The Benton County Quorum Court should consider adopting regulations for wind farms before any more developers seek to construct them, said Benton County Planning Director Ashley Pope. ...The proposed ordinance will address turbines' shadows and how shadow movements affect neighbors' quality of life. Other issues include creating buffers, controlling noise and protecting areas around historic sites.

Washington County Planning Director Juliet Richey says she has recently received inquiries concerning wind farms. "We've had a couple people approach us about wind farms," Richey told the Planning Board Thursday. While nothing firm has been proposed to go before the Washington County Planning Board & Zoning Board of Adjustments, Richey talked about the need to research wind farms and come up with some guidelines for them.

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.

It's too soon to say how members of the Arkansas Property Rights Association will view the project, said Don Day, the group's president. "I doubt there will be a lot of opposition," he said. "I would think the people of Arkansas would recognize the need for alternative forms of energy. I think they would probably approve it." On the other hand, he said, environmentalists don't want the wind towers in their own backyard. Dan Scheiman, bird conservation director for Audubon Arkansas, said the group would keep a close eye on the project. "The National Audubon Society is in favor of wind farm energy. But our stance is, wind farms need to be properly sited and need to be sure there's not an extreme amount of take," he said, referring to birds being misplaced, killed or their habitats negatively affected.

Crowder College officials say they are awaiting the delivery of computer hardware parts before the college's wind turbine can finally be functional. Exactly when that will be, however, hasn't been pinpointed. The plain fact of the matter is, it's risky to say, according to Dan Eberle, interim director of Crowder's MARET Center. As far back as January, it was hoped the turbine would be spinning within a few weeks. Many months later, the wind machine's three 750-pound blades remain still. ...Mounted on a 124-foot tower, the prominently visible 65-kilowatt turbine needs a replacement logic board, Eberle said, as well as new sensors.

The Gentry County wind farm's turbines are undergoing refurbishment in a national retrofitting program initiated after manufacturer Suzlon Energy Limited found cracks in the blades of its S-88 wind turbines. ...The national retrofit program calls for the strengthening of 1,251 wind turbine blades, 930 of which had been installed by March, according to a press release. During repairs, Suzlon will employ temporary replacement blades to minimize the time wind turbines stand inoperable.

A committee charged with determining what kind of tax incentives Sullivan County should offer a wind energy committee has been delayed. They were supposed to offer their recommendations to the county commission late last month, but scheduling conflicts got in the way. Presiding Commissioner Chris May tells KTVO he expects to hear from the committee in the next few weeks. May hopes wind energy will help with economic development in Sullivan County, it the same way it's benefitting other rural communites.

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.

Here in this northwest Missouri farm town, 27 industrial wind turbines have been generating more than electricity -- health concerns, a federal lawsuit and a family feud, for starters. The wind industry, which produces about 1 percent of the nation's energy, has gained considerable purchase in the U.S, growing by 45 percent last year. ...Now come claims that industrial windmills cause what one researcher calls "wind turbine syndrome," a range of symptoms that include headaches, anxiety, sleep problems and dizziness in some people who live close by. "It's like someone swinging a rope over your head," says Gentry County horse breeder Charlie Porter of the several wind turbines within about 2,000 feet of his home near King City.

At 265 feet tall, four gleaming white wind turbines tower over the tiny farm town of Rock Port, Missouri, like a landing of alien intruders. But despite their imposing presence and the stark contrast with the rolling pastures and corn fields, the turbines have received a warm welcome here. ...Last year, a record 3,100 turbines were installed across 34 U.S. states and another 2,000 turbines are now under construction from California to Massachusetts. In all, there are about more than 25,000 U.S. turbines in operation, an investment of $15 billion. On May 12, the U.S. Energy Department said wind power could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030, or 304 gigawatts, up from the current 16.8 gigawatts. Achieving that will require that wind turbine installations rise to almost 7,000 a year by 2017, the department said.

It's going to be a longer commute for people heading out of town Friday evening. A truck carrying part of a large wind turbine damaged some girders at the Highway 60 and 65 interchange around ten Friday morning. It was traveling westbound on Highway 60 and cleared the first overpass on 65. But it hit the southbound bridge because the clearance is slightly lower on that side.

Kacprowicz said the city is on a learning curve with implementing renewable sources of energy and is still finding out how much the wind power fluctuates and what to expect. Added to the uncertainty is that Columbia wasn't guaranteed transmission of the power it was contracted to purchase from the wind farm until Feb. 1 because of overloaded transmission lines, Kacprowicz said. Once the city was guaranteed transmission of its wind power in February, it was notified that 11 of the 27 turbines at the wind farm were out of service because of cracked blades, which reduced the amount of power Columbia received.

