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 potential health impacts of living near wind turbines will be the subject of further investigation by a New South Wales Parliament inquiry into rural wind farms. Two further hearing days begin today at State Parliament to explore issues raised during regional hearings at Tamworth and Goulburn.

Officials announced last week that the Michigan Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing later this month to garner public comment on the effect of wind turbine setback requirements and noise limitations under local zoning or other ordinances on wind energy development in wind energy resource zones. The hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 23 at the MPSC's office.

University of Ballarat engineering lecturer Graeme Hood said the Victorian Government should commission a comprehensive independent investigation to determine exact levels of inaudible sound produced, after his own study proved inconclusive. ...Mr Hood said his research found that an audible swishing noise emitted by the turbines ranged between 60dB, or the equivalent of conversational speech, and 80dB, or the equivalent of average street traffic.

Local wind farm opponents vowed yesterday to keep pushing for independent studies into the effects wind turbines have on people. Ontario legislators rejected Bruce- Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch's call to halt industrial wind farm development until the province's top doctor can assure the government turbines don't harm people living nearby.

Tory MPP Bill Murdoch's resolution calling for a moratorium on new wind turbines in Ontario pending confirmation that there are no adverse health effects on humans stalled in the legislature. Murdoch said his resolution was drafted in response to concerns about wind power raised by hundreds of people in his riding and across the province. "I'm disappointed and where the people go from here I don't know," Murdoch said yesterday. "The government of the day has decided that they don't count by turning down my resolution."

Three months after the Ripley Wind Farm went online in December, 2007, Dave Colling's phone started ringing. Three of his neighbours were seeing doctors about recurring ear aches. They knew Colling, a former dairy farmer who lives within two kilometres of the turbines near the southern Bruce County community, had an interest in and could test for what he calls "electrical pollution." "It's like living inside a microwave. It radiates," Colling told more than 100 people Tuesday night in Keady.

Ontario Medical Officer of Health Arlene King told a legislative committee Tuesday she wants more information about health effects of wind turbines. That's different than what a Ministry of Health spokesman told The Sun Times was King's position Tuesday, that there's no link between the noise turbines make and adverse health effects. David Jensen also said government rules covering placement of turbines and reviews of scientific literature are enough to determine a moratorium on new wind farms is not needed.

Ontario's Medical Officer of Health Arlene King doesn't see any scientific evidence that links wind turbines with adverse health effects. When contacted yesterday, Ministry of Health and Long- Term Care spokesperson David Jensen said it is King's position that there is no link between the noise turbines make and adverse health effects people claim to be experiencing, such as severe headaches and joint and muscle aches.

The Boone County Commissioners have asked the county health department to research the alleged health issues of wind turbines. Two developers want to build wind farms in Boone County. These plans have created both enthusiasm and opposition. "We are seeking some direction," Rachel Whittington, Boone County Area Plan Commission interim executive director, told the commissioners Monday. "We want to be careful what direction we want to take here."

Native American rituals and beliefs have emerged as a surprising last-minute obstacle to federal approval of the nation's first offshore wind farm, threatening to significantly delay the Cape Wind project. Two Massachusetts tribes say the 130 proposed wind turbines in Nantucket Sound would disturb their spiritual sun greetings and submerged ancestral burying grounds. The Aquinnah and Mashpee Wampanoag tribes ...are pushing for the entire sound to be listed as a traditional cultural property on the National Register of Historic Places.

Two speakers said wind towers need to be a safe distance from homes and another said they do not need to be in Vermont during a forum Thursday. Vermonters for a Clean Environment organized the meeting at West Rutland Town Hall in light of the proposal of Vermont Community Wind Farm to build an 80-megawatt development in and around Ira. VCE executive director Annette Smith moderated the meeting.

A Big Island resident who hopes to take the Ontario government to court to quash legislation governing wind farms says the basis of his case boils down to common sense. Ian Hanna filed an application for judicial review earlier this week in the hopes he can get the provincial government to look into certain sections of its Green Energy Act. Hanna said plans by Skypower to erect at least nine energy-producing wind turbines on Big Island - as well as in other parts of Prince Edward County - need to be properly examined before any development occurs.

An East Yorkshire resident is calling for a change in the law so new wind turbines cannot be built near homes Currently there is no minimum separation distance between homes and the structures, but company director Larry Fleming, from Spaldington, near Goole, wants a 2km limit. Villagers are fighting proposals by two separate developers for 14 turbines standing 400ft tall, three times higher than Howden Minster.

A Prince Edward County man is going to court over Ontario's new setback rules for industrial wind farms. Lawyer Eric Gillespie, acting on behalf of client Ian Hanna, a resident of Big Island, has launched the first legal challenge to the Ontario government's Green Energy Act which requires wind turbines be located a minimum 550 metres from homes.

Ian Hanna said his application for judicial review, being called the first of its kind, is his latest appeal to the government after petitions failed to stop plans for five turbines about 900 metres away from his property on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte. The community of about 100 homes will be overwhelmed by the turbines, he charged. "My parents taught us when we were growing up that we should stand up for what we thought is good and right and whether that's for my family or for my neighbours, I intend to do that," he said.

John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, will today launch a ferocious attack on the "landowners and nimbys" who he says are holding up the installation of wind farms across Britain and thus hindering the fight against climate change. In unashamed class-warrior style, Mr Prescott lashes out at opponents of windpower who successfully block planning applications for wind turbines because they may spoil their "chocolate box view".

"The Green Energy Act, 2009 and its regulations clearly do not appear to meet the requirements of law in the province of Ontario," said lawyer Eric Gillespie today in a news conference at Queen's Park. On behalf of his client Ian Hanna, Gillespie explained that a court application was filed earlier today for judicial review of the Green Energy Act, 2009 based on the Precautionary Principle as it applies to industrial wind turbine installations.

A Tamworth public inquiry into wind farms in the northern tablelands has heard the developments do not comply with local planning guidelines. The New South Wales Planning Department has bypassed local government controls to push the projects through. A number of residents told the inquiry that noise and vibrations from the turbines will force them to move if the projects go ahead in their current form.