David Cameron risks a backlash from the countryside after defending the Government's plans to support onshore wind farms. ...Nick Williams, who lives in the shadow of one of the Fullabrook turbines made an emotional plea to "stop the onslaught of the countryside". He said: "I'm a prisoner of Fullabrook."

“Our community and surrounding area will be devastated if Invenergy is allowed to build their 125 new turbines on Campo tribal land, and Iberdrola Renewables is allowed to build their Tule Wind project in McCain Valley with 134 turbines, and Enel Green Power is allowed to build their 80 or so turbines in Jewel Valley and McCain Valley,” Bonfiglio wrote.

Sarita, Texas - After a century and a half as cordial neighbors, two of the nation's biggest ranches find themselves feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys over wind energy and wildlife and whether the two can coexist. The storied King and Kenedy ranches, which together cover nearly 1.3 million acres in sparsely populated south Texas, are at odds over plans to erect 240-plus wind-powered turbines on the smaller Kenedy property. The structures and their massive blades can stand 400 feet tall - taller than most 30-story buildings. The King Ranch, with 825,000 acres near the Texas Gulf Coast, says the turbines will interfere with migratory birds' flight patterns, threaten other wildlife and create an eyesore.

Wind farms are becoming an increasingly popular way to generate green energy, but little is known about the ecological and socioeconomic effects of the towering windmills that have begun to dot parts of the landscape. What impact do the tall structures have on the birds and bats in the area? How do the wind farms affect local economies and governmental policy? And what do residents living in communities that are home to the farms think? Two Texas A&M University researchers have been tapped to join a study that is trying to determine those answers.

Wind on the Texas coast is tempting for energy companies. Unlike other parts of Texas -- the nation's No. 1 wind energy state -- the coast has breezes that blow consistently on summer days, when energy demand peaks. But there's risk, too. Millions of birds funnel through the Texas coast before they head north along the Central Flyway.

Exiting Emmet County planning director Brentt Michalek said he feels the 35 decibel level at the property line and 400-foot height restriction will stand in the future for Emmet County, as more and more developers begin to prospect in the county.

With the very audible rapid whirring of two ceiling fans overhead a constant reminder of the issue, about 500 people jammed into the centre to learn more about proposed industrial wind turbines in the area. Ward 16 Coun. David Marsh told the audience he was holding the town hall meeting as a means to get clarification from the private company Energy Farming Ontario about its intention to build up to 30 of the turbines. He also raised concern that the provincial government's new Green Energy Act ...removes residents' and the city's right to appeal the towers going in to their neighbourhoods.

Wind farm turbine blades are killing a key population of Europe's largest bird of prey, UK wildlife campaigners warn.

Golden eagles are gravely threatened by a £200m wind farm scheme proposed for the Hebridean island of Lewis, campaigners have warned. Three of the predatory birds a year could be killed in collisions with turbine blades - the highest mortality from any wind power project in the UK. The figures come from the developer's own environmental statement.

Abnormal noises could affect growth and feeding of the goats, officials say A large number of goats in Taiwan may have died of exhaustion because of noise from a wind farm. A farmer on an outlying island told the BBC he had lost more than 400 animals after eight giant wind turbines were installed close to his grazing land. ...Mr Kuo said the power company had offered to help him move but that there would be no compensation for the loss of his goats.

A WIND farm proposed on the moors above Bacup would blight the countryside, harm recreation and should be turned down, according to an independent report. Landscape consultants Julie Martin Associates, commissioned by Rossendale Council, said that the proposed wind farm at Reaps Moss, Britannia, would significantly affect the special open character, visual amenity and recreational experience' of the area.

A wind farm being built in South Australia is threatening endangered animals and one of the nation's oldest trees, nearby residents say. SA Democrat Sandra Kanck, and some residents of Hallett, have asked Federal Environment Minister Peter Garret to stop part of AGL Energy's proposed wind farm around the mid-north town. ..."The Hallet 3 cluster of 32 turbines planned for the Mt Bryan area is only 20 metres from possibly the oldest tree in South Australia," Ms Kanck said. "The eucalyptus bicostata is a form of blue-gum that is unique to SA. "The wind farm also threatens vulnerable, endangered and rare plants and animals including the silver daisy, pygmy blue-tongued lizards and wedge tailed eagles.

A wind farm planned for above the Pauatahanui Inlet in Porirua might be seen from as far away as Island Bay and Waikanae. A document leaked to The Dominion Post shows that the 130-metre high turbines would be visible from areas of Wellington City, the Hutt Valley, beyond Upper Hutt and as far north as Waikanae. Prepared by environmental planners Boffa Miskell, the theoretical visibility plans show that as many as 40 of the up to 50 three-megawatt turbines may be visible from some areas. ..."There is a slow growing awareness that this wind farm is going to be something big," she said.

Campaigners against plans for a wind farm in North Newbald, near Market Weighton, have argued the scheme would destroy the Yorkshire Wolds landscape. Members of the public were given the opportunity to have their say this afternoon on the scheme at a public enquiry at County Hall in Beverley.

"The proponents [of the wind farm] say 11 birds have been killed by wind farms [but] we believe the number might be slightly higher, possibly as high as 18 birds," he said. He says he describes the area as a "black hole" area for these birds because the wind farm area overlaps several territories of eagles. "With every death it allows an opening - if you like - for a bird from an adjacent area looking for a territory to move in," he said. "These birds then are essentially naive to the area - they don't recognise the turbines and they then in turn get killed. ..."It's a one-way trip into Woolnorth - they don't come out."

Dr Bryan Todd, who used to live near the site and is a frequent visitor to Burton Dassett Country Park, said: "When they [the turbines] cause noise, it gerenally is at night because the atmospheric conditions change - particularly in the summer, which is just the time when people want to sleep with their windows open.

ONE OF Britain’s most senior judges has spoken of his opposition to the construction of a wind farm in rural Perthshire, insisting rare and vulnerable birds such as ospreys would be put at risk. Eminent law lord and life peer Lord Hope of Craighead outlined his concerns as he addressed a public inquiry into the proposed Drumderg wind farm.

The state's first coastal wind turbine industrial park is set for construction later this year in South Texas and is likely to generate a storm of controversy when the impact on migrating birds becomes clear. The site is Kenedy Ranch property between Corpus Christi and Raymondville. The initial project backed by Spanish utility giant Iberdrola calls for the installation of 87 huge wind turbines with blades reaching some 400 feet skyward. Australian investment firm Babcock and Brown is also said to be planning to build 157 turbines in the coastal county.

At the latest public information meeting on July 7, they were saying the same thing, but this time with a brand new plan aimed at being implemented starting August 2009. The plan unveiled to people in St. Joseph called for a decrease in turbine power from 2.4 to 2.3 megawatts, and an increase in numbers, from 120 to 130.

Both supporters and opponents of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm are hailing the findings of recent research on the environmental impact of Danish offshore wind turbines. Supporters of Cape Wind Associates' plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound say the research released last week at an international conference supports their contention that wind farms pose little threat to wildlife. But Cape Wind foes say the Danish research highlights the need to carefully study the environmental impact of offshore wind turbines on a case-by-case basis.