For much of this year, the West Penn Township Board of Supervisors has been considering an ordinance regulating the use of wind turbines. The ordinance has been reviewed by the planning commission and revised after being under public scrutiny. When it came time for the supervisors to pull the trigger and vote on the proposed regulations, an oversight by the township's solicitor has the board delaying that vote again, at least for another month.

Plans to build wind turbines next to two villages look set to be given the go-ahead after planning officers recommended that permission be granted. The controversial plans to build two 125m-tall turbines on land between Seamer and Hilton, near Stokesley, in North Yorkshire, were revised by developers after they were initially rejected by Hambleton District Council in November 2008.

The town's Zoning Board of Appeals is standing by its decision that Roger D. Alexander's 92-foot-tall personal wind turbine is illegal. At a ZBA meeting Monday, Chairman Edward P. Bender said Mr. Alexander does not have to take his wind turbine down immediately. It's up to the Town Council to make that decision, he said.

A proposal for a backyard wind turbine has been rejected, and the property owner will have to wait two years to reapply. Landlord Joe Fantasia was hoping to install a 120-foot turbine at the four-unit apartment building he owns ...But the board of zoning appeals said the spot Fantasia hoped to put the turbine, at 1282 Commercial St., was too small. The board unanimously rejected the proposal Sept. 2, deeming it too close to the property line.

How close would you want to live to a wind farm? That's a question lawmakers are considering as they try to create more wind energy projects. State Senators are scheduled Tuesday to vote on a bill (SB 185), which would direct the Public Service Commission to set a statewide set of standards on where turbines could be sited in relation to homes and businesses. As of now, depending on the county, those tall spinning turbines can as be close as 500 feet from homes, or as far away as one mile.

The Arkwright Town Board spoke with one voice when it unanimously voted to table a Horizon Wind Energy waiver request. The request involved granting an easement on property Horizon has an option to purchase on Meadows Road that abuts the county owned Earl Cardot Overland Hiking Trail.

The Plan Commission voted Wednesday to send two new windmill ordinances to the County Commissioners for a vote Oct. 6. The need for the ordinances came about because Tradewinds, an Italian-backed power company, approached the county last winter about erecting up to 150 windmill towers on about 30,000 acres between Kouts and LaCrosse.

Municipal District of Pincher Creek held a meeting to decide on whether or not to re-zone parcels of land North of the Oldman River so that more wind farm development could occur in the area. Presently some of the land around the existing wind farms is zoned for agriculture and has to be re-zoned as Wind Farm Industrial in order for the proposed project to proceed.

Wind energy got the welcome mat and elk the boot Thursday before the Wise County Board of Supervisors. The board approved without discussion a zoning change to allow development of a wind energy project now under consideration by Virginia Dominion Power and BP Wind Energy. The two companies have been assessing the viability of erecting 50 to 60 wind turbines in the county along the Kentucky border along an area stretching north of Big Stone Gap to northwest of Pound.

More than 150 people came to a public forum Tuesday night at the Boone County 4-H Fairgrounds to learn more about wind energy. Two companies, EnXco and Gestamp Wind North America, are interested in placing wind farms in Boone County.

Navajo County Planning and Zoning officials have assured citizens that they would obtain additional information on a series of proposed wind and solar energy farms between Holbrook and Snowflake. Although much of that information is still forthcoming, Planner II Bill Fraley provided an update on what the county is doing to inform the public and help commissioners and supervisors make a decision on whether to issue special use permits for the project.

Frostburg City Administrator John Kirby said Wednesday he would not be surprised if the mayor and council amend a potential residential wind turbine ordinance, thus pushing any final vote on the matter into October.

A Warrick County judge will rule again on a man's request to build a wind turbine on his property. On Wednesday, Warrick County Superior Judge Keith Meier heard oral arguments. He sent the case back to the zoning appeals board for a vote in his first ruling.

No wind farms have yet moved to Plymouth County, but the county zoning board doesn't want to be caught unaware. The board met last Monday to start hashing out requirements should anyone propose to build a wind turbine farm in the county. ...The zoning board also discussed banning wind farms in the Loess Hills, an option several board members supported.

The South Australian Government has refused to vary major development approval of a wind farm proposed for the Myponga-Sellicks Hill area. ...He says major development status was given in 2002 and after years of delays and it is not appropriate to now vary the approval.

The Pyrenees Shire wants legal proof showing that it can be forced to take on the responsibility of monitoring the Waubra wind farm. The Victorian Government has given the task to the shire, but the shire says it has neither the financial resources or the staff to do it.

The Village of Shabbona will be holding two public hearings in the next month regarding a wind farm. In the fall of 2008 the village board adopted an ordinance to regulate wind turbines within a 1.5 mile radius of the village, according to a written statement from Shabbona officials. The board also adopted a resolution specific to a proposal by NextEra Energy Resources, which is building a 151 turbine wind farm in DeKalb and Lee counties.

The Lee Village Board earlier this week unanimously rejected a developer's plan to build six wind turbines outside the village but within one and a half miles of it. The board met Monday in a packed firehouse, where a public hearing was held before the 6-0 vote opposing the request.

An apartment owner’s application to construct a 44-foot wind turbine to provide power for his six units at 1282 Commercial St. has been unanimously rejected by the board of zoning appeals. “I don’t believe it is an appropriate use for the location,” Chairman Richard McLeod said before he joined his colleagues on Sept. 1 in rejecting a variance request from property owner Joseph Fantasia. “There is a school property line there.”

Despite the hoopla over renewable energy - media chatter, government rebates, neighbors who "go green" - the nuts and bolts of installing more Earth-friendly power sources often get stuck. San Diego County, for example, is wrestling with how to handle applications for using residential wind turbines. Critics say the approval process is confusing and drawn-out enough to discourage investment in green power, just as companies are moving to fill the home-windmill niche.