lies. But after their third lengthy meeting with the village trustees Monday night, a bevy of First Wind officials went away empty handed once again.

The town of Ira is holding a public meeting Wednesday so townspeople can talk over a proposal that has upset many in the small community. A large scale commercial wind farm is being proposed for Ira and five other towns west of Rutland. If completed, it would be the second largest energy producer in the state after Vermont Yankee. Although many in the area say they support wind power, a growing number say this project is too big.

Wind farm proponents want to dispel rumors regarding a proposed 80-megawatt development to be spread over a half dozen towns in Rutland County. Vermont Community Wind Farm owner Per White-Hansen and representative Jeff Wennberg spent approximately three hours with 50 citizens at the Clarendon Grange Community Center on Wednesday offering an overview and answering questions about the project - which they both said was in its early stages.

Preliminary plans for a wind farm in Ira and surrounding communities has generated little support among town officials in neighboring Clarendon. "It doesn't sit right with me the way these folks are approaching this," Select Board Chairman Michael Klopchin said.

The turbines don't come without controversy. In early March, a wind turbine in Altona, N.Y., fell to the ground. No one was hurt. In the following days, Noble Environmental Power, which owns 257 turbines in Clinton and Franklin counties, blamed a combination of a "power loss" and a "wiring anomaly" for the topple. To this day, they have offered no further explanation.

Opposition to a proposed wind farm began to organize at the town hall Wednesday. A handful of residents for Ira and surrounding towns met to discuss their concerns about Vermont Community Wind Farm's efforts to put as many as 60 wind turbines in and around the town of 460. They discussed hiring lawyers, direct-mail campaigns and rewriting town plans.

A developer seeking to build a wind farm in and around Ira has approached the town about leasing forest land West Rutland owns in the neighboring town. Per White-Hansen of Vermont Community Wind Farm made his presentation to the Select Board Monday night, outlining his plan. The board made no decision Monday night, its members saying they would have to review materials White-Hansen gave them.