There were windmill-shaped cookies offered as snacks at the Tustin Library last night, but citizens were really hungry for facts about what it was like to have a wind turbine as a neighbor. The meeting was sponsored by a group of landowners and citizens interested in the possibility of wind turbine power in Sherman Township.

Officials said the subcommittee recently formed to address a series of noise complaints the county has received regarding the Michigan Wind 1 development in Ubly will meet every Thursday. ...Damrow said Huron County Environmental Health Director Dale Lipar also was extended an invitation to participate in the subcommittee because this issue has to do with public health concerns raised by the residents who submitted the noise complaints.

A group of about three dozen residents likely will file a lawsuit in appeal of the county board's decision to grant a permit to an energy company to build a wind farm in the county, an attorney representing the group said Thursday. "I view it as highly likely we will be appealing," Rick Porter, an attorney for the anti-wind farm group Citizens for Open Government, said early Thursday afternoon.

Wind farm opponents got no reprieve from Woodford County on Tuesday, which voted to leave unchanged the ordinance that would increase the distance of wind turbines from adjoining structures. By an 8-6 vote, the Woodford County Board agreed with the county's Zoning Board of appeals not to increase the setbacks from the current 750 feet to 1,800 feet. To overturn the ZBA's recommendation would have required a super-majority vote.

A retired GP has sparked a row in his picturesque Northumberland village by planning a £40,000 wind turbine in his back garden. Dr Steven Ford wants to erect the turbine - which would measure 17.8 metres from base to blade tip - in a field behind his home in Heugh House Lane, Haydon Bridge, a row of 20 properties in the countryside overlooking the Northumberland village.

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.

More than 150 people gathered tonight in Georgia to debate a proposed five-turbine wind farm on Georgia Mountain. Some 30 speakers and the broader audience seemed split on the project as they participated in a hearing before the state Public Service Board, which would have to approve the development for it to proceed.

Now the Public Service Commission requires at least 1,400 feet between a tower and an occupied dwelling. It's meant to protect the property owner from noise and shadows, and a possible tower collapse. Commission President Kevin Cramer says the minimum distance is not formally spelled out in state rules.

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.

The Town Board most recently heard from Cohocton Town Justice Hal Graham, who signed a lease with First Wind for a turbine that began operating in January on his Lent Hill Road property, about 2,000 feet from his house. He now calls it a mistake. Since First Wind's Cohocton wind development went live - and even prior to that, during the construction phase - nearby homeowners have complained about turbine noise. Graham likened the noise from the tower on his property and another on a neighbor's property that's only 1,050 feet away to jet engines.

The Zoning Board of Appeals, American Pro Wind LLC and their legal teams debated the conditions for approval of variances for hours last night, the major sticking point being minimum setback requirements for the 13 wind turbines. Though no formal approval for the height and use variances was taken for Douglas Woods Wind by deadline last night, both sides were haggling over setback requirements.

Cohasset's first green project under the town's new wind turbine bylaw may soon be dead, after nearly two years of discussion and planning. Planning Board vice chairman Stuart Ivimey said last week he will not vote in favor of a special permit for a pair of commercial wind turbines proposed by a Plymouth company, leaving the project one vote short of approval.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection issued First Wind of Massachusetts a permit Tuesday to build a 40-turbine industrial wind site for $130 million on Rollins Mountain in Burlington, Lee, Lincoln and Winn. "The Department finds that the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed project will provide significant tangible benefits to the host community and surrounding area,".

The Freeborn County commissioners on Tuesday accepted written comments gathered by the Planning and Zoning Department on a proposed transmission line to connect the planned Bent Tree Wind Farm to the Hayward electrical substation. As recommended by Planning and Zoning Director Wayne Sorensen, the commissioners resolved to consider public concerns in an environmental assessment to be done by the Planning and Zoning Department.

Attention over the sound made by wind turbines recently erected in Cohocton has alerted those in nearby towns considering wind projects to the potential effects of noise. But questions remain about what action - if any - towns affected by the turbines should take to protect their citizens. One wind farm has been completed in Cohocton while projects are being considered in the towns of Prattsburgh, Hartsville and Howard.

The wind farm debate that has raged across America has landed on Chicago's doorstep. Folks in quiet, rural DeKalb County are raising a ruckus at the possibility of 400-foot turbines next to their orchards, honeybees and livestock. About 700 people gathered in a high school gymnasium at 9 a.m. on a recent Saturday for a public hearing on the proposed wind farm. By the time the project developer had fielded every question and concern, it was 4 a.m. Sunday.

Councilors agreed to re-examine the ordinance and possibly make changes after neighbors in the Back Bay neighborhood voiced their opposition to the 292-foot-tall turbine put up by business owner Mark Richey on his woodworking facility site in the industrial park. That turbine went up in January. Armed with materials, research and drafted changes to the ordinance, neighbors offered suggestions on how the document could be altered - the current setbacks need to be changed, they said, and to share what it's like to live in the turbine's shadow each day.

The Co-operative Group, which hopes to build the wind farm on land near Langford and Biggleswade, has announced its plans for a package of community benefits, including an environmental education programme and a community trust fund. But meanwhile campaigners against the development have been distributing leaflets at school gates - warning that it could be a potential health time bomb. A couple from Enfield ...are urging people to sign an online petition asking the Government to enforce a buffer zone of at least two kilometres between industrial wind turbines and homes.

Hundreds of men and women of all ages flocked to the Sycamore High School gymnasium, 555 Spartan Trail, at 9 a.m., on Saturday to voice their opinions in a public hearing regarding the proposal of a wind farm in DeKalb County. What many of these attendees didn't know was that the hearing would last until about 3:40 a.m. the next morning.