The Warren Town Board voted Monday night to rescind a law passed two years ago that made wind turbines, solar-energy projects and any other green-energy sources taxable, Warren Town Clerk Anna Halkowich said. This means that the Jordanville Wind project's 68 turbines are tax-exempt and eligible for a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, she said. The project's turbines are planned for the towns of Warren and Stark.

Francis Sullivan, environment adviser at HSBC, the UK's biggest bank that went carbon-neutral in 2005, said he found "serious credibility concerns" in the offsetting market after evaluating it for several months. "The police, the fraud squad and trading standards need to be looking into this. Otherwise people will lose faith in it," he said. These concerns led the bank to ignore the market and fund its own carbon reduction projects directly.

House Bill 380 would create a uniform standard for calculating property taxes based on the wind farm's construction costs. We did the math, and the bottom line for Twin Groves: $3.37 million. Renner says, "Four million dollars to most people is a lot of money. Maybe not to Bill Gates, but it certainly is."

MONTPELIER - Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin wants Entergy Nuclear, which owns the Vermont Yankee power plant, to pay to reduce Vermont's contribution to global warming by funding a program to make the heating of buildings in the state more efficient. The company has, or will, earn "windfall" profits because of increased energy prices and new government programs and agreements, Shumlin said. A portion of those profits should be used to fund anti-climate-change programs that Shumlin hopes will be a centerpiece of this year's legislative session. "We think that is both fair and appropriate," Shumlin said. "This tax will not cost Vermont ratepayers one penny."

The Physical Plant is looking to turn blustery days into university dollars. University officials have applied for a $30,000 grant to investigate the feasibility of building a 2.5-megawatt wind generator on campus, said Justin Harrell, a Physical Plant electrical engineer. If awarded the grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, the university could begin studying the possibility of building a wind turbine as early as this summer, Harrell said.

An Illinois lawmaker says with a growing number of wind farms in the state, there should be a statewide standard for how they're appraised for taxing purposes. So far, no complaints from Horizon Energy which will eventually operate the largest wind farm in the country in eastern McLean County. Representative Ed Sullivan of Mundelein says having consistent standards is a good idea, but he has a problem with the high tax levels being proposed. Stephen Noe of Midwest Energy, one of the largest developers of wind farms in the Midwest, says the proposals would put Illinois well above other states in wind farm taxation and that would be bad for business.

California's innovative financing plan to help relatively small renewable energy firms get their power to market over high-voltage transmission lines won approval from federal regulators on Thursday. Developers of new power plants generally pay the cost for building high-voltage "trunklines" to connect their plants to utilities that deliver the power to consumers. But most renewable energy companies are smaller firms that develop wind, solar or geothermal resources in remote locations that need new lines, which they often cannot afford to build. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave the OK for the California Independent System Operator to spread the cost of building the new lines among the utilities that receive the power.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer unveiled a new energy strategy yesterday that relies on reducing the state's energy use by 15 percent by 2015, investing $300 million in renewable and "clean" power projects and increasing supply by enacting a law to expedite power-plant siting. Simultaneously, the state gave a big boost to wind power by awarding performance-based grants to nine new "wind farms," including three in Steuben County in western New York and one in Herkimer County in the north-central section of the state. These sites, which state officials predict will open next year, will significantly increase the state's use of wind. There are now just four large-scale wind power sites that supply power to the electricity grid, state officials said.

But so far Mahanoy Township government has realized nothing in the way of substantial tax income from its wind farm. "The government came out with a thing at the end of the year (saying) that they can't be taxed on their real estate value," Stevens told the Schuylkill County commissioners last Wednesday. "So we're looking at the energy they produce," Stevens added. "That's the only way we can go."

Gov. Eliot Spitzer today unveiled a new energy strategy that relies on reducing energy use 15 percent by 2015, investing $300 million in renewable and "clean" power projects and increasing supply by passing a new law to expedite power-plant siting. "The result will be lower energy bills, a cleaner environment that addresses climate change and thousands of new jobs fueled by a new industry born from clean power," Spitzer said in a speech to a business group in Manhattan.