The wind energy company founded by Tom Carnahan is getting a $150 million investment from Ireland-based NTR PLC - a financial boost that Carnahan says will help transform Wind Capital Group LLC. NTR will provide cash and supply 150 megawatts of wind turbines for delivery to Wind Capital in 2010, Carnahan said in an interview. In return, NTR will get an undisclosed stake in the company. ...Earlier this week, Wind Capital agreed to sell a 400-megawatt wind farm site in southern Minnesota to a subsidiary of Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy Corp. In December, the company sold a 200-megawatt wind farm site in Iowa to Alliant.

Two brothers-in-law, a country road in northwest Missouri, a fistfight ...Surely it's happened before, but probably never over wind energy. ...At the heart of the dispute: Just how healthy is the noise from wind turbines? ...In Rock County, Union Township residents studied medical and scientific research for months before drafting their wind ordinance, which says a setback of at least a half-mile from inhabited structures is needed to avoid health problems. Tom Alisankus, chairman of the committee that drafted the ordinance, said committee members found in their research that the state of Wisconsin had no medical or scientific data to back a model ordinance with a 1,000-foot setback. Proposed legislation that would have allowed the state's Public Service Commission to set statewide siting standards failed to reach a vote before the session ended last month. Doctors in other countries, including Canada, England, France, Australia and New Zealand, have written papers about similar illnesses in people who live near wind farms. ..."Does noise bother people differently? Absolutely," said Smith, the area audiologist. "It can have a very debilitating effect." But, he said, before anyone can conclude that the wind turbines are harmful, a major study must be done.

The Gentry County Commission will rely on a technicality in its fight against a civil lawsuit surrounding a new wind farm. Charles Allen Porter filed the federal court lawsuit in late March against the commission and Associate Commissioner Gary Carlson. Mr. Porter alleged that Mr. Carlson assaulted him over his opposition to the Bluegrass Ridge Wind Farm located near King City. He also said the facility has harmed his family, destroyed his property and caused him to lose sleep. Several wind turbines are located within 2,000 feet of Mr. Porter's property. ..."Because plaintiff has failed to properly serve process upon the county, the court is without jurisdiction over the county," Mr. Coronado said. The only other means of proper service would have been through the county clerk, he said. Attorney Charles Speer said he intends to serve the county, this time ensuring Mr. Dollars and the county clerk's office receive the paperwork.

Last year, 400-foot-tall wind turbines were erected near King City, some less than 2,000 feet from Charlie Porter's house on his small acreage. Soon the sounds from the blades swooshing through the air and other noise were driving Porter and his family crazy, he said. "The sound gets in your head like a saw and you can't get rid of it," Porter said. "Some people compare it to a train that never arrived." Porter's complaints upset his brother-in-law, a Gentry County commissioner who helped bring the wind farm and new economy to the area, as well as others. In February, it spilled over into a fistfight between them, then a lawsuit. At the heart of the dispute: Just how healthy is the noise from wind turbines? ...One researcher calls it "wind turbine syndrome," a collection of symptoms that include headaches, anxiety attacks and high blood pressure. Doctors in some other countries have done research on people who live near turbines and say the sounds they emit make them sick. Several researchers suggest that turbines should be set back from homes, schools and hospitals by more than a mile.

Charles Speer, a Kansas City attorney representing Mr. Porter, noted the family relationships involved and offered his initial goals for the case. "My intent is to calm tensions" and find a resolution to the dispute, he said. He said his client opposed the wind farm from the very start and has researched the health impacts of the facilities. According to the lawsuit, Charles Porter and his family - including an 11-year-old daughter - have suffered from a strobe light the towers emit twice daily, loud noise caused by the turbines, destruction of property, loss of sleep, and other factors linked to the project.

Five petitions that would change Missouri law concerning renewable energy resources have met the standards for circulation, according to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's office. ...The full text of all the proposed ballot measures will be available on the Secretary of State's website at www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2008petitions/08init_pet.asp.

Kansas City Power & Light has tabled plans to build in 2008 its second 100-megawatt wind farm, citing difficulties in getting financing. The wind farm was promised by KCP&L as part of a comprehensive energy plan that included the coal-fired Iatan 2 plant, under construction near Weston. The plan, announced last March by the utility and the Sierra Club, was hailed as the first of its kind and included building 400 megawatts of wind energy by 2012. The utility, which this week acknowledged construction cost overruns at Iatan 2, is putting off the wind project at a time when other utilities are stepping up their wind-energy construction. The decision also means KCP&L won't take advantage of federal wind energy tax credits that expire at the end of the year.