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.

The town's Select Board plans to file documents with the state Public Service Board opposing a wind farm proposal to be located in Clarendon, Ira and neighboring towns. Board members voted Monday to oppose Vermont Community Wind Farm's plan to develop an 80-megawatt wind facility and to erect a 197-foot temporary wind measurement tower on Susie's Peak in Clarendon.

A proposed wind farm dominated discussion of updating the town plan Tuesday, with many residents asking if the town can put a stop to the development. Neither the Select Board nor the Planning Commission took any formal action Tuesday night, but commission member Tim Martin called the comments "very useful" and said the commission would work on revisions. He said the commission was not used to getting this amount of input.

Officials from Vermont Community Wind have organized a bus trip to a wind farm in New Hampshire to try and build support for a large scale wind farm they're proposing in and around the Rutland County town of Ira. Company officials say about 35 residents from the area will travel to Lempster, New Hampshire, on Saturday where a 24-megawatt wind farm has recently been built.

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.

A wind farm developer has reapplied for a permit to put up testing equipment after relocating a proposed site from Ira to Clarendon. ...VCWF spokesman Jeffrey Wennberg said consultants first identified the Suzie's Peak location during the winter. When they went back in the spring, they discovered it was close to a wetland.

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.

More than 150 people gathered tonight in Georgia to debate a proposed five-turbine wind farm on Georgia Mountain. Some 30 speakers and the broader audience seemed split on the project as they participated in a hearing before the state Public Service Board, which would have to approve the development for it to proceed.

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.

The neighbors gathered in Dan and Tina FitzGerald's kitchen had a list of grievances about five wind turbines proposed for the mountain in his backyard. The list began with this: A fear their voices will not be listened to. "We feel there is a tremendous amount of money stacked up against us," said Darlene Ross, who would have a view of the turbines from her home on Arrowhead Lake.

Although the Public Service Board granted the Deerfield Wind Project a certificate of public good, there remains a lot of work ahead. Now the wind project must obtain approval from federal and state agencies, and officials say it may be another year before construction of the wind turbines can commence. ...According to U.S. Forest Service supervisor Meg Mitchell, the forest service is reviewing the PSB decision. Mitchell said the forest service is also looking at submitted comments from the draft environmental impact statement.

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.