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, designated a National Historic District. ...If placed on the ridge lines as the company proposes, the wind "turbines would be highly visible from Virginia City, Gold Hill and American Flat," [resident Ron] Reno said. Most of the wind turbine towers would be installed within the National Historic District and about half would in the Comstock Historic District.

The idea of looking out onto the foothills of the Blue Mountains from Highway 11 or Milton-Freewater and seeing wind turbines sounds like a nightmare for some people who look at that view every day. But not many of those people have had much of a chance to express their frustration. Citizen Richard Jolly hosted a meeting Thursday in Milton-Freewater where many people got a chance to vet their frustrations and discuss their concerns.

Communities in North Cornwall are battling to stop the county's biggest wind farm from dominating the skyline over Bodmin Moor. Emergency meetings have been called by Camelford Town Council and parish councillors following a similar move last week by Davidstow parish council which saw 200 angry residents pack Otterham village hall. That meeting was attended by people from a number of moorland villages who are opposed to a plan by energy company Community Windpower to site 20 turbines near Crowdy Reservoir.

However, not all Montanans are ready to raise their glasses. Among the skeptics is Ursula Mattson of East Glacier. She said she is all for the benefits of wind development, but worries about a potential downside, mainly "the negative impact of these huge wind farms right in front of the most spectacular scenery in our country." ..."We don't have much authority over wind farms," said Kristi DuBois, native species coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Missoula. She likens the state's current level of knowledge about the wind industry and its potential effect on wildlife to what was known about the impact of hydro-electric facilities on rivers and fish when they were first constructed. For example, the state has very little information about migration pathways of bats, she said. Without that information, it's difficult to for the state to provide input on the siting of facilities to lessen bat fatalities from turbine blades, she said.

In evidence to the Central Otago District Council last year Meridian acknowledged the turbines each of which will have a rotor roughly the size of a Boeing 747 would have an adverse visual impact on the nearby Paerau Valley. But it produced photographic mock-ups suggesting that from other vantage points the mountain block on which they would be arrayed would remain the dominant visual feature. However, Sydney says the windfarm will "industrialise" the landscape for vast distances. "What happens when you put that number of wind turbines of that size in the landscape is that they actually become the landscape. You don't see anything else really."

In southeast Wyoming, they've pledged 1 million acres of land in hopes that wind farm developers will choose them, says Scott Zimmerman, a farmer and rancher in Laramie County. But Susie Lemaster, who is not an owner of vast acreage, built a house with her husband in the country four years ago near Horse Creek Road. She doesn't want to see the neighboring land filled with 500- foot towers topped with rotating blades, making electricity.

AN ACTION group in Tallentire has sent residents a template objection letter to plans for a new wind farm in the area. Novera Energy has applied to Allerdale council to build five 105 metre turbines at Fleeter Wood, on land next to West House. But Tallentire Area Action Group chairwoman Margaret O'Hare said she had sent a template letter to nearby residents outlining reasons against the plans. The group wants as many people as possible to sign the letter and send it to the council. It says: "This proposal would result in unacceptable harm to the local landscape in terms of its intrinsic quality and local distinctiveness.

So many people have flooded the Maryland Department of Natural Resources with emails, calls and letters about a proposal to build wind turbines in state forests that the agency has been forced to find a larger venue for its public hearing. "We've had a lot of interest expressed, so we changed the date," said Olivia Campbell, spokeswoman for the state wildlife agency. "We are making it easier for the public to participate. We realize a lot of people have passion on both sides." ...Some people have expressed strong opposition to the idea of letting developers rip up state forests and build tall industrial machines. Others strongly support the idea of using state property to generate clean, pollution-free electricity.

HNWD attorneys Brian Brake and John Flora declined to make any comment on the SCC's decision or answer questions about how the company will proceed from here. At this point, Bailey said he doubted the SCC would reconsider its permit order. "Legal arguments at the SCC are always edgy, and here, it's so clear how seriously they have taken the environment. The chances (of an appeal) prevailing are remote ... This has set a wonderful precedent for Virginia, and I can't see wind turbines exploding in this state now." And, before construction can begin, HNWD is required to submit a final site plan. The company cannot do anything, including storing equipment on site, until that site plan is approved. Before HNWD can get a county building permit, it must also file a performance bond. For the first partial year and five subsequent years, that bond must be for $2,500 per turbine tower; for the remaining years, the amount is $6,000 each.

The wind blowing through Gillespie County won't be used to generate power anytime soon, that is if Robert Weatherford has his way. Weatherford is president of Save Our Scenic Hill Country, a group committed to keeping wind farms out of the Texas Hill Country. "We think that it would significantly impact the scenic beauty of this area," Weatherford said. One of the areas being considered by energy companies for wind farming was the hills north of Fredericksburg, near Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Now local governments are making their opposition to the giant wind turbines known.

