Angry farmers are demanding wind farms bury their power lines. Hundreds of turbines have been proposed throughout the Ballarat region. While many residents have accepted that wind farms will be a part of life in the area, they say the companies building them should foot the bill to put the power lines underground.

Wind farm policy is shaping as a turbulent federal election issue in Moorabool. Endorsed Liberal candidate Mark Banwell has called for a moratorium on building more wind farms until more details are known about their impact on peoples health. While Ballarat federal Labor MP Catherine King acknowledged residents concerns, she said presently the approval of wind farms rested with state and territory governments.

In a dramatic win for residents' groups who have raised widespread concerns about the impact of wind farms on rural communities, the committee recommended that noise measurements be expanded to include low-frequency noise, or infrasound.

Wind power - the great green hope to ease fragile electricity supply - is being buffetted from all sides. Wind farm neighbours, courts and economics are hammering away at plans to expand the industry which now provides around 3 per cent of our power but is forecast to grow to 20 per cent within the next 15 years. Wind's main proponent, state-owned Meridian Energy, is likely within the next few days to announce it will fight an Environment Court ruling which killed off one of the biggest wind farms in the world.

A two kilometre buffer zone from houses would make the proposed Glen Innes Windfarm unviable according to the project's developers, however they say they are hopeful of negotiating a compromise with critics of the project.

The public response follows a pattern of general acceptance of a wind farm being developed in an area, and even tolerance of a second one nearby. "But when subsequent wind farms are proposed in the same geographic area, public support is often replaced by strident opposition," Wellington landscape architect Boyden Evans told the Ngaruawahia hearing. In the case of Wel Network's Te Uku proposal, it is following on the heels of Ventus' 22-turbine Taumatatotara project and the 42-turbine Taharoa C project (subject to Environment Court appeal) slightly to the south. ..."It is not surprising that landscape and especially visual issues are at the forefront on the siting of wind farms because people typically describe their feelings and experiences about places in terms of landscape, and, in particular, in terms of what they see." ..."Experience elsewhere in the country shows that opposition groups are becoming increasingly well networked and feed off each other's information."

Landholders supporting a proposed wind farm south of Kingaroy have called on the State Government to introduce buffer zone legislation based on the noise impacts in the specific region rather than a blanket exclusion area.

The Democratic Labor Party is reigniting its push for a State Government-led investigation into the impact of wind farms on human health. ..."All of these sorts of factors would influence the effect of turbines and I think they should be studied properly.

A Western Victorian MP wants the construction of wind turbines near homes and businesses stopped, until an investigation into their health effects has been completed. Democratic Labor Party MLC Peter Kavanagh asked the Planning Minister in Parliament this week to impose a moratorium.

A Supreme Court decision in South Australia should send a warning to wind farm developers that they need to consult with the community, Member for Orange Andrew Gee said this week. The third stage of AGL's Hallet wind farm was challenged by a resident who claimed that it was depriving residents within a 3.5 km radius of sleep.

Professor Armstrong, appointed this week, said the NHMRC's full review would go well beyond what had been considered previously. "The rapid review essentially covered the literature that has been published in the peer reviewed literature," he said. "We will cover any new evidence or literature of that kind since the rapid review was done.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy today announced that the Coalition Government had delivered on another election commitment through his approval of Amendment VC82, which reforms the way wind farms can be approved and prohibits a wind turbine being constructed within two kilometres of an existing dwelling unless there is written consent from the owner of the dwelling.

Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources Ian Macfarlane said the Coalition is broadly supportive of a Private Members Bill from Senator Nick Xenophon and Senator John Madigan to impose national standards on noise emanating from wind turbines via an amendment to the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000.

A $50 million wind farm will be built near Victoria's top coastal attractions, despite State Government promises to keep turbines away from the Great Ocean Rd. The Government says the Newfield wind farm, about 12km from the Twelve Apostles in the southwest, will bring jobs to Victoria and boost renewable energy. But residents say it could be the start of a flood of wind turbines near environmentally sensitive coast land. The Acciona Energy wind farm will include 15 turbines that are 110m tall.

It was always going to be one of the biggest things to hit Otago, whether you were for Project Hayes or against it. So it was no surprise it took two hearings to reach a decision on whether Meridian Energy could build its $2 billion wind farm on the Lammermoor Range. Two thousand pages of evidence were presented at the first hearing in Alexandra, held over 20 days from May to July 2007, with approval announced on October 31, 2007. But those opposed to the 176-turbine proposal appealed, saying they wanted a second shot at protecting precious Central Otago hinterland.

The Moorabool council wants Planning Minister Matthew Guy to guarantee turbines in the proposed Pykes Hill wind farm will be placed at least two kilometres from houses. Last year, the council rejected a planning application for the three-turbine farm near Ballan.

The Pyrenees Shire Mayor, David Clarke, says community concern about wind farms is intensifying. ...He says people are concerned that if the farm gets approved, they may experience some of the same health issues being reported by residents who live near the Waubra wind farm.

Aeroplanes couldn't fly within one kilometre of a stationary turbine, and weren't allowed within five kilometres down wind of a moving turbine. Wind farm company Epuron said turbines wouldn't stop fire fighting aircraft from assisting during an emergency.

Resource consent has been granted to build New Zealand's second largest windfarm, in a unanimous decision by a panel of four commissioners.

Bruce Allen fears he may be trapped in a legal minefield in trying to renovate a 125-year-old cottage on his Mortlake district property near a proposed wind farm.