SPRINGFIELD - Thanks to the duration of this year's record-breaking legislative overtime session, lawmakers are poised to vote on a plan that would establish a uniform method of assessing wind farms for property tax purposes. The proposal is the result of months of talks involving Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, county assessors, local governments, wind-energy companies and others..............Under the legislation, a wind farm installed in 2007 would pay a tax of $9,000 per megawatt. That figure would drop slightly each year because of physical depreciation of the wind devices. If enacted into law, the measure would expire - or "sunset" - after the 2011 tax year. The sunset date is meant to enable lawmakers to gauge how well the law is working.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $16-billion tax bill Saturday that would extend renewable energy tax credits and encourage energy efficiency, paying for itself by axing tax breaks to oil and gas companies. The White House said in a policy statement Friday U.S. President George W. Bush would veto the measure if approved, because it would, along with a broad energy package passed earlier by the House, "lead to less domestic oil and gas production, higher energy costs, and higher and higher taxes." Along with the House energy legislation, the two bills form a package that will go to conference for melding with a major energy bill the Senate approved in June.

WASHINGTON -- Declaring a new direction in energy policy, the House on Saturday approved $16 billion in taxes on oil companies, while providing billions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives for renewable energy and conservation efforts. Republican opponents said the legislation ignored the need to produce more domestic oil, natural gas and coal. One GOP lawmaker bemoaned "the pure venom ... against the oil and gas industry." The House passed the tax provisions by a vote of 221-189. Earlier it had approved, 241-172, a companion energy package aimed at boosting energy efficiency and expanding use of biofuels, wind power and other renewable energy sources.

Eric Carlson sells an invisible commodity: the soothing of guilt over global warming. And these days, business is hot. His Maryland-based nonprofit organization, Carbonfund.org, which acts as a middleman for donors who want to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution, saw its revenue jump 20-fold last year, to $850,000. The 3-year-old group, benefiting from mounting public concern about climate change, is one of eight or more fast-growing firms across the country that sell "carbon offsets." The industry works this way: People who feel bad about the carbon dioxide pollution created by their lifestyles - for example, flying across the country or driving to the beach - give donations to Carbonfund or other groups, which in turn passes the money on to pollution-fighting projects. In return, donors get bumper stickers proclaiming they've done their part to "fight climate change."

The plethora of goods and services exempt from Idaho sales and income taxes has lawmakers wondering if the time has come to curb the exemptions. More than 100 exemptions for sales and income taxes keep millions of potential tax revenue out of state coffers, state officials say............One of the newest sales tax exemptions is a break for companies that buy equipment to build wind farms or other alternative energy projects. Tax officials say this makes Idaho more competitive with states like Montana and Oregon that don't have sales taxes.

In its official policy statement, the White House said the energy bill and its related tax package would "fail to deliver American consumers or businesses more energy security, but rather would lead to less domestic oil and gas production, higher energy costs, and higher taxes."

WASHINGTON -- A rebellion by oil-state Democrats over $16 billion in new taxes on oil companies is threatening to upend House Democratic leaders' plans to swiftly pass energy legislation. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remained confident she would have the votes to pass the energy package Friday ahead of Congress' monthlong summer recess, according to her aides. But she needs solid Democratic support to overcome staunch GOP opposition. "I know they're looking for votes," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, one of the Democrats who has balked over the oil industry tax increases. Green said some of the "Blue Dog" Democrats - moderate to conservatives, including lawmakers from oil producing states - were threatening to withhold their support. "I think it's too much to hit one industry with," Green said in an interview.

You already drink shade-grown coffee, drive a Prius, and shop strictly organic at PCC. So naturally you're the best kind of customer-indeed a captive customer-for the ad blitz Seattle City Light has recently devised for its two-year-old "Green Up" program. Your latest billing envelopes have encouraged you to Green Up by adding a voluntary premium of as much as $12 to your monthly bill. For what purpose? To buy an amount of wind power equal to a percentage of your household's usage of cheap hydropower. "Participating in the Green Up program demonstrates your preference and support for clean energy and a healthy environment in the Northwest," says the city's Web site. "It helps promote economic development in rural parts of the region, improves our energy security, and reduces pollution." Really?

Parents saving for college, mobile home owners facing eviction, and businesses that generate or use alternative energy are among the beneficiaries of a wide-ranging tax break bill signed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski on Tuesday......The energy initiative, which ranks as the biggest tax break in the bill, will expand the credit for businesses to build wind farms, use solar or otherwise boost the use of clean energy. Now the credit is 35 percent of costs, with a cap of $3.5 million. The new law increases the credit to 50 percent, with a $10 million cap. It's estimated to cost the state at least $6 million a year by 2009-11.

GREEN CITY Are you carbon neutral yet? Al Gore says he is. The concert tours for the Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews, and other big acts say they are too. Indeed, going neutral is hot these days as, almost overnight, the fledgling market in carbon offsets has burgeoned into a multimillion-dollar industry. The method is simple, at least in theory. For a fee, companies will balance, or offset, the greenhouse gases emitted by your car or home by spending money on climate-healing initiatives such as renewable energy, forestation projects, and capturing deleterious gases like methane from farms and landfills. But the sheer number of offset firms out there is staggering, with hundreds of companies vying for your dollars. And as the industry has exploded in popularity, questions have arisen about its reliability and whether the millions of dollars being spent are really making it to worthwhile projects.

