Being close to a windmill lowers the value of a property, says Derby's Board of Civil Authority (BCA). After inspecting property belonging to George and Doris Buzzell, the board decided to lower its appraised value by 10 percent from $242,300 to $227,600. ...According to the minutes of recent BCA meetings, the Buzzells objected to the recent revaluation of their property on Ridgehill Drive off Shattuck Hill Road. The couple was represented at meetings on October 29 and November 7 by Trevor Evans and Raymond Toolan. Mr. Toolan argued that noise and light from a windmill within 300 feet of the Buzzells' house lessens the home's value. The Buzzells say noises, vibrations and lights from the windmill, owned by Senator Vince Illuzzi and located on his property, interfere with the enjoyment of their home. Mr. Buzzell's "quality of living is far different today than when he purchased the property," Mr. Toolan said.

The war over wind raged on this week, as the Barton area's Ladies Improvement Society pressed the Barton Select Board for any means to stop commercial wind development in town. Though no commercial wind projects are being proposed for the Orleans County town, the 10 or so women who attended a Monday night select board meeting want to ensure that stopgaps are in place in case a project should be proposed. The group doesn't even want wind developers to drive heavy trucks through Barton for other projects. ...Selectmen, however, told the group that a community-wide discussion will have to happen on the issue, because there are many in town who support renewable energy.

Well above the number of required voters have signed a petition in Barton asking that the town plan be changed to ban commercial and industrial wind power. Members of the Ladies Improvement Society and others launched a petition to change the town plan, which is up for review, so that commercial wind turbines would be prohibited in Barton. About 200 people signed the petition out of 1,600 registered voters, JoAnn Stefanski said. ...The petition drive is a response to UPC Wind's project planned for Sheffield, which has been approved by the Vermont Public Service Board with conditions.

Selectboard members discussed the extent of their participation in upcoming public service board hearings on the proposed wind generation expansion in Searsburg and Readsboro at their regular board meeting Wednesday evening. ...“My personal objection is aesthetics,” said board member Meg Streeter. “I’ve heard from a lot of citizens that they foresee a loss of property values that will occur as a result of this. Unlike the existing windmills, these are considerably larger and will have FAA mandated lighting. They’ll be much more visible and obvious from numerous points in Wilmington.”

Environmentalists intend challenging in the Vermont Supreme Court recent approval for a large out-state wind-power company to build turbines atop a popular mountain ridge. Local conservation group Ridge Protectors opposes plans by Newton, Mass.-based UPC Wind to erect 16 wind turbines 425 feet high in the Hardscrabble Mountains near the town of Sheffield. ...The group claims the VPSB misapplied Vermont law and drew conclusions not in keeping with facts in the hearing record.

Noble Environmental Power, a Connecticut company, plans to turn on the power from its 120-turbine project in Clinton and neighboring Ellenburg this winter. A second developer, Texas-based Horizon Energy, is awaiting permits to erect 109 turbines next summer in the two towns. ...Visitors will hear no resolution to the debate over wind energy's benefits and costs that's going on back home. Although Clinton and Ellenburg have embraced wind development, the turbines have their fierce opponents as well as enthusiastic supporters. ... Amy Filion's Clinton home also sits amid the turbines. "It breaks my heart. I've lived here all my life because I love the country - and this isn't the country anymore," she said. ...It's not until travelers crisscross the two towns on back roads that jaws begin to drop. Towers are scattered across the landscape. Around each corner new towers appear, on the right, on the left, ahead and behind. They look like an alien army out of a "Star Wars" movie - but whether they are things of beauty or ugliness depends on the individual viewer.

A group opposed to a plan to build 16 wind-power turbines on a ridge line in Sheffield is taking its case to the Vermont Supreme Court. Ridge Protectors said it is appealing the Vermont Public Service Board approval of the project. The board granted the Massachusetts-based UPC Wind approval in August, with 36 conditions, including noise limits from turbine operations and a UPC sponsored wildlife management plan.

"It is our belief that the PSB decision is based on critical misapplications of Vermont laws, procedural errors, and several conclusions that are not based on findings of fact in the hearing record," said Paul Brouha, a founding member of Ridge Protectors. "The decision is inconsistent with Vermont legal precedent and if allowed to stand would open the door to alteration of ridgelines throughout the state," he said. Without generous federal subsidies and the lucrative regional market in renewable energy credits, developers would not be planning such projects in Vermont.

While paper mills close and Cabletron spins off its remnants out of state, power plants from the Seacoast to Whitefield enjoy the perks of a poorly understood, $100-million subsidy program just for energy producers. It has a bureaucratic name: the forward capacity market. ...An unidentified 600-megawatt, gas-fired power plant project somewhere in Rockingham County is blocked behind half a dozen North Country renewable energy projects in the ISO-New England regulatory queue. The waiting list policy is first-come, first-served. A plant like that would typically pay its host community $4 million or more in property taxes, with few smokestack emissions. But those wind- and wood-fired projects at the front of the line are all in limbo. The Public Service power lines in the region are too small. Most of the players can't even bid into the upcoming ISO auction, because yet-to-be-built plants have to ante millions of dollars as a sort of performance bond. And the ISO doesn't make forward capacity payments for transmission line upgrades.

