WEST RUTLAND - A wind-energy developer wants access to about 50 acres of town land. Noble Environmental Power, which is studying building what would be the largest wind farm in Vermont in the area around Grandpa's Knob, went before the Select Board on Monday to inquire about buying an easement on the parcel that Town Manager Thomas Yennerell described as "near the ridge line." Yennerell said the company offered a base rate of $2,000-$3,000 a year, with additional payments based on electricity generated by wind turbines placed on the land. He said the board did not offer an immediate answer. "They looked at it and said they'd discuss particulars at a future date," he said.

Dottie Schnure, a spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power Corp., told Channel 3, "What the study is going to do is give us information about whether we can build a plant in-state or multiple plants in state, what the cost of those will be." The utilities, including Greem Mountain Power, Central Vermont Public Service, Vermont Public Power Supply Authority, Washington Electric Cooperative and Vermont Electric Cooperative, chose a Massachusetts consulting firm, Concentric Energy Advisors, to do the study. Schnure said the study is due to be completed by the end of the summer.

This year's massive energy bill hasn't yet reached Gov. James Douglas' desk, but supporters and opponents of the legislation are already putting a lot of energy into preparation for a likely July veto override vote. That vote will determine the fate of a tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, a proposed heating fuels efficiency program and a host of other energy issues. It may also become a test of wills between advocates and Democratic leaders in the Legislature on one hand and Douglas and industry heavy hitters on the other.

Michael and Marilyn Gardner are getting closer to building a combination cell phone tower and windmill on their farm on Mann Hill Road. A joint meeting with the Gardners, the Planning Commission and the Design Review Board is pending to finalize permits for the structure. According to Michael Gardner, the DRB began reviewing to the permit application process recently and a meeting will be scheduled in the next couple weeks.

MONTPELIER -- When the Legislature adjourned May 12 and set a July 11 date for a possible veto session, Gov. Jim Douglas said he thought it was a typographical error. It was no error. Members will return July 11 to consider a promised gubernatorial veto of an energy bill. That date will be the latest the Legislature has ever held a veto session. It will also make for an unprecedented hiatus -- a full two months -- between the end of the regular session and the veto session. Last year was more typical -- the Legislature adjourned May 10 and set a June 1 veto session that didn't end up being used.............One bill that Douglas said he will definitely veto is the Legislature's cornerstone energy bill, which would establish an energy-efficiency utility and offer incentives for renewable energy such as wind, hydro and solar power. Douglas takes issue with the energy-efficiency portion, a large part of which would be paid for with an increased tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

A portion of the wind energy generated from newly installed wind turbines located in PEI was wheeled through PEI and New Brunswick and sold to the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL) via the international interconnection node in Keswick, N.B. The renewable energy certificates (RECs) that were generated from this transmission were sold separately to independent buyers located in the NEPOOL.

Town residents on Friday voted against a proposal to expand the wind turbine project on Green Mountain National Forest land in Searsburg and Readsboro......."The showplace town does not want another one," said Brouha. "That says something."

An energy bill that is the centerpiece of the Legislature's work this session cleared the House by more than enough votes Friday afternoon, but not with enough votes to clear a likely veto from the governor. Representatives bantered back and forth for about three hours, lauding the merits of energy efficiency and renewable energy, but disagreeing about the wisdom of a tax on the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant that would pay for the efficiency measures. They voted 85-61 for the bill, mostly along party lines. Gov. Jim Douglas wouldn't directly say Friday night whether he would veto the bill, but said, "I think everybody understands my view on raising taxes we don't need."

The House also approved a controversial compromise energy bill Friday afternoon, but it may well face a veto by the governor. Although the bill won easily in the House - it was approved by a vote of 85-61 - mustering the two-thirds support to override that veto would seem unlikely. In fact, some lawmakers said they might not return during the summer to attempt to override that veto, and instead take the matter up when they return for the regular session in January. The compromise bill agreed to by the House and Senate would impose roughly $25 million in additional power generation taxes on Entergy Nuclear, the parent company of Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, between now and 2012. Future wind power projects would be taxed at a similar per-kilowatt rate, instead of regular state property taxes, a measure which wind power developers requested to provide a predictable tax rate.

Bryant once was also an avid supporter of large-scale wind farms-until UPC Wind made plans to build a 16-turbine wind farm in his hometown. Now he vehemently opposes such projects, which he claims will overwhelm his stomping grounds environmentally and economically. Bryant and members of Ridge Protectors, a nonprofit he co-founded three years ago to oppose large-scale wind projects in the state, have raised $750,000 to stop the Sheffield project.