FREE wind turbines and solar panels for low-income families were part of a £155 million blueprint for renewable energy unveiled by Liberal Democrats today. Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen said his party had set a target of making 40,000 houses a year into energy friendly homes, with the help of grant support and tax rebates.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Consumers who purchase wind turbines to provide electricity for their homes would get a tax break under a bill approved Tuesday by the Oklahoma Senate. Under the bill, consumers could get a 40 percent tax credit on the cost of a wind turbine. Critics said it was not economically feasible for most homeowners since the average cost of a wind turbine for home use is about $50,000. Some objected to the bill because it also gives the same tax credit to solar energy devices. Sen. Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher, called the bill "irresponsible."

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal will begin a series of hearings tomorrow on energy and tax policy proposals that will give tax incentives to companies for using alternative sources of energy. As chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, the Springfield Democrat will look at using tax incentives to prompt the private sector to develop or expand the use of clean and renewable energy with the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

VAIL - Buying wind credits gives peace of mind to us environmental sinners in the High Country, but are they worth much else? There's been some serious back-patting going on ever since Vail Resorts and the area towns like Frisco and Vail decided to offset 100 percent of their electricity use with clean, emission-free power produced by wind farmers. It's the first thing you see on the Vail Resorts website and has made some towns leaders in this rapidly growing trend of "neutralizing" environmental impacts by investing in renewable energy. Some people, though, question the world-saving value of purchasing wind offsets, fearing they're being used in lieu of actually decreasing energy use or fearing the offsets themselves are shady buys. They are certainly in vogue in the Fortune 500 world, but how much do they help the environment beyond clearing your conscience?

The wind game is pay to play. Rural counties are enticing companies to invest millions of dollars to build wind farms with tax abatements.

VALE - Wind turbines reaching 400 feet into the air are not a normal sight along the high desert plains of Eastern Oregon, but as the federal government continues to provide enticing grant options to entrepreneurs in the state, that form of clean energy technology could become more common locally. One case in point is a recent decision by the United States Department of Agriculture regarding a grant for a feasibility study for a 10 megawatt family wind farm in Vale.

The New Hampshire House's passage of a renewable energy bill April 5 might spur even more wood-fired power plant projects, such as Public Service of New Hampshire's 50-megawatt facility at Schiller Station in Portsmouth and several projects recently proposed in the North Country. One of those North Country projects involves Laidlaw Ecopower, which hopes to buy the mothballed 11-story boiler in the former Fraser Papers mill in Berlin and construct a 50-megawatt wood-chip-burning power plant around it. The other, proposed by North Country Renewable Energy, involves plans for a similar renewable energy park in Northumberland that would make ethanol from wood chips and operate a biomass power plant in the 45- to 75-megawatt range.

The Montana Legislature last week tabled an opportunity for the state's farmers and ranchers to profit from wind. By voting at the last minute to table Senate Bill 337, a bill that would have allowed Green Electricity Buying Cooperative to use $31.7 million in bonding authority to build 40 windmills on 40 farms across Montana, Montana legislators put on hold the wind company's plans to put together a bid for clean energy bonds and incorporate 40 ranches or farms involved in producing wind energy across the state.

A Mahanoy Township supervisor is asking Schuylkill County commissioners for help in finding out how to get tax revenue from a wind farm. Supervisor Vice Chairman James Stevens on Wednesday told commissioners the county, township and Mahanoy Area School District have seen no tax revenue from Green Energy Products Inc., which began operating in November 2006.

Hybrid vehicles are getting a push from Gov. Ed Rendell. So are solar and wind power, biofuels and renewable energy. The governor yesterday made $31.4 million in grants available to help businesses, municipalities, organizations and individuals develop and use clean technology, energy and alternative fuels.