KTVO has discovered a conflict of interest in the Sullivan County wind project. Commissioner James Howard is on the list of landowners that stand to profit financially from having a wind mill on their property. Plus, KTVO has obtained an eight-pages of document show that Howard and his wife Linda signed a lease option agreement on the Shuteye Creek Wind Project. Howard confirmed that he has an interest in the project.

Officials in Sullivan County agree a wind farm would be a positive addition, but they don't agree on how much they should do to accommodate the company that would bring it there. The county commission wants to create an enhanced enterprise zone to give Tradewind Energy the tax incentives they say they need. County Clerk Mike Hepler and Assessor Karen LaFever say the enhanced enterprise zone would leave the county short changed. "To sell out too cheap is not representing the public interest, it's representing the private interest. I was elected to represent the public interest," Hepler says.

Landowners in Sullivan and Adair Counties stand to make a lot of money if Tradewind Energy decides to go ahead with the Shuteye Creek Wind Project and build wind turbines on their land. However, the company won't build if it doesn't win a contract with Ameren UE, and the development manager says they can't win the contract without some big tax breaks. Wednesday the Sullivan County Commission held a meeting to discuss just how many tax incentives it wants to give the company. Some elected officials were torn between bringing in the new business and giving away the tax base.

Local voters approved a law in 2004 that requires Water and Light to devote part of its energy portfolio to renewable sources such as wind or landfill gas. The law requires that 2 percent of the city’s electricity come from renewables by 2008. Power from the wind farm should account for about 1 percent of the city’s output, a spokeswoman for the city utility said. The city should start receiving energy from Bluegrass Ridge early next year. "I’m proud of Columbia for its commitment to sustainable, renewable energy," Mayor Darwin Hindman said. "This city already has had a good record of programs dedicating to conserving energy, … but that will only go so far."

KING CITY, Mo. - When one of northwest Missouri's leading employers decided to shutter a nearby manufacturing plant and ship 220 jobs to Mexico, the move was only the latest economic blow to a region accustomed to bad news. From a steadily dwindling population to the well-documented decline of family farms, hard times have been the norm all too often in the cluster of Missouri counties along the Nebraska and Iowa borders. Then came promises of economic salvation - or at least a step in the right direction - in the unlikely guise of a sharp-dressed St. Louis lawyer and scion of the one of the state's most prominent political families. His remedy was simple: look up to the sky. Farmers who once relied upon hogs or soybeans to make ends meet are now harvesting wind energy. By next year, more than 100 towering turbines are expected to rise above the skyline in Atchison, Gentry and Nodaway counties, generating enough electricity to power 45,000 homes across the state as part of Missouri's first set of commercial wind farms.

Lipp Properties has received a $20,537 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for two wind turbines the company plans to install. Lipp Properties is an orchard and livestock farm on 18 acres just outside Edwardsville to the northeast, owner Terry Lipp said Tuesday. He bought the property in January.

Renewable energy advocates are providing consumers with ways to lend their financial support to the cause. Renewable energy certificates, also called “green tags,” are being sold across the United States by several companies that produce alternative energy. Some of these companies own wind farms; others own a variety of renewable energy sources. Customers of the Boone Electric Cooperative will soon be able to purchase renewable energy certificates for electricity from the Bluegrass Ridge wind farm in northwest Missouri. The certificates come in 100 kilowatt-hour blocks, and cost $2 more per block than conventional electricity. Al Lynch, assistant manager of Boone Electric Cooperative, said most members use an average of 1,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month. Replacing all that electricity with wind power would cost an extra $22 per month, he said.

Also, Ameren said it would develop at least 100 megawatts of wind power and launch a program allowing customers to support additional development of wind power and other forms of renewable energy.