Newburyport's wind turbine bugs some neighbors.Lifelong Newburyport resident Patty Spalding is trying to get the attention of the Massachusetts legislature as it considers an amendment to the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. Currently in committee, Senate bill No. 1504 (House bill 3065), would among other things establish a full-time position to provide technical assistance to communities on the siting of wind energy facilities.

Ontario could become a North American environmental leader, but municipalities can't stand in the way of wind power. That was the message Tuesday from Ontario Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman as he toured a hydroelectric plant here. Smitherman, also Ontario's deputy premier, praised Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. for its operation of the eight-megawatt plant.

Europe should halt the construction of any more wind farms until it has further examined their impact on wildlife, landscapes and the value of nearby houses, a new anti-wind farm group said on Tuesday. "Wind farms represent the worst-case scenario," the European Platform Against Windfarms (EPAW) said in a letter to European Union commissioners and parliamentarians, in which it called for a moratorium on all wind projects.

Lorrie Gillis is no Don Quixote and she doesn't think her enemies are imaginary, nor does she believe her battle is a lost cause, so she continues to "tilt" at the wind power companies that want to turn the rolling farmland in her rural neighbourhood into a wind farm, and the provincial government, that through its proposed new Green Act, will take away her right to oppose the plan she says will destroy the peaceful enjoyment of her property.

Tom Lewis, planning and environment manager with IPC Energy, said his company takes the results of a Wind Concerns Ontario survey seriously, but pointed to an earlier survey that found an overwhelming number of Ontarians are in favour of wind energy. "I think there is a small number of people susceptible to health problems and I certainly empathize with them," Lewis said.

Town administration is expected to provide more information to council in coming weeks about the proposed South Side Wind Farm and members of council are joining members of the Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE) with questions of their own. Councillor Bob Pillon brought up the issue of potential health impacts ..."We need answers," said Pillon.

Across the Great Plains the wind blows incessantly, while in the remote Nevada desert the sun bears down without relief. Each holds the potential of a vast new energy resource. While wind turbine and solar projects are ready to capture this new, eco-friendly energy source, where are the transmission lines to get the power to where it is needed?

The Cohocton Wind Farm Controversy continues -- this time, over print reports the turbines were not producing power. ...Local print reports quoted an official from the New York Independent Service Operator saying even though the turbines are spinning, the energy wasn't actually going into the power grid.

A joint statement was issued by the councils of Poole, Bournemouth, Purbeck and Christchurch in response to the "West of Isle of Wight" wind farm proposal. It said they were "key stakeholders" representing local people, committed to sustaining the natural environment and working to support local employment and tourism industry. "We are collectively disappointed that no approach appears to have been made... to either advise us of these plans or seek our views and the views of local residents, partners and businesses.

Wind energy advocates want the Douglas administration to lift its ban on large-scale wind projects on state-owned land. The advocates say Vermont needs to explore all options as it looks for new energy resources. But Governor Jim Douglas remains opposed to the idea VPR's John Dillon reports:

It's green and mean. At least some say so. The Ontario government is introducing green legislation next week expected to strip the right of local councils to oppose wind farms and other green industry projects. Wind farms are a prime example of the type of green industry the province is trying to encourage to generate clean electricity and foster growth in new industries.

Theories of climate change were challenged during an Environment Court appeal hearing for Meridian Energy's proposed $2 billion Project Hayes wind farm yesterday. As a witness for appellant Roch Sullivan, climate scientist Prof Christopher de Freitas was questioned on his evidence, which had been contested in the evidence of other climate witnesses called in the hearing.

Potential wind-farm development was the overriding reason why the state Department of Environmental Quality approved the proposed high-voltage power line that would tread its way across eastern Teton County between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alta. Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., or MATL, with offices in Calgary, Alta., submitted an application under DEQ's Major Facility Siting Act program on Dec. 1, 2005, providing a variety of reasons why its proposed privately-owned, 230-kilovolt transmission line would benefit the region. ... Aggrieved parties who believe they are adversely affected by DEQ's decision have 30 days to appeal.

When the 50-turbine Dokie wind farm just outside Chetwynd is up and running next year, it will be B.C.'s first commercial wind power project, making the province the last in Canada to have such a power project. A farm near Dawson Creek, B.C., called the Bear Mountain project is also scheduled to start generating power next year, and there are many other prospective sites being considered. ...And a group of homeowners near Bear Mountain has been rallying against the project there, insisting the wind farm will be too close to people.

When the acquisition is official, Iberdrola along with New York State will commit about $200 million to wind farms in hopes that wind mills will begin to pop up in fields like these. "My real concern is that that's going to happen in small towns through New York State that Iberdrola is going to come in and they're going to point blank tell the towns what they want and if the towns don't want or like what they want. They're just going to say well if you don't take what we want we're going to leave," said Lapinski.

"We've been really derelict," Specter said of Congress' response to the energy issue. "We're gonna have to go to alternate forms of energy, and I've been supporting that." Virginia Deeter from Somerset County told Specter her home of 30 years soon would sit between two wind turbine facilities: one 1,400 feet away from her back door and the other 1,800 feet away from her front door. "Our home is going to be worthless," she said she was told by real estate agents. "Where do we turn?"

The state Legislature will try again to establish statewide wind farm standards, but the one-size-fits-all approach faces the same opposition. ..."It's a scary prospect to put (turbines) in here among all the homes," said Mike Luethe, chairman of the town of Ridgeville, which last week joined the town of Wilton in passing an ordinance establishing half-mile setbacks for wind farms. "Local governments should still have a say in the matter."

More families will be driven into fuel poverty as a push to generate more electricity from "green" sources like wind, wave and solar power sharply increases household fuel bills, the Government has said. Electricity bills could rise by 13 per cent and gas prices could go up by as much as 37 per cent as consumers are made to pay more to subsidise green energy production, ministers said in a new Renewable Energy Strategy. ...The Renewable Energy Strategy says: "It is likely that the measures we need to use to increase renewable energy will add to the challenges we face in combating fuel poverty."

Supervisor Frank Duserick said the town of Naples is investigating what legal standing it may have to protest the placement of wind turbines planned for neighboring Prattsburgh. "We're not against wind towers," Duserick said. "But we are for appropriate placement of towers. Our concern is they should have put them a minimum of 1,500 feet from the town line." Ecogen of West Seneca, near Buffalo, has proposed building up to 53 turbines - though the number could fall to 31 if it switches from a 1.5 to 2.5-megawatt model - in Prattsburgh in 2009.