MONTPELIER -- Without a word of debate or even a roll call, the Senate voted Wednesday for a bill designed to encourage energy efficiency and renewable energy, along with an increase in the state's tax on Vermont Yankee to pay for it. The tax on Vermont Yankee's electric generation would claim $25 million from the nuclear power plant's owner, Entergy Corp., between 2009 and 2012. The House is expected to vote on the bill Friday, when it's likely to face debate......The plan would tax Vermont Yankee's power generation from a rate of $.00225 per kilowatt-hour in 2009, $.0025 in 2010 and $.003 in 2011. Wind power projects would be charged at the same rates. That's a rate wind developers sought and praised. "The wind energy property tax set in the bill is good for Vermont because it will encourage wind farm investments here, which the state needs to have a clean energy future," said Adam Necrason, lobbyist for Renewable Energy Vermont.

MONTPELIER -- House members offered up a different proposed tax Tuesday to pay for an energy-efficiency program -- one that still focuses on Vermont Yankee but in a way that proponents say should defuse complaints about an earlier Senate plan to tax some of the nuclear power plant's profits. The new plan nonetheless drew fire from the plant's owner, Entergy Corp., and the Douglas administration. The proposal would tax Entergy at just over one-half cent per kilowatt hour on the amount of power it generates at the Vernon plant. That would amount to about $25 million a year, a hefty increase from the $4.5 million Entergy now pays.......Wind developers don't like the rate of just over one-half cent per kilowatt hour proposed by the House, saying it is high enough to discourage developers from coming to Vermont. Andrew Perchlik of Renewable Energy Vermont Inc. said three-tenths of a cent is more fair.

Central Vermont Public Service Corp. and Green Mountain Power Corp., are planning to convert their traditional meter reading system to what's called in the industry smart metering. Instead of one of the company's meter readers coming to a home or business, the high-tech meters automatically read the amount of electricity used and transmit that information back to a central location. "The remote control afforded by automated metering will allow us to increase energy conservation, better manage peak usage, provide more timely, accurate reading and billing, enhance our storm restoration efforts, and potentially reduce customer costs,"

While nuclear power remains unpopular with many in the home county of Vermont Yankee, there are new efforts underway to ensure that the state's only nuclear power station not only keeps pumping out electrons, but that nuclear power is potentially a greater portion of the state's energy portfolio. Supporters of increased nuclear power say Vermont, and anti-nuclear activists, are ignoring many of the benefits the fuel source provides in terms of reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and a stable supply of electricity. Nuclear supporters also point to a sort of "nuclear renaissance" around the globe, including the commitment in the United States to build six new 500-1,000 megawatt reactors, the result of an energy bill passed by Congress in 2005.

By one thin vote, the Senate gave preliminary approval Tuesday to taxing some of Vermont Yankee's profits to pay for an energy-efficiency program. Critics of the tax, which passed 15-14, took turns calling it arbitrary, capricious, predatory and unnecessary. The tax on the nuclear power plant's unexpected increase in profits is the most controversial part of a larger bill that supporters say will help Vermonters use less heating fuel and encourage development of renewable energy.

MONTPELIER - The Senate very narrowly approved a tax Tuesday on revenue earned by Entergy, the company that owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, to pay for a program to reduce the use of heating fuels in the state. The "all fuels" efficiency program to help pay for weatherization and other heating fuel saving measures has become one of the most contentious issues in the Statehouse this year. The tax was passed along with preliminary approval of the Senate's entire energy and anti-global warming bill Tuesday was by a vote of 18-11. The real fight, however, was whether to accept the proposed 35 percent tax on revenue gained by Entergy from the operation of the Vermont Yankee plant. That attempt passed by a 15-14 vote.

BENNINGTON - A plan to tax Yankee Nuclear to fund the expansion of Efficiency Vermont has drawn opposition from a local legislator who has vowed to fight it, calling the proposal "dirty politics." Rep. Joseph L. Krawczyk Jr., R-Bennington, said the funding source proposed by Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, which will cost Vermont Yankee about $37 million dollars over the next five years, is ill-advised and irresponsible. "This is dirty politics," said Krawczyk. "We should be doing policy but we're playing politics."

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

A grass roots coalition of nearly 100 citizens from New York, Vermont, and other states have filed a federal Anti-Trust Complaint alleging that an international cartel comprised of foreign and domestic business entities have conspired to eliminate competition in the newly emerging U.S. wind energy sector.

MONTPELIER - Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin wants Entergy Nuclear, which owns the Vermont Yankee power plant, to pay to reduce Vermont's contribution to global warming by funding a program to make the heating of buildings in the state more efficient. The company has, or will, earn "windfall" profits because of increased energy prices and new government programs and agreements, Shumlin said. A portion of those profits should be used to fund anti-climate-change programs that Shumlin hopes will be a centerpiece of this year's legislative session. "We think that is both fair and appropriate," Shumlin said. "This tax will not cost Vermont ratepayers one penny."