In recent weeks, the oil lobby and a manufacturers trade group ignited a campaign in the Mountain West and Midwest asserting that the House legislation would be a job killer. Environmental and labor groups have countered with a "Made in America" tour to highlight the green jobs they say would be created.

Wind has become the nation's most viable renewable energy option, and industry experts see plenty of potential in Wisconsin as policymakers demand that a larger percentage of energy come from wind, the sun and other clean-energy sources. ...a major question remains: how to move electricity from the wind-swept prairies where it's generated to the big cities where it's needed.

To the champions of wind power, the resistance is benighted and intolerable. "In a state that prides itself on its progressive renewable standards," says Eric Callisto, chairperson of Wisconsin's Public Service Commission, "getting our wind resources stymied at the local level is not acceptable." But to wind power critics, those restrictive local ordinances are enlightened and appropriate. Cartoonist Lynda Barry, a fixture in the Reader for years and now a Wisconsin resident, says she used to support wind power but believes its partisans have shut their eyes and ears to its victims, to people suffering physical ailments caused by living near the turbines.

As wind-power generation has ramped up, so have concerns about the health effects of living near wind farms. Although major environmental groups such as Greenpeace and the National Resources Defense Council have voiced strong support for wind power, opposition from a few grassroots anti-wind power groups potentially could hinder development in populated areas.

MADRID, June 28 (Reuters) - Acciona (ANA.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) has acquired U.S. wind power projects from EcoEnergy, it said on Thursday, confirming a media report which said the Spanish building and energy group planned to expand its American business further. A spokeswoman for the company declined to disclose the value of the deal, but newspaper Expansion said analysts expected the acquisition to cost several million dollars.

BROWNSVILLE -- It isn't over until it's over. Horicon Marsh Systems Advocates vows to continue fighting the approved $250 million wind farm planned for construction near the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge. In a recent development, Invenergy Wind LLC agrees with statements in a letter that 36 members of Congress sent to President George W. Bush and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairman James L. Connaughton concerning wind energy and the Department of Defense study, said Neil Palmer, public affairs consultant for the Chicago-based developer. "We are very pleased to see the congressional delegation taking these positions and that three of them are from Wisconsin," he said. "While we have apparently been cleared on this issue in regard to the Forward project we feel that it's important that the DOD complete the study and if there are issues that it provide a description of how to address them."

A bipartisan group of 36 members of Congress, including Wisconsin House Members Ron Kind and Tammy Baldwin, are asking President Bush and the White House Council on Environmental Quality to support and encourage wind farm development. The lawmakers say the Department of Defense is studying the effects of wind turbines on military radar systems, but have yet to release their findings.

JUNEAU WI Judge John Storck on Wednesday in Dodge County Circuit Court Branch II dismissed a petition for review from the village of Brownsville concerning wind turbine placement because it wasn't filed in a timely manner as required by state statute.

December 7, 2005 (JUNEAU, Wis.) - The Horicon Marsh System Advocates will ask a Dodge County judge today to order the state regulators to review a wind farm project.

Dane County could someday be home to the tallest wind turbines in the state.

MANITOWOC — A Wisconsin wind farm developer has filed a claim against Manitowoc County alleging its 12-month moratorium on wind farms is illegal. Emerging Energies LLP of Hubertus alleges the moratorium, issued May 17, has damaged the company's plans to construct seven large-scale, industrial wind turbines around the village of Mishicot.