A two kilometre buffer zone from houses would make the proposed Glen Innes Windfarm unviable according to the project's developers, however they say they are hopeful of negotiating a compromise with critics of the project.

More than 30 people expressed their concerns about a massive power line upgrade project proposed by Central Maine Power at Lewiston City Hall Monday night during a public hearing before Maine's Public Utilities Commission. About 70 people were present. ...Nearly all of those who spoke before Commissioners Jack Cashman, Sharon Reishus and Vendean Vafiades were apprehensive about the project, anticipating noise pollution, loss of property value and health risks.

The controversy surrounding wind farms will be reignited this week when the government agency charged with protecting the environment reveals plans to build up to 80 wind turbines along some of the nation's most picturesque rivers.

A planned wind project near Hanna in Carbon County has raised concerns from some about how it might affect natural and cultural resources in the area. The Medicine Bow Conservation District and the Hanna Historical Society asked Horizon Wind Energy not to harm natural or cultural resources when building its 154-turbine wind project.

The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance released a 50-plus page study on Friday, offering recommendations for places in the state the group deems most suitable for wind power development. The report also outlines locations that should be avoided, and the places where the group says developers must tread carefully, for environmental reasons.

Campaigners fighting proposed wind farms in Northumberland last night admitted they fear the floodgates opening after developers apparently overcame MoD objections. The Ministry is in advanced talks with RidgeWind Ltd which could see its objection to that company's scheme for Wandylaw, near Chathill, withdrawn. A public inquiry into the bid resumes on Tuesday when the two sides could reach agreement on a condition which would allow the turbines to be erected.

Wiscasset is being considered for the largest energy development proposal - and potentially the largest development project of any kind - in the history of the state. A Toronto entrepreneur who has developed Canadian wind farms has floated the idea of building a massive $2 billion underground hydropower station at the old Maine Yankee nuclear power station site. The project would be one of the first of its kind anywhere. The proposal raises questions about impacts on the Back River and groundwater, and it would use as much energy as it creates.

Following on from last weeks landslide which is thought to have been caused as a result of work that is being carried out on a wind farm site, Shannon Regional Fisheries Board's Matt Nolan has reported that to date 2,000 small fish have been removed from the Owengar River. ...Having visited the site, Dromahair based Green Party member, Johnny Gogan believes that "it appears that the bogslide resulted from a heavy build up of excavated material on Corrie mountain related to the construction of an access road to the intended wind-farm. Such a liability should have been detected by an effective Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

"Our little community is under such an assault from all these wind energy corporations," Boulevard Planning Group Chair Donna Tisdale said. Tisdale is one of the property owners who was approached by a wind farm company called Invenergy. She says Invenergy offered her more than $20,000 per year for the rights to build wind turbines on her property - this on land that is not zoned for a wind farm.

Silver City residents expressed mixed reactions after learning recently of a proposed wind turbine project for the nearby ridge lines. Residents weighed the greenness of wind power with the amount of visual pollution that the tall towering structures could bring to the popular 1860s-era tourist destination communities in the Comstock Historic District, which is also designated a National Historic District. The proposed project would also affect the views of people living in Washoe Valley. Great Basin Wind, LLC's new Comstock project was discussed during the September Silver City Town Board meeting's public comment segment.

Citizens in the Milton-Freewater area took another opportunity to voice their opposition to wind turbines in the Blue Mountains at a city council meeting Monday night. What started as an informational meeting by Horizon Wind Farms representative Valerie Schafer-Franklin turned into a discussion between citizens both on and off Weston Mountain about what they want to see happen, or not happen, in the Blues.

Wind power could be the central plank of a new provincial plan to make B.C. energy self-sufficient by 2016. But critics cited environmental and land-use concerns during a forum at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention today.

When power developers announced plans for coal plants in the Nevada desert, it was clear which side conservation groups would be on: the opposition. Less clear was how they would react when solar developers announced they would build huge arrays in that same desert. Because although renewable energy is the darling of the environmental movement - hailed as a cure for our addiction to fossil fuels - solar and other clean power plants can still be hard on the birds and bunnies trying to survive in their shadows. "Just because it's green doesn't mean ... it doesn't have impacts," said Kathleen Drakulich, a Nevada attorney with clients who develop renewable energy and more traditional fossil fuel power plants.

The federal program that would allow wind turbines offshore seems to be "very industry-driven," said Jennifer Samson, principal scientist for Clean Ocean Action, following a federal Minerals Management Service workshop on proposed rules. The "MMS acknowledges that they don't know . . . the environmental consequences of this development," said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a Sandy Hook-based coastal conservation group. "They have no standards and a free-for-all approach to this."

The Conservation Commission listed environmental concerns to be considered for the wind power feasibility study now underway and sustainable energy consultants gathered information from board members and talked about goals of the study at the Aug. 12 meeting. Conservation Commissioner Cathy Roheim updated the board on the progress made by the Jamestown Wind Energy Committee.

In Harney County, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the county have seen a jump in interest surrounding the windy Eastern Oregon ridges and peaks near Steens Mountain as wind development companies look for different sources of the renewable power to meet state standards. Harney County has already permitted one wind farm and is considering three more ... But the wind farms that have either been approved or are under construction would add 2,400 megawatts to that total in the coming years, he said. "Oregon in the next couple of years will move from around ninth in the country (for wind power production) to maybe third," Torres said.

It's a daylight butchering of Mother Earth in Attappadi. Heads of towering hills are being chopped to install windmills in this ecological hotspot and the largest tribal habitat in the state. Over 20-metre wide roads, posing threat to remaining trees in the area, are being constructed from the foothills to their top to transport windmill units weighing 80-100 tonnes each by giant Volvo trucks. The green tag attached to windmills exempt them from environmental clearance which leads to mindless destruction of nature with impunity.

The Project Hayes wind farm Environment Court hearing has been abandoned until next year after opponents won the right to present new evidence. Effectively this means all the expert witnesses for both Meridian Energy and appellant groups relating to landscape and visual effects as well as transmission might have to be recalled. The new evidence relates to cumulative effects based on the Mahinerangi wind farm.

Plans for a multimillion dollar wind farm near Crookwell have re-opened old wounds in the Yass Valley. ...Epuron sold the planning rights for the Gunning and Yass wind farm projects to Origin Energy in January and recently submitted environmental and engineering investigations for the Gullen Range wind farm project to the NSW Department of Planning for approval. The news has re-ignited the concerns and emotions of property owners in the Black Range area who continue to fervently oppose the building of turbine towers on Conroy's Gap.

Dr Lloyd said the overall effect of vegetation clearance would have a more than minor effect on the area's ecology, although the clearance would not occur in a single area, but would be dispersed in small areas across the site. In his written evidence, Dr Lloyd said road construction along the alignment of existing farm tracks would have minor effects on indigenous vegetation, but the construction of turbines, new roads, and significant extensions to existing roads would result in the clearance of indigenous tussock grassland which was more than minor.