FEARS Louth could become a 'forest' of wind turbines prompted town councillors to object to a plan to build the first one in the town. Nancy Stockwell wants to put up an eight metre high wind turbine in her back garden in Grimsby Road, Louth. But Coun Tony Lione said: "I'd hate to see in ten years time a forest of these things around the town. The neighbours will suffer with the noise."

The conclusion of the Ontario Municipal Board hearing into the Amaranth portion of the 132- megawatt Melancthon II wind farm is being scheduled for the township offices at Laurel on Feb. 27 and 28. ...At the earlier hearing, Mr. Jackson indicated his dissatisfaction with an earlier Certificate of Approval for the first of two 230 kV transformers at a time when neighbour Paul Thompson and others said they were still unhappy with the noise abatement.

MARS HILL, Maine — This year, when Steven and Tammie Fletcher took their traditional New Year’s Eve walk to the top of Mars Hill, the crisp winter stillness mixed with something unfamiliar: the whoosh of the new windmills towering over the northern Maine mountaintop. This is not how it was supposed to be, say the Fletchers and their neighbors on the north side of Mars Hill, where a 28-turbine wind farm, the largest yet built in New England, began operating in December. Residents say that town officials and company representatives repeatedly assured them that the wind farm would be silent. Instead, they say, the windmills have disrupted their mountainside idyll. On days with low cloud cover, when the pulsing, rushing noise is loudest, wind farm neighbors say it can disrupt their sleep and drown out the rushing brook that was once the only sound here. “It changes your whole feeling about being in the woods,” said Tammie Fletcher, whose mountainside house boasts floor-to-ceiling views of the ridge where the windmills now stand.

Planners at Cannock Chase Council have had to fork out the cash for a report about the noise impact the three proposed turbines for Bleak House open cast mine site would have. The decision on the application for the site between Heath Hayes and Chase Terrace has now been delayed until next year because the noise consultants require more information from Harworth Power.

Passage of a bylaw that sets limits for wind-turbine noise could be another step toward town use of wind power. The planning board's bylaw proposal calls for using noise standards that were adopted by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The bylaw, which will be voted on at town meeting, would require that any application for permission to install a turbine include information about the current noise level and how much noise the turbine would produce. It also would limit the noise increase. The measuring of noise would be done at the base of the turbine and the property line. ...‘‘There is a tremendous opportunity for wind turbines, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered, but we can eliminate any undue expectations about (turbines ) being too noisy,'' he said.

As plans for a wind farm in the neighboring town of Arkwright move closer to reality, landowners in the town of Charlotte are taking the first steps toward development of a wind turbine operation in that municipality. Town resident, Merle Goot, who has spearheaded interest in a WECS (wind energy conversion system), said UPC Wind Management is currently contacting and ‘‘signing up'' town property owners. ‘‘Arkwright has been moving forward with wind energy plans since 2004,'' Goot said. ‘‘Charlotte has a long way to go, but at least we're now on the way.'' After several months of research and tours of wind turbine sites, Goot said, a group of town landowners ‘‘decided to go with UPC.'' ‘‘It was a visit to UPC's Cohocton energy conversion site in December that sold us,'' he said. ‘‘That trip really cinched a decision to select UPC as the developer of our town project.

Citizens for the Protection of Libertyville addressed the Village Board at its last meeting over their concerns about a wind turbine operating near their residences. Dave Gates, a member of Citizens for the Protection of Libertyville, said the group is upset over a 120-foot wind turbine located at Aldridge Electric, 844 E. Rockland Road, within 250-feet of their homes.

The Clayton Town Council agreed to keep the sound limitations and most of the setback recommendations from the Wind Committee and forward them to the town attorney to begin writing a new zoning law for wind power development. The council, meeting Wednesday night, held voice votes on all 16 recommendations forwarded from the committee. The only point dropped by the council was a recommendation to site turbines so there would be no flicker effect falling at road intersections.

The council, without hesitation, did vote unanimously to amend the Lewisville Code of Ordinances to prohibit the use of wind turbines for the generation of electric power within the city limits of Lewisville. The council agreed that, at least until technology improves so the wind turbines will create less noise, that they will not be allowed in the city limits.

After receiving several letters of complaints from Huron County residents over the last several months regarding the effects wind turbines are having on their lives, the county is taking steps to properly address the issues. Advertisement At last week's Huron County Planning Commission meeting it was announced that a committee will be formed that will include commissioners David Peruski and Kurt Damrow, as well as three members from the Planning Commission.

