Dave Colling regrets having leased some of his farm near Ripley to a wind energy developer. Colling is part of a group of neighbours who signed a three-year lease in return for a fixed amount of money a year, plus a percentage of the profits once the project is underway. "If I knew then what I know now, I never would have signed up," said Colling, whose farm will have wind turbines as part of the second stage of development near Ripley. ...Colling urged anyone thinking of signing up with a wind development company to find out as much as possible.

When Dawn and Dean Wallace moved to Wolfe Island 17 years ago, they fell in love with the peaceful, slow pace of life in the rural community. It quickly became home and they planned to retire on the island. That has all changed. The couple feels that construction of one of Canada's largest wind-power projects has forced them out of the community and they're in the process of moving off the island ...The noise and dust from dozens of trucks and heavy pieces of equipment moving past their property, at times starting as early as 4 a. m., made life almost unbearable.

In the wake of the province's refusal of the environmental assessment for the Glen Dhu Wind Farm, the company that intends to erect 30 turbines announced Saturday that it was moving the turbines further from houses in Bailey's Brook. The four turbines along the project's westernmost border - just behind homes in Bailey's Brook - will be shuffled from the area where they were originally supposed to go and instead placed in another section of the farm. The company will also increase the setback from homes in that area to 1.4 kilometres.

Companies proposing wind turbine projects in Prince Edward County will now face opposition from a much larger provincial group. People behind the Alliance to Protect Prince Edward County (APPEC), a group formed to oppose six proposed wind farms, announced Tuesday they have joined a new lobby group called Wind Concerns Ontario. The group is a collection of 22 citizens groups across the province who oppose an Ontario government mandate to replace coal generating power plants with windmill projects.

An overcrowded meeting room forced Toronto Hydro officials to cancel an information meeting last night about a proposed wind study in Lake Ontario off the Scarborough shoreline. Toronto Hydro Energy Services wants to find out if there's enough wind 2 to 4 kilometres offshore to justify planting about 60 big wind turbines in the lake. Close to 200 people crowded into a meeting room at Christ Church on Markham Rd. ...Many who came to the meeting had serious reservations about the proposal. "This is the wrong place," said Roy Wright, who lives in the Scarborough bluffs overlooking the proposed study area.

As the government of P.E.I. prepares plans to triple wind-power generation on the Island, grassroots opposition to the developments is growing. Many of those wind turbines are planned for West Prince, the area that currently has the largest wind energy production in the province. Monday night, about two dozen West Prince residents gathered to discuss strategies for lobbying the province to take more care about where the turbines are placed.

A proposal to erect a 65-metre wind turbine near the peak of Grouse Mountain will be going before District of North Vancouver council Monday night. If approved, the tower will be visible from much of North Vancouver and other parts of the Lower Mainland. The 21-storey structure (34 storeys to the tip of the blade) is slated to begin operating at the top of Peak Mountain next to the Heaven's Sake ski run in 2009.

Wind power could be the central plank of a new provincial plan to make B.C. energy self-sufficient by 2016. But critics cited environmental and land-use concerns during a forum at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention today.

Tempers ran high as roughly 40 residents showed up at a public information session last night to oppose the development of a wind farm in Bailey's Brook. One by one residents filed into the Lismore Community Centre. They pulled up a chair and waited for the show to begin. "I'm not leaving until I get answers," said Linda McCallum. However, many homeowners left the session two hours later none the wiser. Their anger was amplified when they realized no representative from Shear Wind Inc, the company responsible for the project, was at the open house.

Skeptics in the crowd scanned visuals of wind farms proposed for Prince Edward County on display last night and said the only thing green about them is the money the proponent stands to make. Others came to a public meeting at the Crystal Palace eager to learn more ...Gilead Power Corp. unveiled more details of its plans to erect up to 12 turbines in an area west of Ostrander Point Road. Gilead is one of several companies exploring the county for wind turbine potential.

The wind farm proposed for Amherst Island could approach the size of one of the largest such facilities in Canada, now under construction on Wolfe Island. Kingston-based Gaia Power Inc. is developing the Amherst Island wind-power project, called Windlectric, in conjunction with Oakville-based Algonquin Power Management Inc. The project is expected to produce a maximum of 200 megawatts ...The Wolfe Island project, slated for 198 megawatts, includes 86 turbines.

Jim Vanden Hoek, the mayor of the Township of Frontenac Islands, may not have realized how his words would be taken when referring to the centre of wind turbines development on Wolfe Island as "ground zero" at the public wind energy meeting at the Picton Arena Wednesday night. "I'm seeing a lot of shaking of heads, just bear with me," he said as he presented to a crowd of over 200 people who, judging by their comments and questions, appeared largely against wind farm development in Prince Edward. He pointed to a green map of Wolfe Island dotted with red.

It was a full house in Norwich council chambers Tuesday morning as concerned community members and a representative from Prowind Canada addressed council about the controversial and potential Gunn's Hill wind farm. Council was asked to weigh both sides of the debate, with the opposition requesting a moratorium on any further development until a decision is reached. They were also reminded municipalities have the right to enforce the setback distance of their choice.

The Alberta Utilities Commission's approval Tuesday of the proposed Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. line was the final Canadian permit needed for the 240-kV AC line, which would interconnect electricity markets and carry 300 MW north and south. The commission said the proposed line satisfied its conditions, including a process for negotiating disputes with landowners. ...Wind farm developers in Alberta and Montana have fully subscribed the line for marketing power both north and south.

Mike Jablonicky surveyed the barge, long as a football field, where the enormous pieces of one of Wolfe Island's wind turbine sat waiting to be unloaded on long trailer beds. The third of 86 turbines to erected at the island's west end arrived yesterday by barge, pulled up the St. Lawrence River by tugboat from Ogdensburg, NY, where they are being shipped from Denmark.

On June 4, 2008, the Minister of Tourism confirmed the province's approval for the Wolfe Island Wind Project. Premier Dalton McGuinty asked the Minister to step in when the Environment Minister declared a conflict-of-interest on May 29, 2008. Controversy over the Wolfe Island Wind Project centres on the location of a handful of the 86-wind turbines that Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation hopes to build on the island later this year.

Wind turbines are turning neighbour against neighbour and Essex town council is caught in the middle. Farmers who have signed property leases for wind turbine projects spoke of them at a special meeting Monday as a renewable energy of the future that should be embraced. Those who will see and hear the 120-metre-high turbines -- but won't be paid for the experience -- told council they fear negative impacts on their quality of life, including disturbed sleep and declining property values.

Fears that a scenic lookout point on the top of Nuttby Mountain would be ruined by the installation of a huge wind turbine have been laid to rest. Clair Peers, president of Cobequid Wind Power, a development partner in the Nuttby Mountain project, confirmed Thursday afternoon that a turbine would not be constructed on the mountain's highest point. "The thing is with this particular high spot is it's just not a stable enough location," said Peers. He did say, however, there would most likely be a windmill constructed near the peak, but was unsure exactly how close it would be.

One of those concerned resident is Paul Barriault who doesn't feel people are getting complete information. "Don't get me wrong," he stressed. "I don't think people are being misinformed, they are not being properly informed, and I think they should have more information." He has a long list of concerns involving health, the impact on the water table and the environment. "People aren't fully aware of the impacts these industrial wind farms have on a local community, when they are so close to their homes," said Mr. Barriault. ...Presently there are no guidelines or regulations in New Brunswick regarding setbacks for wind farms from residential areas.