The state is part way through its half-million-dollar effort to gauge Vermonters' opinion on how electricity should be generated. Three of five polling workshops have been held -- and a more elaborate process, called "deliberative polling," which aims to tap the knowledge of a broad cross-section of the state's population, will be held this weekend. ...Vermont's energy mix has given the state the lowest "carbon footprint" in the nation, according to O'Brien. ...Generally speaking, energy efficiency and hydro-electricity are heavily supported, Raab said. Wind is also "pretty well" supported; people who live in Burlington and Montpelier, however, are typically more likely to tolerate a wind farm that can be seen from their home than people who live in the Northeast Kingdom, he said. ... Since anyone can register online to attend the workshops, the participants are self-selected and often come to advocate for or against a particular type of power

The commission charged with finding how the state should reduce its contribution to global climate change - and profit from concerns worldwide about the issue - released its final report Friday calling for more energy efficiency, renewable energy development and the creation of an alliance between the state, nonprofit groups and Vermont's colleges and universities. ...Crombie said all recommendations and possibilities will be considered. But that does not necessarily mean Douglas will change his mind about large wind turbines on the state's ridgelines or bend to the Legislature's proposal of last year. "The governor's position is that we have to be careful about how we approach wind," Crombie said, adding that such wind projects may have other effects on the state - including impacts on the economy and recreation. "We may find that in Vermont we are using a lot of renewable energy already," Crombie said. "Already Vermont is one of the greenest economies in the United States."

As part of their energy plan the town of Manchester is considering investing some of its money in "green" or environmentally-friendly funds. ...There are two definitions for green funds, O'Keefe said. One is a company that produces green products - such as wind turbines - but does not produce them in a green way. The other are companies that produce products that are not green, but produces them in a way consistent with environmental values - automobiles being an example. ...The possibility of investing in such funds is still in its infancy as O'Keefe said ..."It's not a done deal," said O'Keefe. "We have to be careful with public money and make sure that we're not playing social politics with it."

Concerned citizens of the Deerfield Valley, and as far away as the Berkshires, have come together to form "Save Vermont Ridgelines." The current proposal before the public service board, to allow or deny construction of an industrial wind power plant on 80 acres of highly visible United States Forest Service- controlled ridgelines, has brought us together to consider the scope and consequences of these 17 410-feet tall machines, with flashing lights stretched across one of the area's most prominent ridgelines. ...The goal of our group is to inform the public of the full intent and consequences of this proposed wind experiment.

When this year's renewable energy conference got under way in Burlington on Wednesday there were, by some estimates, as many as 500 people at the event. Gov. James Douglas was not among them. "I was disappointed to not be invited," Douglas said Thursday. Douglas has been at the gathering of advocates, manufacturers and politicians involved in renewable power in the past - it is the sixth year of the conference. But this year other political leaders were invited and Douglas' name didn't come up, said Andrew Perchlik, executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont. It was not an intentional decision made because of Douglas' outspoken opposition to wind, he said.

Residents upset about recent state approval for a wind power project in a neighboring town have launched a petition drive to change the town plan to prohibit commercial wind power development. “This petition basically reinforces that we don’t want to look at the ones at the end of Crystal Lake, and we don’t want the construction coming through,” said Liz Butterfield, owner of the Barton Village Corner Store. “And in the future, we don’t want wind development in the town of Barton.” ...“I think a 420-food wind tower at the end of a state park is a travesty,” Butterfield said.

So many people packed the town's municipal office Wednesday night to learn about a possible wind turbine project at Grandpa's Knob that officials were forced to move the meeting to the Lothrop Elementary School. Brad King, of Noble Environmental Power, a wind energy developer based in Essex, Conn., met with the Select Board and residents to speak about wind turbines.

The petition basically duplicates the concerns the USFWS raised two months ago. It says that studies at existing wind facilities "have shown high mortality rates for birds and, especially so, for bats. Not mentioned in the hearings nor in any developer studies is the fact that ducks, geese, and other water fowl migrate over these ridge lines and stop over in the wetlands in the Sheffield project area. Threatened species of interior forest birds come north to live here for the warmer months. We are very concerned that their habitat and nesting will be severely interrupted. "Given the political pressure in Vermont and New England to construct renewable electric generation developments, particularly industrial-scale wind plants, we are concerned that otherwise thoughtful biologists and wildlife experts are being compelled to ignore their best judgment," it says. "We encourage you and your colleagues in EPA and the Corps of Engineers to exercise your authorities to the fullest and hope that our state and federal officials will encourage you as well.

Tensions were high Wednesday night as an audience of 50 residents and interested parties met in Memorial Hall to ask questions regarding the Searsburg and Readsboro wind project. Neil Habig, a representative from PPM Energy, which is heading the project, was booed when he did not fully respond to various questions or provided answers that did not satisfy the crowd.

While the panel provided insights on alternatives to the wind project, the question and answer session was more engaging. Many in the audience had concerns and doubts regarding the Deerfield Wind Project. Susan Haughwout, of Wilmington, said she had heard rumors that they were no longer building small wind turbines and the ones currently on site in Searsburg may be replaced by taller ones. Neil Habig, project manager for the Deerfield Wind Project, could not confirm or deny the rumors but said for the time being it did not fit into the current plans. Lynne Matthews, also of Wilmington, asked if Habig could provide the the wind speed of the turbines and describe what category they would fall into. Habig responded that the wind speeds of the turbines were proprietary and that he was not familiar with the category chart itself. Many in the audience laughed at Habig's response as one person shouted back, "You don't want us to know the truth." But for Matthews, ignorance was no excuse. "You should know that," she said to a round of applause.

Grandpa's Knob, a craggy mountain top between Castleton and West Rutland, made history 66 years ago this month. That's when a 110-foot wind tower began producing electricity. ...Today, a Connecticut-based company hopes to install much larger, 410-foot tall turbines on the site.