The County Legislature yesterday unanimously approved a lease agreement with Environmental Technologies, LLC, a Manhattan-based company that will build a 111-foot-tall wind turbine at the college. ...Environmental Technologies has never built a windmill this large, according to county officials ...If the windmill does not work, Environmental Technologies is contractually obligated to tear it down within 60 days. The unproven nature of this wind turbine is one of many things that worries Kenneth Walter, the resident who has been railing against the project because it lies only 500 feet away from his elderly mother's house. Walter is mainly concerned about noise from the windmill and how it will affect his mother's quality of life.

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.

FAIRHAVEN - Residents speaking at a forum on wind power last night made a lot of noise about what kind of sound two proposed Little Bay wind turbines would produce. During a sometimes chaotic meeting in a standing-room only hall, some wanted to know why a specific wind study has not been done on the project and why turbines would be erected closer to homes than what is recommended in other studies. "We have done the studies that the town asked us to do," said Nils Boldgen of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which has worked with the town on the project. "A noise study could be done." Officials also said the sound requirements would have to meet levels determined by the town's bylaw: 60 decibels at 600 feet.

FAIRHAVEN - While the developer that wants to erect two wind turbines on town land is offering free bus trips to see operating turbines in Hull, members of the WindWise Fairhaven group questioning the project say they are paying for a noise study. WindWise member Kenneth Pottell made the revelation last night as the Board of Selectmen discussed the issue in the wake of a wind power forum last week. "It's really important that the town does it right," Mr. Pottell said. "We're not asking for something other towns haven't done."

If you have ever driven off campus, you have likely noticed giant windmills looming on the horizon. Part of a system of some twenty turbines, these iron giants comprise the Fenner Windpower Project, just one component of a nationwide initiative to utilize clean and renewable energy. Operational since the fall of 2000, the mills have the capacity to power about 10,000 homes solely by harnessing the energy of the wind as it sweeps over the Adirondacks and down the Chenango Valley. Despite their efficiency, the mammoth cost to assemble just one of these turbines (about $2.5 million dollars) has stirred local and national debate over cost versus benefit at the Fenner site, not to mention the intrusions they cause for residents.

FREEDOM - The town's Board of Appeals has rejected plans to erect three electricity generating wind turbines on Beaver Ridge. After four weeks of hearings, the board late Thursday found Portland-based Competitive Energy Service's turbines would not meet town standards for noise, said Addison Chase, chairman of the appeals board. The board also ruled that CES must post bonding for future demolition of the turbines. The planning Board approved CES's application in December. Planning board members agreed with a study that determined the turbines would not exceed the 45 decibel limit set in the ordinance. The vote was 3 to 0. Francis Walker abstained from the vote. Appeals board members determined that the study had been based on faulty ambient, or background, noise levels, Chase said. The planning board had required CES to post a bond for the construction phase, but Chase said the ordinance clearly requires the company to bond for future demolition as well. CES can appeal Thursday's decision to Waldo County Superior Court or start the process over again with the Planning Board.

Marshland St James is an isolated, functional, centre-less village, little more than a ribbon of houses along a country road surrounded by farms. In the far west of Norfolk, close to the borders with Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, it is a place that locals describe as "bandit country". It is not a place you expect an issue of national importance to find its focus. But on Monday, just a few days before the government released its white paper on energy, a local farmer was found dead in a drainage canal close to his home. A statement from his family linked his death to a battle over wind farms that has torn the village apart.

ARKPORT - The Hornellsville town board discussed the benefits and drawbacks of a wind farm at its meeting night. With the Steuben County towns of Howard and Hartsville set to vote this week on wind laws developed for these communities, Hornellsville is still in the talking phase. Hornellsville still has a moratorium on wind farm development in place. One opponent of Howard's wind farm - Howard resident Eric Hosmer- was on hand at the meeting. He spoke about the impact of the turbines- usually between 400-450 feet tall - particularly the sound the windmills make.

Dwayne Bailey has some simple advice for Gulf Shore residents fighting a proposed wind farm in their area, don't give up the fight because they may regret the consequences. Bailey recently abandoned his Elmira, P.E.I., home because noise from a nearby wind farm was becoming intolerable. It kept the family awake at night and impacted their health with headaches and vision problems. "Don't let them put up the windfarm, it's way too close to the houses. It chased us out of our house and it could happen to someone else. We didn't have much a choice and it resulted in us leaving our home," Bailey said, adding his parents also abandoned their home.

The Town of Lyme wants the state Department of Environmental Conservation to consider the possibility that noise from Galloo Island Wind Farm could annoy town residents on Point Peninsula. "Whereas the Impact Statement declares the noise generated by this project poses no significant noise impact, the Town of Lyme respectfully submits this letter expressing its concern to the contrary," states an April 29 letter from the town to DEC and the town of Hounsfield.