State Sen. Jeff Plale says he is weeks away from introducing a new bill establishing statewide guidelines for wind farm development. But meshing existing municipal ordinances into one that would govern the state has some bracing for a fight. "When you jump into something really quick, as Wisconsin did with ethanol, you end up seeing some bad results," said Magnolia Town Supervisor David Olsen. "I hope they don't try to just push things through. (Legislators) should be there to represent constituents, not lobbyists."

Milwaukee-based We Energies has narrowed down possible locations for a substation that would receive energy from up to 90 wind turbines in Columbia County's towns of Scott and Randolph, then send the energy throughout the power grid. Glacier Hills Wind Park is at least a year away from being built, and could be two years away from operating.

The attorney for Emerging Energies LLP filed a civil complaint against the Manitowoc County Board of Adjustments asking the court to overturn the county's Jan. 19 denial of a conditional use permit to construct wind turbines in Mishicot. The attorney, Edward Ritger, alleges in the complaint filed Tuesday that denial is unlawful, unsupported by record and shows that the Board used its will and not judgment.

Building new transmission lines in the name of wind power is the latest attempt to strengthen coal's grip on the country's electricity generation, said a critic of plans to build new power lines throughout the Midwest. "Wind in 2009 is the rationale for companies who want to build transmission lines," said David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Minneapolis, which provides environmentally friendly development strategies.

It is still too early for ITC Holdings Corp. to pinpoint the routes for its Green Power Express, but Dane County representatives already are skeptical of a path through the region. "People try to sell lots of ideas with green trimmings," said Dane County Supervisor Kyle Richmond. "But we'll still want to know who's going to pay for it, if they're guaranteed profit and if there's a reasonable analysis of the need for this project."

A Madison environmental group wants the state, rather than local governments, to oversee wind farm placement after a five-year push for seven turbines in Manitowoc County failed. "There should be legislation in the next few weeks," said Michael Vickerman, executive director of the nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin. "Our concern is that local control is being abused.

Citing a weakened economy and the prospect of new regulations for renewable energy, We Energies of Milwaukee has withdrawn its request to spend up to $69 million to coordinate construction of wind power projects to meet a state mandate. ..."In the months since the filing, economic conditions in the United States and Wisconsin have changed dramatically, and the potential for additional state legislation and for federal renewable legislation is coming into focus," the utility says in a letter to the PSC.

The Manitowoc County Board of Adjustment rejected earlier this week a developer's request for approval to build a seven-turbine wind project west of Two Rivers. The decision marks the latest setback in the project developer's four-year-long quest to erect a community-scale wind project in the Town of Mishicot, according to a press release from Renew Wisconsin.

Today, a final report on the feasibility, economic potential and environmental impacts of developing wind energy on the Great Lakes was issued by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC). The study found that off-shore wind projects in the Great Lakes are feasible, and could likely be a part of Wisconsin’s energy future.

A new report says its feasible to place energy-generating wind turbines in the Great Lakes, but little data exists on wind speeds and electricity they deliver would be pricey.

An ordinance created to guide wind energy development in Douglas County gets a public hearing Tuesday in the Government Center. The purpose of the ordinance is to provide a regulatory scheme for the placement, construction and operation of wind energy facilities in Douglas County to preserve the public health and safety.

A big knock is that until power-storage technology evolves, wind farms will work only when the wind blows. Wind energy proponents counter that the sites picked for wind farms are predictably gusty, though they acknowledge wind turbines will never be a complete answer to the nation's energy issues. But they say they can be a significant part of the our energy future when intelligently integrated with traditional power plants that have the ability to pick up the slack when wind doesn't deliver. There are also issues of cost.

Plans of a Chicago-based wind developer to erect over 60 wind turbines in the area may have been derailed by a ruling in Monroe County Circuit Court last week. In a decision released Wednesday, Judge Michael McAlpine upheld the actions of the towns of Wilton and Ridgeville, which vetoed conditional use permits (CUPs) issued to the wind developer.

The La Porte County Board of Zoning Appeals approved the request of La Crosse Farms Wind Project LLC to install the second tower at a meeting Tuesday night. The towers will collect data over the next few years to see if the area would support a wind turbine farm.

Lawmakers will rally again for statewide regulations on wind farm development in the upcoming legislative session, and, if the standards pass, local regulation could be a thing of the past. "We will push for the (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin) to create uniform standards and regulation of wind energy for all projects," said Curt Pawlisch, an attorney with Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP, Madison. Pawlisch is revising wind farm standards that failed to get out of legislative committees last session. "I wouldn't say local regulations would be for naught," he said, "but the PSC would determine what works and what doesn't."

Heartland Wind LLC will lease land from the city and Glen Stalsberg on a 1,300-foot elevated ridge on the west edge of the city ...As part of the agreement, the city of Westby and the Stalsbergs will not be allowed to plant trees or construct buildings on the leased property because they could interfere with wind flow.

On November 13, the Union town board unanimously voted to adopt regulations governing noise limits and setbacks pertaining to industrial scale wind turbines. With this vote, the board brought to a close a controversial issue involving the safe placement of industrial turbines within the town of Union. The vote comes just months before the expected intense political wrangling by some members of the State legislature who seek to assign all wind siting authority to the Public Service Commission, leaving local governments out of the process.

Not long after the wind turbines began to spin in March near Gerry Meyer's home, his son Robert, 13, and wife, Cheryl, complained of headaches. They have trouble sleeping, and Cheryl Meyer, 55, sometimes feels a fluttering in her chest. Gerry is sometimes nauseated and hears crackling. The culprit, they say, is the whooshing sound from the five industrial wind turbines near the 6-acre spread where they have lived for 37 years.

Filling what it argues is a void in the state's vetting of wind-power projects, the town of Union is marking its turf with a proposed ordinance essentially outlawing such projects. "I think the state of Wisconsin has shown it's going to do what (wind-farm development) companies want," said Tom Alisankus, Union municipal judge and resident. "I think they look at these big wind-farm projects and just hope there won't be enough resistance at the local level to slow them down. "But I think they'll find there's fight in some of these places, and Union is one of them."

The Town of Union Plan Commission unanimously approved a recommendation for an ordinance regulating wind turbines Thursday. ...Plan commission member Doug Zweizig expects the board to take action on the ordinance after the hearing. The ordinance prohibits construction of turbines within a half mile of occupied structures, Zweizig said. The setback may be reduced to 1,000 feet with permission from property owners or neighbors, he said.