Residents of Snowflake need to educate themselves about the various aspects of wind and solar farms, including pluses and minuses. In his report to the Snowflake councilors at their Sept. 22 meeting, Town Manager Paul Watson brought that issue to their attention. "I'd like to talk about economic development, most especially wind and solar farms," he said. ..."Gary Gumbel, a local resident, is concerned about the issue and is trying to get a letter out to people in the area. I have similar concerns about some of the sentiments he relayed. I'm not saying no, but we need to be made aware of what is proposed as well as the economic advantages and disadvantages."

"People are distraught over something that's not even specified. It's not fair to the people, it's not fair to the watershed, it's just not fair to us and it's not appropriate," said Kathy Hemenway, who has been actively organizing citizens who live near the proposed energy farms. Another audience member noted, "We need a specific plan. We don't want to hear ‘maybes.' I don't think you should get any permits until we have specific site plans."

Environmental protection activists and proponents of the mining industry have collided over the U.S. Department of the Interior's recent decision to protect nearly one million acres of land near Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims ...Popovich said the demand for clean, carbon-neutral energy sources cannot be met without disturbing the environment and regulations should seek to minimize and remediate disturbances without banning them altogether. "A single wind turbine requires 4.7 tons of copper," Popovich said. "A typical hybrid vehicle on the road today needs about 100 pounds of lithium and other rare Earth metals to make its battery.

Wind developers are proposing to build the first major wind farm near Flagstaff on a cattle ranch about 22 miles southeast of the city. Foresight Wind Energy is proposing to install 130 to 330 large turbines on the Flying M Ranch east of Mormon Lake and tie into federally owned power lines. In all, the proposed project could cover 55 square miles.

The Sunzia Group held a scoping meeting on Wednesday to discuss potential routes for its projected high-voltage power lines that may run through the Valley. Several representatives from the Bureau of Land Management, including Adrian Garcia, the project manager for the BLM, were present to answer questions about the effect the project would have on local lands.

Thirty big wind machines rising off a little-used highway between Holbrook and Heber are a curiosity for now in a state that lags its neighbors in alternative energy. But that soon will change. The 412-foot turbines, Arizona's first, will begin sending energy to Salt River Project customers later this year, and many more turbines are on the way.

The Mohave County supervisors will hold a special workshop Monday to discuss renewable energy projects in the county. ...The workshop comes on the heels of an announcement last week by Albiasa Corporation on plans to build a 200-megawatt solar power plant on 1,400 acres off Highway 93, about 40 miles south of Interstate 40.

A Flagstaff company that makes small wind turbines for homes, commercial buildings and even sailboats has laid off more than 10 percent of its staff because of the slowing economy. Southwest Windpower laid off 14 workers at its Flagstaff manufacturing plant on Friday.

Renewable energy companies are putting more emphasis on developing public land for utility-scale projects, and both the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona State Land Department are seeing an uptick in the number of applications. BLM officials are planning to open four offices in the West, including one in Phoenix, to handle the growing demand for renewable energy projects - particularly solar and wind developments.

Last week, the Bureau of Land Management authorized the establishment of special offices in Wyoming and other Western states to expedite that renewable energy development on federal public lands. BLM officials said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne issued a Secretarial Order on Friday that will allow the agency to establish coordination offices in Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada.

A San Diego company that owns Southern California utilities is considering building a wind energy park on the western Navajo Nation, near Cameron, and has been in talks with chapter officials there. Sempra Energy has five wind-testing meters installed on Gray Mountain, to study the wind there. "Gray Mountain is a particularly good site and has some of the best wind resources in Arizona," said company spokesman Hanan Eisenman.

Wind power may have as much potential as those ads on television promise, but don't expect to see giant turbines dwarfing saguaros on the skyline of the Sonoran Desert. Experts call the wind in Southern Arizona "marginal", and say Arizona overall has few hot spots for wind power. ...The wind, contrary to how we may feel in the breezy spring or during a monsoon storm, doesn't blow reliably in Arizona. Still, industry leaders say, Arizona has the potential for utility-scale wind generation in selected areas .

