Facing a worsening crunch in the supply of electricity, soaring prices, and rolling blackouts, top New England utility officials are thinking about some once-unthinkable solutions: more coal and nuclear power.

FAIRHAVEN - The members of WindWise Fairhaven say they're not against wind power - they just don't want a windmill near their bike path. Members of the citizen's group and a selectman candidate voiced concerns about wind turbines to about 20 citizens at a meeting in the Fire Station last night. "I, too, am worried about global warming. I saw Al Gore's movie. But we need to look into this more. I have a lot of concerns," said selectman candidate Ann Ponichtera DeNardis. The group is concerned about the impact that two industrial turbines would have on the Little Bay Area.

The developer behind the Fairhaven wind turbines is abandoning the special permit granted earlier this year but not the project, according to a letter sent to the town last week. CCI Energy will now work with the town on how to restructure the project using the recently enacted Green Communities Act in order to provide the greatest benefit to the town, according to James Sweeney, CCI's president.

The Falmouth Board of Selectmen and the Falmouth Finance Committee held a joint April 4 meeting and unanimously stood by the selectmen's prior vote to remove the town's wind turbines, despite receiving none of their requested financial assistance from the state to do so. The latest estimate is that it will cost the town about $14 million to remove both Wind 1 and Wind 2.

The three articles collectively ask town meeting members to: appropriate money to cover debt obligations the town holds for construction and maintenance costs; fund the dismantling and disposal or relocation of the turbines; and supplement the fiscal 2013 and 2014 operating budget as necessary due to the turbines being curtailed or shut down.

Picture 400 super-size windmills spinning in a steady, stiff ocean breeze just beyond the horizon off the Washington coast, generating enough electricity to supply the needs of Seattle and Tacoma. Now picture thousands of similar windmills off California, New England, the mid-Atlantic, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Even as Congress is embroiled in a sharp debate over whether to allow increased offshore oil and gas drilling, others are seriously working to develop a green source of energy along the outer continental shelf.

South Dakota landowners interested in leasing their property to wind-energy developers should have an interest in bills to be presented to the State Affairs Committee on Thursday afternoon. Three bills that the State Affairs Committee has scheduled for testimony ...State Rep. Mitch Fargen, D-Flandreau, has proposed adding several new requirements and restrictions to state law in HB 1268 that are intended to protect landowners.

"We would rather the market prevail," said Dave Holthaus, lobbyist for Kansas Electric Cooperatives. "If indeed wind energy is cost effective, we'll be buying it like any other utility."

A coalition of farmers, consumer groups and corporations want the state to adopt a standard that would require Indiana utilities to produce 10 percent of Indiana's electricity with renewable energy by 2016.

In a typically airless conference room in downtown Baltimore yesterday, the Public Service Commission fast-tracked a proposal for a wind farm in Western Maryland. "Fast," though, is a relative term given that developers have as long as three years to start construction and five for the first turbine to actually start harnessing those mountain breezes and turning them into electricity.

Now that Plum Creek's controversial development plan for Moosehead Lake has been approved by the Land Use Regulation Commission, the state planning agency is turning its attention to another controversial subject: wind. Today LURC heard advice from state officials, environmental groups and members of the public about how to proceed with an expedited permitting process for siting wind projects.

Shooting the breeze could take on a whole new meaning for Delaware lawmakers when they convene Tuesday for this year’s legislative session. The fate of a proposal to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm off the Delaware coast could rest with the legislature, after representatives of four state agencies last month postponed a final decision on the project. “It’s going to be one of the most important decisions we make for the state of Delaware,” said House Speaker Terry Spence, R-New Castle.

Utilities, private contractors and entrepreneurs know how to build wind farms. They can evaluate wind potential, negotiate easements with farmers and ranchers, construct 230-foot tall towers topped with 131-foot blades, and put electricity on the grid if there's access to transmission lines. What they can't do is chart a clear path to the future for wind energy because it will be greatly influenced by decisions made in Washington, D.C. For now, there is no comprehensive national energy policy.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been leaving about 10,000 computers switched on overnight. ...This means the overnight powering of FCO computers in a year has been roughly equivalent to the average annual output of a 1.7Mw wind turbine, or the electricity usage of several hundred homes. ..."It has been our assessment that the risk of lost productivity and the risk to national security that this policy avoids outweighed its cost," said Munn in the answer given on 15 September.

ACROSS Britain, cities are plunged into darkness. In London, the Underground grinds to a halt, leaving panicked commuters stranded in oppressively hot carriages. In office blocks, lifts stop operating and the air-conditioning shuts down. Employees swelter in stifling conditions. This is not the postapocalyptic vision of some film-maker, but a realistic scenario as Britain grapples with a looming energy crisis. The statistics are frightening. In only eight years, demand for energy could outstrip supply by 23% at peak times, according to a study by the consultant Logica CMG. The loss to the economy could be £108 billion each year.

The building of a third nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast could be forced through as part of a major Government shake-up of the planning system, environmental campaigners warned last night. A White Paper is set to be released by the Government next week which is expected to outline plans to overhaul the planning process for new developments. The Government is likely to publish eight national statements of policy - relating to nuclear power plants, nuclear waste disposal plants, airports, motorways, waste incinerators, wind farms, ports and reservoirs - which will give the green light to site-specific projects considered to be of national importance.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering eliminating most public oversight of wind turbine impacts on protected bald and golden eagles by offering developers 30-year permits to kill eagles by accident, as opposed to the current 5-year permits. What's more, they're shaping the implementation of that proposed policy change in a series of private "stakeholders'" meetings to which the public is not invited.

Tensions are building between the struggling U.S. offshore wind industry and the federal agency that oversees it. Industry leaders worry that a new federal program designed to spark offshore wind construction could end up killing proposals that have been in the works for years.

Political leaders from both parties have often said Nevada is in a race with other states to attract renewable energy projects. Solar, wind and geothermal energy production represent the very future of Nevada's economy, they say. Despite the bold talk, state government has lagged behind surrounding states in applying for millions in federal stimulus dollars for renewable energy and energy conservation projects.

Suddenly flush with cash, the Energy Department was under orders to ramp up quickly and get money out to promising companies. The administration tapped industry players to take on key Energy Department roles, both as agency staffers and outside advisers on agency boards.