Bell Acres Council will soon decide whether one more footprint will disturb the great blue herons and other residents. An alternative-energy demonstration site - involving a single 66-foot-high wind turbine, a 15-foot-high turbine, some solar panels and a trailer - has been proposed by a collaboration of Metal Foundations (Ambridge), Vox Energy (Allison Park) and Jet Industries (Ellwood City) for a site near the intersection of Big Sewickley Creek Road, also designated as the Red Belt, and Turkeyfoot Road.

In the Champagne household, there are two opinions on the whirling wind turbines that surround the family's home of 35 years. Gene Champagne is bothered by the thumping, rumbling sound of the blades that loom like giants over the house. The noise disturbs his sleep and destroys his TV reception. Flickering shadows from sun on the blades run around rooms. ...Opponents say tighter restrictions are needed. The wind industry says tougher rules will keep wind farms out of Michigan.

People who find themselves living next door to a wind farm are unlikely to have their land compulsorily acquired, despite some residents complaining that the turbines are hurting their health. Michael Pickering, an expert on compulsory acquisition with LAC Lawyers in Melbourne, said there is no straightforward legal process open to landowners who believe their properties should have been acquired before energy companies were permitted to erect large turbines.

The province of P.E.I. has confirmed that it will increase the distance wind turbines must be from homes, but not by as much as some were looking for. The setback distance will now be four times the height of the turbine, as measured from the ground to the top of the blade. For the biggest turbines, the V90s, that would mean increasing the setback to 500 metres. Currently it is 375 metres. Noise was the biggest concern.

New rules proposed by the Ontario government would forbid the placement of large wind turbines closer than 550 metres to a residence, a distance that could affect the economic viability of many wind projects across the province. The province-wide regulation would create for the first time a minimum setback distance for wind turbines from dwellings, roads, railway lines, wetlands and other environmentally sensitive lands or airspace.

The neighbors gathered in Dan and Tina FitzGerald's kitchen had a list of grievances about five wind turbines proposed for the mountain in his backyard. The list began with this: A fear their voices will not be listened to. "We feel there is a tremendous amount of money stacked up against us," said Darlene Ross, who would have a view of the turbines from her home on Arrowhead Lake.

To the champions of wind power, the resistance is benighted and intolerable. "In a state that prides itself on its progressive renewable standards," says Eric Callisto, chairperson of Wisconsin's Public Service Commission, "getting our wind resources stymied at the local level is not acceptable." But to wind power critics, those restrictive local ordinances are enlightened and appropriate. Cartoonist Lynda Barry, a fixture in the Reader for years and now a Wisconsin resident, says she used to support wind power but believes its partisans have shut their eyes and ears to its victims, to people suffering physical ailments caused by living near the turbines.

Black Creek Township residents' concerns weren't eased by testimony Thursday from a wind power company that plans to construct 22 turbines on the Buck Mountain ridge. ...Resident Edward Vergari said the township should collect more information and mandate that all applicable state, county and local permits be secured by Penn Wind prior to zoning approval.

Nearly 40 jobs at a Holsworthy yoga centre could be lost if plans for a neighbouring wind farm go ahead. The British School of Yoga, which chose the site at Dunsland Cross because of its tranquility, says the calm of the centre will be shattered and it may be forced to move. Bolsterstone Plc, a North Midlands-based property development and investment company, wants to put up four 105 metre wind turbines.

The residents of North Gower who crowded into a small community hall to hear about the wind farm proposed for their backyard know the time for green power has come, but that didn't stop worries about the impact of giant turbines on their health and property values. ...Many of the 300 who filed through the three-hour information session supported the idea of moving to more renewable fuels, but questioned how the sight and sound of the turbines would affect them and drive down the value of their properties.

As the government of P.E.I. prepares plans to triple wind-power generation on the Island, grassroots opposition to the developments is growing. Many of those wind turbines are planned for West Prince, the area that currently has the largest wind energy production in the province. Monday night, about two dozen West Prince residents gathered to discuss strategies for lobbying the province to take more care about where the turbines are placed.

