THE comprehensive landscape reasons for planners recommending the IW Council turn down the controversial Wellow wind farm have been unveiled to the public, ahead of Monday’s planning decision on the scheme. Consultants acting for the IW Council concluded the six turbines, two of which are nearly 110 metres tall, would have significant adverse effects on the protected landscape, nearby homes and rights of way, and insufficient consideration had been given by applicant Your Energy to mitigating adverse effects on the countryside. Insufficient information was provided on the impact of the turbines on bats.

Wildlife advocates hoping for a stronger voice in regulations concerning wind energy development on land and sea are expected to testify Wednesday at a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C. While the Cape Wind proposal isn't specifically on the agenda, you can bet that folks on both side of the proposal will be interested in the aftermath of the hearing. At issue will be the proposed "Energy Policy Reform and Revitalization Act of 2007," filed by U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.

Wind power is the darling of America's renewable energy movement. The so called, "clean power," that will help satisfy our growing electric needs. But in southern Dakota County, some residents say -- not here. "We're not against renewable energy, we just think it has a place and its place is away from people," says Dan Hron. ...Hron's opposition is clearly stated on the large signs lining his front lawn. "These things do not belong in close proximity to homes," he said.

A draft report released Friday by the federal agency overseeing the Cape Wind proposal said that wind farms built in appropriate locations will have ''negligible to minor" effects on the environment. ''We believe the statement is correct and that the experience with offshore wind, the successful European experience with offshore wind, shows that," said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind, the company behind the proposal to erect 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. Charles Vinick, president and CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, which opposes the project, said the impact of a properly sited wind farm may, indeed, be minimal. But he argued that Nantucket Sound is an inappropriate site for the project, citing concerns about marine habitat, disruption of commercial fishing and hazards to navigation.

Planners have rejected a proposal to build a wind turbine farm on the edge of Dartmoor National Park....... Planners said there would have been an adverse visual impact to the area. WCE said it was disappointed at the move. But campaigners were celebrating. Ray Quirke, of Okehampton and Dartmoor Against Turbines (ODAT), said it was a “triumph of common sense”.

Media baron and former All Blacks captain David Kirk has paid for a full-page advertisement in one of his own newspapers backing high-profile critics of a massive Central Otago windfarm. The advertisement in the Escape section of today's Sunday Star-Times headlined "100% Vandalism," features a defaced version of a landscape painting by artist and windfarm critic Grahame Sydney. Kirk, who heads Fairfax Australia, which owns a stable of papers in New Zealand, told the Star-Times he was happy to be publicly associated with the campaign against state-owned Meridian Energy's $1.5 billion windfarm proposal. "I personally paid for the ad. It's a personal contribution," he said. ...The Environment Court is considering appeals against Project Hayes.

On the night of Dec. 7, I drove through some very thick fog. As I traveled state Route 190 from Ellenburg to Brainardsville my fog lights illuminated one of the grizzliest scenes I have experienced. I counted 15 bloody, mutilated corpses of snow geese spread out over several miles.

Massive wind turbines seem to be killing more and more migratory bats, prompting research into these neglected creatures and efforts to minimize the toll. ...The deaths have led to a flurry of research on migratory bats and their behavior. "The problem with bats and wind energy has pushed a lot of work that wouldn't have occurred otherwise," says Edward Arnett of the Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Bat Conservation International. Indeed, at a January conference in Berlin on migratory bats, wind farms were a dominant theme. Scientists are racing to figure out what brings the bats in contact with wind turbines, and what can be done to save them.

A shocked busload of nuclear workers witnessed the death of a buzzard after it flew into one of the wind turbines at Forss. The demise of the adult buzzard was seen on Wednesday by a group of workers travelling between New Park business park at Forss and the neighbouring site at Dounreay at lunchtime on Wednesday. The financial administrator, Terry Luckock, reported the death to the RSPB. She said: “It was a real shame to see such a beautiful bird killed in this way. It did not stand a chance given that it collided with a moving, nine-tonne blade.” Ms Luckock, 41, from Halkirk, does not believe it was an isolated occurrence.