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Safford Field Office is continuing to assess the Dry Lake Wind Project in Navajo County. The BLM issued its Environmental Assessment (EA) and unsigned Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on February 12 and was available for public review through March 28. Many public comments on the 200-page EA were submitted, all of which required careful review and consideration. "The BLM supports renewable energy development on public lands," said BLM Safford Field Manager Scott Cooke. "At the same time we must ensure that all environmental and socioeconomic concerns are addressed in our analysis, and this takes time."

Salt River Project has agreed to purchase electrical energy from Arizona's first wind energy farm to be built about 18 miles northwest of Snowflake. The 20-year contract between SRP and the builder, Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables, is considered a significant development in the ongoing drive for renewable energy sources in Arizona. Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes, who has been critical of SRP as well as Arizona Public Service for using out-of-state renewable electrical power, praised SRP's decision to purchase the first wind-driven energy produced in the Grand Canyon State.

Western Wind Energy Corporation, based out of Vancouver, has purchased 1,128 and leased more than 22,000 acres of land to the southwest of Kingman in anticipation of building Steel Park, a wind turbine farm that, once completed, is expected to generate up to 215 megawatts of electricity annually ...Western Wind has already applied for zoning and permitting to begin construction of the project. The first 15 megawatts of the project is expected to cost approximately $33 million, $6.2 million of which Western Wind has already invested. Salama said the project would begin construction within the next three to five years.

Rancher Dennis Maroney points to one of the sites proposed for anemometers on his ranch in McNeal. Clipper Windpower plans to determine the feasibility of a wind farm by installing the anemometers to measure wind speed and direction. On Wednesday, the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a work session to discuss the ins and outs of wind farms. "This is a fragile area," said Maroney as he tapped on the second "x." "The higher elevations of the mountains are not a good location for wind turbines." He worries about the environmental damage that could occur if a wind turbine power generating installation goes up in the high slopes. Road construction alone could cause irreparable damage. ...So just what are the regulations concerning the construction of wind turbine power generating projects? That's one of the questions that the Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission will be asking at Wednesday's work session on wind power prompted by Clipper Windpower's excursion into the county. And they have asked some leaders in the renewable energy industry to come and talk about the in's and out's of wind turbines.

Chapter residents approved a resolution Sunday supporting Independent Power Projects Inc.'s plan to conduct a feasibility study for a wind farm to be located atop Gray Mountain, and asking the Navajo Nation Council to support the chapter-based effort. "We're just giving them the OK to do the feasibility study. That's it. If there's going to be all those wind turbines that's going to be put up, then we're going to negotiate with that company just like we're doing with IPP," Colorado said. ..."If we're going to do a wind farm out here, we're going to do one that can serve the community," he said. If they're not going to provide power to the community, "they're out of the picture."

The hills of the Mule Mountains may become a test site for the first wind turbine generating plant in the county. Clipper Windpower has confirmed that negotiations are under way for land in the development of a small test site of around six propeller-style wind turbines. The company hopes to lease an unspecified number of acres that are owned by the State Land Department in the area of Davis Road and High Lonesome Road. Company officials also are talking to one landowner in the area hoping to secure a portion of that land as well. ...[Jim] Alexander has formed Save the Mule Mountains to mount opposition to the wind project. "Since that time we have been very busy trying to obtain all the information we can on wind power facilities," Alexander said. "The wind maps and studies indicate that for Cochise County the only viable locations for wind generating facilities are the ridge lines of the mountains.

The Arizona Republic reported that the windmills, standing 400 feet tall, would be erected as part of an agreement between the Navajo Nation and Citizens Energy, a Boston company. The Dine Wind Project would be the first commercial wind farm in the Grand Canyon State, the newspaper said. The agreement resulted from negotiations among Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., other key tribal officials and Citizens Energy Chairman Joseph Kennedy II, a former member of Congress.

WASHINGTON - The House rejected a resolution Wednesday that would block government plans to spur construction of major new power lines in many states regardless of local opposition. The issue has been contentious in parts of the East Coast and in the Southwest, where two high priority transmission corridors for power lines were proposed. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., warned colleagues that unwanted power lines could come to their district.