By a 3-0 vote, the Magnolia Town Board added an ordinance regulating the construction of wind turbines to the books. The vote came on the heels of a heated public hearing at the same meeting, where nearly a dozen Magnolia residents voiced their support or concern for the ordinance. The ordinance prohibits building wind turbines within a half-mile of a building or 1,000 feet of a property line. A provision allows homeowners to add a turbine as an easement to the property if they want a turbine within the half-mile.

The town of Union plan commission extended a moratorium on large wind turbines to November at a meeting Thursday night while the town continues work on an ordinance to regulate the turbines. Committee member Doug Zweizig said officials don't think they'll need that much time, however. He's hopeful the plan commission will vote at its July 31 meeting on a recommendation to the town board. The draft ordinance states wind turbines are to be built at least a half-mile from homes and 1,000 feet from property lines. ...The town of Magnolia planning and zoning commission already has recommended a draft wind ordinance to the town board, which will hold a public hearing and possible vote at a special meeting Thursday night.

Residents opposed to a wind farm project in Two Creeks have filed a complaint in Manitowoc County Circuit Court requesting a permit extension for the project be nullified. Jerome Hlinak, of rural Two Rivers, his neighbors and members of Wisconsin Independent Citizens Opposing Windturbine Sites (WINDCOWS) claim they are aggrieved by the Manitowoc County Board of Adjustment's decision to uphold the project's two-year extension.

The Magnolia Township Planning and Zoning Commission voted 4-0 Thursday to recommend a revised ordinance regulating the construction of wind turbines in the township. The ordinance now moves to the town board for approval. Kevin Kawula, an active resident in the wind turbine discussion, supported the proposed ordinance for its compromise. The revised ordinance states wind turbines could be constructed within the half-mile limit if the property owner agrees. ..."(A half-mile) is much better than 1,000 feet," he said. "And if someone wants to sign off on their health and safety, it's just like cigarette smoking-we can't regulate it completely."

Fitchburg 's McKee Farms Park could have an added attraction this summer -- a small and what some say will be quiet -- wind turbine. Known as an "urban turbine, " it looks similar to a 30-foot flagpole topped with a 12-foot rotating helix. "This is not one of those big propeller things, " said Fitchburg administrator Tony Roach. Madison Gas & Electric proposed the turbine for the Fitchburg park because it wants a visible spot to demonstrate and monitor the technology that some day customers could use to power their homes or businesses, said John Drury, business development manager for MGE.

The Calumet County Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday, May 20 drew a crowd of about 80 people who were there not so much to listen to the regular proceedings of the meeting but to the presentations given by individuals on both sides of the wind turbine issue. ...Between the public participation speakers and the formal presentations, the controversy over wind turbines appears to be continuing. ...No official action was taken at the meeting concerning changing Calumet County's wind ordinance as it presently stands.

Jim Congdon said two friends living in the town of Byron are experiencing significant sound problems and constant blade flicker since the $250 million Forward Wind Energy Center began operating. "It's extremely irritating," he said. "What is the company going to do with somebody like that?" Laura Miner, asset manager associate for Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC, said it's currently fielding all complaints . "What we did when we built the project was to have a 1,000-foot setback and try to prevent some of those things from happening," she said. "Now we're doing drive-by tests and going up to the houses to try to gauge what's going on."

The proposed Bent Tree Wind Farm in northwest Freeborn County could come under new ownership. Wisconsin Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corp., created a letter of intent to purchase the 400-megawatt wind farm site from Wind Capital Group, according to a press release. ...The wind farm's total cost is estimated at $760 million, at $1.8 million per megawatt to build. The farm would have 150 to 270 turbines ranging in size from 1.5 to 2.5 megawatts. Each turbine must be located 1,000 feet from every residence.

Without regulations, the county could find itself caught between residents who object to the giant turbines and the developers who want to build them. If a permit is requested before rules are in place, "I'd say to you, 'Yeah, go ahead,' " Zoning Administrator Steve Rannenberg told the county's zoning committee Wednesday. Although current ordinances limit structure height to 35 feet, they allow certain types of structures to exceed that limit. "Those regulations need to be in place before we're confronted with an application versus after the fact," Rannenberg said. "You can't then go back and regulate. ... The regulation has to be in place first."

Attorney James Sickel recommended that the Town of Holland adopt the same ordinance developed by the neighboring Town of Morrison to regulate wind energy developments. "It is very well done and thorough," Sickel said. He said it deals with all of the issues on concern to Holland: setback, noise, vibration, shadow, flicker, safety and removal.