"There's not a lot of nesting raptors on Wolfe Island, but (the mortality rate) might be 10% per year," said Batalla. "Locally, one day they might not be there any more." The mortality figures were released Monday by TransAlta, which owns and operates the 86-turbine, 197.8-megawatt facility. A TransAlta environmental services manager was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

ANOTHER wedge-tailed eagle has died after being found injured on a wind farm in north-western Tasmania. The bird was put down last week after being injured at Woolnorth wind farm in the far North-West. The eagle, an endangered Tasmanian sub-species recognised as the largest bird of prey in the nation, is thought to have collided with a turbine.

Some of Pennsylvania’s mountaintops may become a battleground between developers and environmentalists. Developers are eyeing the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, which cross the middle of the state, to construct wind turbines to generate electricity. But migrating birds fly over those mountains every year and environmentalists worry the giant rotating blades of the turbines could kill many birds and alter their migrating patterns. About 150 people, residents and members of conservation groups, gathered Saturday at Kutztown University to discuss the growth of wind energy in Pennsylvania and nearby states.

When the remaining turbines are switched on in the coming weeks Waubra will become home to the world's largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere with 128 turbines. However debate continues to rage in communities where proposals for wind turbines are met with strong anger and hostile community meetings.

THE number of wedge-tailed eagle deaths at a Tasmanian windfarm may be higher than officially acknowledged. Up to six of the endangered eagles may have been killed in the past year after being struck by turbines at the Woolnorth windfarm in the far North-West. Windfarm operator Roaring 40s, jointly owned by Hydro Tasmania and China Light and Power, puts this year's official death toll at four. However, a further two eagles found dead at the windfarm this year are not included in the tally.

"It's a safety issue. It's a quality of life issue with the noise and what's called shadow flicker, as the setting sun goes through the blades," said Tim Reilly of Prospect. "There's so many issues here that it makes this the wrong place." Reilly led a protest rally Saturday morning.

But what happens when a good idea is put in the wrong place? "You've gotta look at the ecological setting. And some settings are wrong for it," said Jim Blackburn, a Houston-based environmental lawyer working for the Coastal Habitat Alliance, CHA. Projects by two companies now underway would put 600 wind turbines about 400 feet tall along the South Texas coast. That's where millions of migratory birds must pass through to fly south for the winter. "It's a world-class worst site," said Blackburn. CHA and other coastal environmental groups say the blades will kill the birds, and project threatens valuable Texas wetlands. But the companies behind the wind farms don't need any state permits to build.

In September, a report by the Government Accountability Office found that the federal government offers minimal oversight in approving wind-power plants. The report urged federal officials to take a more active role in weighing the effect of wind power farms on bird and bat deaths

THE tiny Greek island of Serifos, a popular tourist destination, depends on its postcard views of sandy beaches, Cycladic homes and sunsets that blend sea and sky into a clean wash of color. So when a mining and energy company floated a plan earlier this year to build 87 industrial wind turbines on more than a third of the island, the Serifos mayor, Angeliki Synodinou, called it her "worst nightmare."..."These are not just one or two turbines spinning majestically in the blue sky and billowing clouds," said Lisa Linowes, executive director of Industrial Wind Action Group, an international advocacy group based in New Hampshire that opposes wind farms.

Lowell wind opponents were outraged that problems cropped up with the project so early in the construction phase. During storm water hearings this summer, they questioned whether the state has enough staff involved in erosion control oversight to handle high-elevation construction sites like the Lowell wind project.

Wind energy developers in New York now have guidelines on how to survey potential turbine sites for their impact on birds and bats. Earlier this month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued its advice regarding how to minimize damage to bat and bird habitats. "These guidelines set forth DEC's recommendations to commercial wind energy developers on how to characterize bird and bat resources at on-shore wind energy sites and how to estimate and document impacts resulting from the construction and operation of these projects."