WASHINGTON: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi solidified Democratic support behind her energy initiatives and quieted rebellious party members who feared U.S. energy production would be hurt. Democratic leaders reached agreement on legislation that would impose nearly $16 billion (€11.71 billion) in additional taxes on oil companies over 10 years and use the money to promote renewable energy programs and energy conservation and efficiency. To garner broader Democratic support, Pelosi scrapped proposed changes in the way royalties are collected from offshore federal oil and gas leases. Also dropped was a provision that would have made it harder for the federal government to designate nationally significant corridors for pipelines and electric power lines. Pelosi, bowing to Democratic lawmakers in oil-producing regions, agreed to some changes in the way permits are issued for energy leases on federal land.

CHICAGO - The $1 billion electric rate-relief package that Illinois lawmakers approved this week contains not only savings for consumers but also an expected boon to the state's growing wind-farm industry. A provision of the bill that passed the House and Senate on Thursday requires utility companies to get increasing shares of their power supplies from renewable sources, especially wind turbines. The green threshold would start at 2 percent next year and would gradually increase to 25 percent by 2025, according to lawmakers and other proponents familiar with the details. Utilities previously agreed to voluntary goals, but environmental advocates have been pushing for binding requirements with penalties for companies that don't comply.

Boston utility NStar's plan to let customers buy wind-generated electricity is running into a gale of opposition from a rival "green power" provider, who said yesterday NStar's program would violate state law. Although Attorney General Martha Coakley and the Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston legal-environmental group, are backing the NStar plan, Larry Chretien, executive director of the Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance, said it violates the 1997 state utility restructuring law. That law, Chretien said, limits utilities to being "distribution companies" that deliver power that customers buy through the utility from independent third-party energy producers and means NStar can't legally become the supplier of power through contracts with wind farms in upstate New York and Maine. NStar plans to begin offering wind power by Jan. 1, pending state approval.

SCITUATE - The town has received a $65,000 grant to study whether wind energy can power its wastewater treatment plant. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant comes after more good news for wind-power advocates: 12 months worth of anemometer readings at the plant show that there is enough wind to make it a suitable site for a turbine. Selectman Paul Reidy estimated that the town could save thousands of dollars by using wind power. The treatment plant used $146,000 worth of electricity last year. A draft of the feasibility study is expected to be ready by September. Officials are considering a public meeting at that point to discuss the town's options.

Kodiak Electric Association's Pillar Mountain wind generation project is now $1 million closer to a $14 million renewable energy project to offset diesel fuel consumption in Kodiak. Gov. Sarah Palin recently signed a bill in the 2008 state capital budget to assist KEA in offsetting a portion of the costs for the Pillar Mountain wind project. Sen. Gary Stevens and Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux helped push the appropriation through as part of a program to lower costs and reduce emissions in Kodiak.

Two northwest Ohio higher-education institutions may receive federal money from three bills the House Appropriations Committee passed recently without opposition....... Money was included for Bowling Green State University for two separate projects, each in a different bill The Energy and Water Appropriations Act includes $100,000 for BGSU's Coastal Wind Ohio partnership with the city of Huron, Ohio. The funding would allow BGSU to buy and install two wind turbines and wind-power experimentation stations for the Huron area.

WASHINGTON - For years, the United States has looked to the sun and the wind as renewable energy sources. But legislation moving through Congress would authorize $250 million in federal grants to develop ocean wave energy. The measure would be the nation's first major investment in wave energy, which converts the rise and fall of ocean swells into electrical power. A related technology, tidal energy, extracts energy from the movement of the sea's tides.

The Boston utility NStar plans to allow its residential and small business customers to buy their electricity from environmentally friendly wind farms - for a price. In a first of its kind for Massachusetts utilities, NStar is proposing to let its 1.1 million electric customers in Boston and 80 eastern Massachusetts cities and towns buy their power directly from a wind farm in upstate New York and a second under development in Maine. Because the wind farms are more expensive than conventional sources like coal and nuclear power, a typical homeowner would pay a premium of about $7.50 to $15 monthly. The program, being announced today, will need approval from state utility regulators before it is launched, which could be as soon as Jan. 1.

Summertime, with its heat waves, monster electric bills and crippling blackouts, may not seem like the best time for Con Ed to try to sell you on pricier power. But marketers at ConEdison Solutions, a subsidiary of the giant utility, are betting that, if they ask the right people, they'll find some willing to pay an average of $10 more a month to switch to wind power. "Despite the fact that everybody would like to pay less for their electricity, there are growing numbers of New Yorkers who are deeply passionate about the environment and want to do something about climate change," said Peter Blom, a ConEd Solutions manager.

Suppliers of mini-wind turbines and solar panels for the home have reported falls of up to 90 per cent in customer enquiries after the Government cut subsidies in May. While Energy minister Malcolm Wicks and Conservative leader David Cameron struggle with the vagaries of the UK's planning system (see below) to get their wind turbines erected, fewer ordinary households are now even bothering to apply.