Perth councillors drew public applause tonight when they denied permission for a new city building to site wind-turbine power generators on its roof. The three bright-red vertical turbines would have reached 9m above the roof of a five-storey building under construction on the southern side of Adelaide Tce, with frontages to Terrrace Rd and Victoria Ave. Neighbours in surrounding high-rise apartments had complained that the Dutch-designed turbines would create a visual eyesore and unnecessary noise, affecting the values of their properties.

Controversy over a proposed wind power project in Byron and Roxbury continues to grow the closer Byron gets to its town meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday. An article in the warrant seeks to amend Byron's building ordinance to allow 450-foot-tall wind towers and turbines to be placed along a ridge between Old Turk Mountain and Record Hill. ...Some information regarding noise levels in those letters and on Record Hill's Web site is being questioned publicly by coalition members Linda Kuras and Sarah Nedeau and others.

"The problem is they're putting them too close to people." ...Plans to build four wind projects in the county of Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario were stalled last month after a three-hour discussion punctuated by angry residents and concerned biologists. In 2006, Enbridge cancelled plans to build a wind farm in Saugeen Shores on the coast of Lake Huron after facing fierce public resistance.

After a suggestion by Environment Court Judge Jon Jackson in Alexandra yesterday, the Central Otago District Council will call expert witnesses to explain the effect noise may have on residents living near the proposed Project Hayes wind farm. He did so after learning from the CODC's counsel that no expert witnesses would be called to give evidence on other than landscape and visual effects, and planning. Judge Jackson and three commissioners will hear appeals on the council hearings panel's decision to recommend the wind farm, subject to conditions. At a conference of the participants and representatives yesterday, he heard there will be between 78 and 81 witnesses, and the case will begin on May 19. Parts may be heard in Cromwell or Queenstown.

While few here are arguing the benefits of wind power, there is a growing movement opposed to a proposed wind power project planned for the nearby Higgins Mountain area. The Folly Lake Wentworth Valley Environmental Preservation Society has launched a campaign for the provincial government to place a moratorium on wind power projects until a number of concerns are dealt with. "We realize that not everyone is concerned about this, and that many want to see green power and sustainable, renewable power as quickly as it can get online, at any expense," said society member Garfield Moffat.

The Preservation League of New York State has jumped into a wind-project controversy in Jordanville, naming the Holy Trinity Monastery to the group's annual list of New York's most-threatened historic resources: ``Seven to Save.'' The nonprofit group says tranquility at the monastery, which sits on 750 acres in southern Herkimer County, would be ruined if a proposal to site about 50 wind turbines in the area ever moves forward. ``The Holy Trinity Monastery is of extraordinary historic, religious and cultural significance, but it is currently threatened by an industrial-scale wind energy project,'' Jay DiLorenzo, the nonprofit organization's president, said Friday. Panoramic views and contemplative quiet will disappear from the surrounding countryside if wind tubines are erected as proposed by Iberdrola, DiLorenzo said.

The three-blade turbine reaches roughly 155 feet. That includes a pole that is 120 feet high. The owners recently decided to move the project about 150 feet north toward the back of the property. That should reduce the "shadow flicker," a complaint of some neighbors, Kenney said. The rotating blades create shadows. Moving the turbine also will slightly reduce the sound ...

A few studies will proceed immediately to see if wind turbines are appropriate for Caledon. The studies Caledon council wants undertaken are for setback, noise and flicker effects. The results will be brought back to a public meeting. Councillors spent more than three hours on the issue at last Tuesday's meeting. They heard presentations from concerned residents living near a potential wind project site, as well as a representative from Windy Hills Caledon Renewable Energy.

Eighty-two residents of that neighborhood have signed a petition against the proposal. "In spite of significant neighborhood opposition and negative vote by the ZBA, they are still pursuing something that is not economically viable," said Anne Frasca, a certified public accountant whose property abuts the park and who organized the opposition. "The savings generated are minimal - $1,900 a year. . . . That's assuming estimates on wind in the area are accurate, but they never did a full analysis on the wind." The parks commission has said that a professional study doesn't make sense financially for a proposal that will cost the town so little. While Town Meeting approved $60,000 to purchase the turbine, a state grant would reimburse the town $45,000.