White-nose snydrome has the potential to devastate bats, which also are dying from impacts with wind turbines, Whidden said Feb. 25 during a lecture at Penn State Hazleton. Even before the new threats appeared to the nine species of bats regularly seen in Pennsylvania, one of them, the Indiana bat, was on the federal endangered species list, and that state listed the small-footed bat as threatened.

The Portage Township supervisors are attempting to streamline the permitting process and reduce the local costs of having an on-lot residential or small-business wind turbine. A revamped ordinance based on an original statute adopted in 2005 will be advertised next week with plans for adoption in April, Supervisor Kenneth Trimbath said.

The company that wants to build more wind turbines in Butler Township filed an appeal Monday in Schuylkill County Court challenging changes to the ordinance trying to restrict them. Broad Mountain Development Co. LLC, Gilberton, alleged the township supervisors did not follow the prescribed legal procedure in purporting to enact amendments to the zoning ordinance, thereby making them invalid.

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."

"They stole our peace with a smile on their faces," says Judy. Hal has been speaking out about the unexpected noise problems from the newly erected turbines for a year now. The sound has been described as that of a jet engine taking off, an expressway, or the constant drone of a tractor. The Grahams say that leaseholders in Cohocton were told the sound of the turbines was likened to that of a refrigerator running, but that's not what they hear.

Although the publicity has died down, two large-scale industrial wind energy projects in northern Potter County are moving forward. Township governments have been adopting regulations that are accommodating to the wind turbines. By turning to the townships, wind developers have circumvented countywide regulations approved in 2008.

The Federal Aviation Administration is giving its OK to the proposed Shaffer Mountain Wind Farm, two months after voicing concerns that some turbines could potentially create problems for local airports. The FAA has issued a "determination of no hazard to air navigation" for the wind farm Gamesa USA wants to build on ridges along the Somerset-Bedford county line.

The Federal Aviation Administration says 15 of 30 wind turbines at a planned wind farm in southwestern Pennsylvania would not pose an aviation hazard as initially feared.

Roaring 40s is assessing a shock announcement from Canberra that the Federal Government will change its renewable energy scheme. Spokesman Steve Jackman said the business was reviewing the announcement before it could comment on the future of its $400 million Musselroe project.

"The more installations you get, the more the subsidies cost, and someone is paying for it," Lekander said. "If you take Denmark, it started to become very expensive for the state budget to pay these feed-in tariffs. You can't hide the fact that it costs money, whether it's the utility, finance ministry or the customer paying it. It will be interesting to see if wind power subsidies will really manage to be unchanged in Spain despite the problems there with the budget deficit."

The House gave final legislative approval on a 58-0 vote Tuesday. The Senate passed it Monday. House Bill 3680 was prompted by the growth in projects, particularly large wind-generating projects, spurred by an expanded business energy tax credit in 2007. The credits, which businesses subtract directly from state taxes owed, threatened to exceed budgeted estimates by $100 million or more in the current two-year cycle.

Australia's wind farm developments have ground to a halt, following a 40 per cent slump in the price of the renewable energy certificates that underwrite the industry. The flow-on effect to regional contractors and manufacturers reliant on wind farms has been devastating.

A wind farm's proposal to pay fees to DeKalb County in lieu of taxes found rejection Monday. "This was just the opening round in negotiations with Wind Capital" ...Wind Capital's proposed distribution of PILOT (payment of lieu of taxes) fees upset several school districts and other tax entities in DeKalb County.

The federal government has concluded that building two wind turbines with 120-foot-long propellers atop Turkey Point does not threaten eagles, other raptors or bats. But some birding groups that missed the opportunity to weigh in on the project when public comment was invited believe the environmental impact assessment is flawed.

During a visit to the Gamesa Wind USA plant in Ebensburg, Gov. Edward Rendell announced $22.8 million in grants through the stimulus program that will not only put people to work at Gamesa, but also will create another 257 jobs at three large-scale wind farms. Among the grants is a $10 million allocation to Iberdrola Renewables' South Chestnut wind project to install 23 two-megawatt turbines in Fayette County.

Workers applauded as Gov. Ed Rendell on Thursday made it official – all 79 employees laid off three months ago from a Cambria County wind-turbine plant are back at work. And Spain-based Gamesa U.S.A. will be able to hire an additional 50 workers at its Ebensburg-area plant.

Wyoming House of Representatives gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would impose the nation's first state excise tax on wind energy generation. ...Supporters said Wyoming should levy a wind generation tax to provide revenue for state and county governments and to provide regulatory certainty for the burgeoning wind industry.

Townspeople can learn the impact of a tax-incentive financing program for a proposed wind farm when a consultant presents information at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22, at Ludden Memorial Library. The board hired Eaton Peabody Consulting Group of Augusta in January to help decide whether it would be to the town's advantage to enter into a TIF.

The Joint Revenue Committee voted Monday morning to cut the proposed excise tax on wind energy from $3 per megawatt hour to $1 per megawatt hour. Committee members also voted not to collect any taxes until 2012 -- rather than 2011 as initially suggested -- and to not impose any excise taxes on a wind turbine until its third year of operation.