Vail Resorts will not install wind turbines atop its slopes or use direct wind energy to power its chair lifts. Instead, it will purchase from Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy renewable-energy credits equal to the amount of electricity it uses.

Wind farms could be more valuable to local communities than riverboat casinos, but not if they don't pay their fair share of local property taxes. "The ones we've looked at, on average, the state is assessing each windmill an average of $1 million," said accountant Gregory Guerrettaz, president of Financial Solutions Group in Indianapolis. "So right there, you could be losing a differential of $4 million on taxes during the life of that windmill."

Speculation the project could end up “dead in the water” intensified when Swedish company Vattenfall – Europe’s sixth-largest generator of electricity – announced plans to put its 75 per cent stake in the venture up for sale.

“Margins and pricing continue to remain pressured across the sector which, along with policy uncertainty such as the renewal of the U.S.’s production tax credit, have weighed on the wind industry.” James Evans, solar and wind analyst at Bloomberg Industries.

Danish wind turbine group Vestas is still mulling its options over how to restructure its US manufacturing operations, but says confidence is growing over prospects of an extension to a key tax-credit for the industry.

Canadian investors looking for exposure to the booming alternative energy sector have a handful of domestic players to choose from, but the local pickings are pretty slim and most of the companies are small. So why not look overseas, to one of the green behemoths that has sprung up on the international scene? ...The fast-growing U.S. wind power industry, driven by favourable government tax policy, is Vestas' largest current market. ...Some analysts are also urging caution over Vestas' high price. "We find the shares are fundamentally overvalued," said analyst Christian Nagstrup of Jyske Bank, a Danish financial institution. The biggest risk he sees at Vestas is a bottleneck in getting parts to build the turbines. Subcontractors have been slow in delivering key components, and that could slow delivery of complete turbines, Mr. Nagstrup said in a recent report.

Wind-turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems made its largest Colorado job cut Thursday, laying off about 200 workers at its Windsor blade plant. The cuts represent 29 percent of the plant's workforce. Vestas also had laid off workers at plants in Brighton and Pueblo.

ALBANY -- One of the first veto battles of this year's legislative session may start today as observers predict Gov. George Pataki will nix a proposal to shift control of some $200 million worth of utility surcharges from a state agency to the Legislature.

ALBANY — Among his 202 budget vetoes, Gov. George Pataki blocked a move by the Legislature to take control of grant money earmarked to spur renewable energy projects around the state.

During the last night of the 2008 Minnesota Legislative session, Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed the wind energy production tax revenue proposal for Minnesota's rural school districts. Pawlenty held a gun to the head - figuratively speaking - of legislators, threatening to veto the property tax relief bill if the wind energy production tax revenue provision was in the bill. "I was in Southland that day visiting with Gary Kuphal for our regular superintendents' meeting," Brown recalled. "Here I was driving up and down Mower County roads and everywhere I went there were wind turbines, generating electricity from the wind. "When I heard the news, I literally got sick to my stomach," Brown said. "Districts like Grand Meadow and Southland were about to lose again."

If Congress passes legislation to roll back nearly $18 billion in tax breaks for large oil companies, advisers to President Bush will recommend a veto, the White House said Tuesday. ...The oil companies would have to pay an additional $17.65 billion in federal taxes over 10 years under the proposed changes, according to an analysis by the House Ways and Means Committee. The White House, in a statement sent to Congress on Tuesday, said the bill "would use the tax code to target tax increases on a specific industry in a way that will lead to higher energy costs to consumers and businesses." "If this legislation is presented to the president in its current form, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," said the statement.

But Mr Davis said his party was unconvinced by the merits of the VRET and saw it as nothing more than a vehicle to raise energy costs to consumers and implement new taxes. He said the VRET largely relied on wind energy, which was unreliable and a poor vehicle for achieving the targets.

Most of the comments submitted to Franklin County commissioners prior to their vote this week approving a tax break for TransCanada's wind farm appear to oppose the deal, a review of the documents reveals. Commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved creation of a $9 million, 20- year tax break for TransCanada's 44-turbine project to be built in the unorganized Kibby and Skinner townships near the Canadian border. The debate over the tax issue elicited dozens of letters, public comments, emails and phone calls to the three commissioners and to the county office. ...Under the TIF, out of TransCanada's $22.2 million property taxes over 20 years, a maximum of $9 million will be returned to the company and Maine's Unorganized Territory will receive $9.3 million.

WESTPORT — Town Meeting voters in May will be asked to allocate more than $100,000 to purchase and construct twin wind turbines behind Town Hall and the police station. The 100-foot towers each would take up the equivalent of about one parking space behind the municipal buildings on Main Road. The turbines are expected to cost $54,000 each, but according to a report from the town’s Alternative Energy Committee would pay for themselves in four years or less. The cost of the turbines could be partially reimbursable with a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the committee learned. Grants of more than $42,000 per wind turbine are available.