Renewable energy is the way ahead but not through "grossly inefficient" wind farms which gobble up Scottish Government subsidies, it has been claimed. A new group formed to fight the latest wind farm proposal for Moray aims to galvanise community opposition to the plan. Save Our Scenic Moray (SOS Moray) has been created in Dufftown to try and repel a proposal for a 70-plus turbine development at Dorenell Farm, Cabrach. The action group was formed three weeks ago following public exhibitions by developer Infinergy on the wind farm development on the Glenfiddich Estate.

NATIONAL security could be compromised by more wind turbines in the Swaffham area, but councillors have been recommended to grant permission. The Ministry of Defence warns the six new giant turbines would have "an unacceptable impact upon the air traffic control radar at RAF Marham and Lakenheath and also against the air defence radar at Trimingham". But Breckland councillors could give the go-ahead on Monday for the turbines to be built on an open farmland site between the A1065 Castleacre Road and Sporle Road in Swaffham and Sporle.

Storeys-high wind turbines might not be the first thing you think of as part of the Halifax skyline, but city officials want your input. ..."While wind energy is valued as an environmentally friendly power source, the size of the wind turbines and wind farms also raises planning issues regarding compatibility with homes from noise and impact on views, et cetera," says the report drafted for regional council

After days of detached and often numbing pontifications from hired consultants, it was a stark contrast yesterday to hear some of the closest residents bring a human face to the hearing in Ngaruawahia. "I can only speak from the heart and it is breaking," said Ohautira Rd resident Wendy Reid. She said up to 24 of the turbines would be directly visible from her home of 19 years. Ms Reid variously referred to the wind farm as "a glorified and cunningly gift-wrapped power station", "a gigantic monolith" and "visual pollution" which would cause catastrophic distress, anxiety and fear. "It is dividing friends, neighbours, and families in half," she said. "It is destroying lives and lifestyles and turning me inside out personally.

A NORTH Sutherland community stands to gain up to half a million pounds a year in community benefit from wind farms, it emerged this week. But the "pot of gold" has failed to impress some Strathy residents who this week angrily dismissed it as a sweetener, aimed at making them accept major changes to their local landscape. ...The power company wants to build a £90 million, 35-turbine development on the north side of Strathy and a follow-up 77-turbine development on the south side of the forest.

PROJECT Hayes panel chairman John Matthews has released a 12-page statement explaining his reasons for voting against the Lammermoor wind farm proposal. ...He was chiefly concerned with landscape values, the appropriateness of the development and the setting of precedent, including his statement within yesterday's decision released by the panel. ‘‘If a proposal of this significance is found to be appropriate in an area of Outstanding Natural Landscape, it is difficult to see how any consent authority could fail to apply the ‘‘like for like'' principle on a future occasion,'' Mr Matthews said.

A proposed wind farm on Seven Mile Hill near the tiny town of Mosier, Oregon is the centerpiece of the trouble that stems from development near a protected scenic area. The Cascade Wind Project, proposed by UPC Wind Partners, has thus far drawn serious opposition from not only residents of Mosier, but throughout the Gorge and beyond. The farm would be built just outside the Scenic Area boundary, and the 389-foot-high turbines of the 40 towers would be clearly visible from many areas in the Gorge, including Interstate 84 and McCall Point Trail. "This proposal is a slap in the face of the protection rights that everybody in the Gorge has had to live up to for the past twenty years," says Mike Rockwell, a real estate agent who lives in Mosier. "It's simply not a wise location."

County leaders are working with state legislators to change the way wind farms are regulated in Texas. Robert Weatherford is the president of Save Our Scenic Hill Country, a group of land owners working to keep wind farms out of the area. "You will literally be able to see them for miles. So we do think that it would destroy the scenic beauty of the Texas hill country," Weatherford said. ...Gillespie County is worried that would mean less visitors like Jones. "That's why people come to these places, is to see the view," Jones said.

SEI, the school for renewable energy and sustainable housing technology, won approval June 4 from the Board of County Commissioners for its bid to erect a 106-foot-high tower on its year-old Paonia campus. The tower will support an electricity generating turbine with blades spanning 12 feet to be used for class instruction and to produce power for the school's use. The BoCC, sitting with commission chair Jan McCracken absent, voted 2-0 in favor of the schools proposal after hearing comments from neighbors both in support and opposition of the plan.

The Jardine family has owned their property at Snowy Plain for generations. David Jardine is the fifth generation of his family to own the land and his young grandson should be the seventh.