With wind energy, he said there are two issues: individual landowners seeking a wind turbine for personal power and large, industrial wind farms. "This is ... considered to be a major land use issue," Rannenberg said. "As you can imagine, there are two sides to this issue as there are two sides to any issue." Some counties have adopted wind farm ordinances, but Douglas County isn't one of them. ...In coming months, the zoning committee plans to review other counties' ordinances and develop regulations of its own before being confronted by issues members are ill-prepared to address now. Without regulations, the county could find itself caught between residents who object to the giant turbines and the developers who want to build them.

The status of the Blue Sky Green Field Wind Farm has generated a lot of hot air from locals, but operator We Energies said the 88 turbines haven't started generating power. Blue Sky Green Field remains under construction as We Energies tests the turbines, said company spokesman Barry McNulty. ...Manthey also said We Energies has come to a resolution with landowner Bill Winkler regarding a turbine that was placed 36-feet too close to his home. Ordinances require wind turbines be placed at least 1,000 feet from homes.

A new proposal for a wind energy law in Eau Claire County is being presented to rural leaders after a previous draft had been criticized for making windmills too expensive to build. The county's Planning and Development Committee reviewed the draft Tuesday night and agreed to have it brought to town leaders before coming back for a public hearing on the evening of May 27. "The revision you gave us was a vast improvement," said Will Fantle, a member of the Planning and Development Committee. "This is considerably different."

Farmers considering whether to install a wind turbine to generate electricity likely will face prohibitive county laws and opposition from area residents, a wind energy expert said. With a few exceptions, "if there has been controversy in your neighborhood about a wind farm, people are not going to let you put up a 100-foot tower," said Jenny Heinzen, an instructor specializing in wind turbines at Lakeshore Technical College. ...Heinzen said some residents are afraid installing a wind turbine on their property would "ruin their relationship with their neighbors." She said it would take a property owner willing to fight the ordinance in court after being denied a project to change the county law. But most property owners aren't willing to take the risk, she said.

Three developers are interested in building hundreds of wind turbines offshore on Lake Michigan, the state said. ...The projects are being discussed as a study group of the Public Service Commission, state Department of Natural Resources and the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands looks at offshore generation in Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. Gov. Jim Doyle's global warming task force recommended the study.

The Town Board and Plan Commission on April 16 directed town staff to begin amassing information from communities throughout the state that have enacted controls on such towers. Gromacki says the intent is for Dover to adopt its own ordinance. The impetus for Gromacki was a recent return trip from a town government convention when he happened upon part of the We Energies wind farm project in northeast Fon du Lac County east of Lake Winnebago. ... Gromacki said he does not believe the state Legislature has taken sufficient steps to regulate wind turbines.

Three developers are floating plans to erect hundreds of wind turbines in Lake Michigan as interest in the construction of wind farms surges around the country. The Lake Michigan plans are all in the very preliminary stages, and how they would be financed is unclear. The projects are being discussed as several state agencies have launched a study to determine the feasibility of erecting wind turbines on the two Great Lakes that border the state - Superior and Michigan. ...interest in offshore projects has increased in part because of opposition to land-based wind farms.

Wisconsin Power and Light Co. said Tuesday that it has executed a letter of intent to purchase a 400-megawatt wind farm site in Freeborn County in southern Minnesota. The Bent Tree Wind Farm site, to be purchased from Wind Capital Group LLC, a St. Louis-based developer of wind energy assets, has the potential to produce up to 400 megawatts of emissions-free energy if completely developed, ...Wisconsin Power and Light (WPL), a subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corp. in Madison, expects the site purchase to be completed by October.

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a wind farm developer that argued Manitowoc County's wind turbine ordinance violates state law and makes the company's proposed project "cost-prohibitive." Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Darryl Deets on Wednesday dismissed the case, which was filed by Emerging Energies LLP of Hubertus, in May 2007. ...In an interview, Deets said the company would have to apply for a conditional-use permit under the most recently amended ordinance before the court could determine if the ordinance's restrictions violate state law.

Two brothers-in-law, a country road in northwest Missouri, a fistfight ...Surely it's happened before, but probably never over wind energy. ...At the heart of the dispute: Just how healthy is the noise from wind turbines? ...In Rock County, Union Township residents studied medical and scientific research for months before drafting their wind ordinance, which says a setback of at least a half-mile from inhabited structures is needed to avoid health problems. Tom Alisankus, chairman of the committee that drafted the ordinance, said committee members found in their research that the state of Wisconsin had no medical or scientific data to back a model ordinance with a 1,000-foot setback. Proposed legislation that would have allowed the state's Public Service Commission to set statewide siting standards failed to reach a vote before the session ended last month. Doctors in other countries, including Canada, England, France, Australia and New Zealand, have written papers about similar illnesses in people who live near wind farms. ..."Does noise bother people differently? Absolutely," said Smith, the area audiologist. "It can have a very debilitating effect." But, he said, before anyone can conclude that the wind turbines are harmful, a major study must be done.