Wind turbines slated for land in and north of Palm Springs gained momentum Wednesday when the City Council rejected the latest set of appeals from opponents of the Dillon Wind Project. The project, proposed by Oregon-based PPM Energy, would place five 327-foot turbines in the city and 40 additional turbines in unincorporated land north of Palm Springs and west of Desert Hot Springs. The Planning Commission approved the five turbines May 23 for land west of Indian Canyon Drive, north of Interstate 10 and east of Highway 62. Nearby landowners appealed the decision to the City Council. The council voted unanimously Wednesday to deny the appeals.

The United States is expected to be home to an anticipated 49,000 MW of installed wind-power capacity by 2015, making it the world's largest wind-power producer, according to a recent report. Developers are expected to invest more than $65 billion between 2007 and 2015 in wind-power facilities, researchers say.

With a group of Bouquet Canyon residents outspoken against the project - in part to what is seen as a visual disturbance - a key decision looms over a high voltage power line project that will run into Santa Clarita. State utility officials approved the Antelope-Pardee 500 kV Transmission Project in March. It plans to deliver power generated from future wind farms in the Antelope Valley to an electrical substation in the Valencia Industrial Center and distribute it throughout Southern California. Angeles National Forest Supervisor Jody Noiron must still sign off on the project for it to be fully approved. Part of the route runs through the Angeles National Forest north of Santa Clarita. Noiron's decision was anticipated in May, but has yet to come.

The state's public utilities commission opened an intensive three weeks of public hearings Monday on San Diego Gas & Electric Co.'s controversial $1.3 billion proposal to build high-power lines across the county with five hours of testimony at the county administration center. The company has been pushing for new lines, called the Sunrise Powerlink since 2005, saying they are needed to keep up with the county's growing electrical demand, prevent the region from suffering summer blackouts and to bring state-mandated "green" solar- and wind-created electricity to the region.

As California takes its first baby steps toward implementing the most aggressive climate-change policy in the country, experts debate the economic feasibility of attaining the state`s goals. Its overarching policy lies in the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which requires greenhouse gas emissions in the state to fall back to 1990 levels by 2020. One of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger`s executive orders, S-3-25, addresses long-term goals by aiming at an 80 percent emissions reduction below 1990 levels by 2050. The state`s ability to reach these goals holds implications not only for Californians, but the rest of the nation`s climate-change policy as well, Samuel Thernstrom, director of the American Enterprise Institute`s program on culture and freedom, said at a panel discussion last week.

Sempra Energy has taken its first step into the clean energy business by buying rights to a proposed wind farm in Baja California. The company said yesterday that it will buy co-development rights from Cannon Power Corp., which is also based in San Diego, to a proposed 250-megawatt wind generation project in La Rumorosa, about 70 miles east of San Diego and south of the international border. Sempra declined to disclose what it paid for its interest but said that full development of the wind farm would cost about $400 million. A 250-megawatt project could generate enough electricity to power tens of thousands of homes or more, depending on wind conditions.

Southern California Edison on Friday applied to the California Public Utilities Commission and the U.S. Forest Service for authorization to construct Segments 4-11 of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project. The project - a series of new and upgraded high-voltage electric transmission lines - will deliver electricity from proposed new wind farms in the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area to SCE customers and the California transmission grid.

CHINO HILLS - The City Council voted Tuesday evening to help its residents fight Southern California Edison's proposal to expand transmission lines, some of which border homes in the city. The 3-0 vote was anticipated by the nearly 150 residents who showed up to gain the city's support. As a result, authorization was given for the city manager and city attorney to spend $600,000 to hire a consultant to review Edison's project and propose alternatives. The consultant will also assist the city in preparing a protest to the project, which may include the request for a hearing. The protest must be filed within 30 days from Edison's application.

About 25 windmills in the north Palm Springs area were approved this week by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The windmills will be part of the Dillon Wind Project, which will have a total of 45 windmills north of Interstate 10, east of Highway 62 and west of Indian Avenue. The windmills will be 327 feet tall, or about 33 stories high.

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.

CHINO HILLS - At least 200 residents have signed a petition against a proposal by Southern California Edison to expand electrical transmission lines that cross the city. Edison plans to upgrade and expand 170 miles of power lines from Mojave to Mira Loma as part of a $1.8 billion project to deliver electricity generated by wind power in Techachapi Pass in Kern County. As a result, several miles of now-inactive transmission lines will be used to carry this electrical load. At the same time, the height of the towers will be increased.

But even del Cardayre, as passionate and committed as he is, working for a company fueled by millions of dollars in venture capital and at the epicenter of Silicon Valley's fast-growing clean-technology industry, offers a sober assessment of the state's ambitious goals to fight global warming. "There is definitely not a silver bullet," del Cardayre said. Nearly one year after California passed landmark legislation to cut carbon-dioxide emissions 25 percent in 13 years, the state already risks failure.

As the Oregon Renewable Energy Act made its way through the Legislature last month, lawmakers emphasized its potential to create homegrown, clean sources of electricity. Yet, even as Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed the bill into law Wednesday, the emerging reality defied the vision of a lone state moving toward energy self-sufficiency. Oregon wind farms, expected to dominate the state's renewable power expansion, are in the sights of utilities throughout the West. Electricity buyers in California are showing interest in power generated by a wind farm under construction in Sherman County, and already California utilities have snagged power from a Washington project. And the electricity from a project under development in Oregon's Union County is headed for Idaho.

MELISSA, Texas - An orange flag marks where Gary Lisle planned to put up a 33-foot windmill behind his house. But that's about as far as his green idea got in this Dallas suburb. Denied a building permit in March, Lisle joined the growing ranks of frustrated homeowners across the U.S. whose hopes of harvesting wind energy in their backyards have been dashed. Some communities have outlawed residential turbines. Others entangle applicants in so much red tape that they simply give up.

A wind project that would include about 45 towering turbines on three parcels in and near Palm Springs is one step closer to approval. The Palm Springs Planning Commission approved the portion of the project within the city in a 4-1 vote Wednesday. The Dillon Wind Project would add about five 327-foot turbines and associated facilities on roughly 200 acres about 6,000 feet west of Indian Avenue, east of Highway 62, south of Dillon Road and north of Interstate 10.

The California Energy Commission on Wednesday imposed new rules that effectively forbid the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and all other municipal utilities in the state from signing new contracts with coal-fired power plants. The move, together with identical regulations imposed on private utilities in January, is a significant step toward reducing the contribution of California, the world's sixth largest economy, to global warming.

A scientific panel has concluded that new wind farms could generate up to 7 percent of U.S. electricity in 15 years. That's the positive side. The negative side is not good news for our fine feathered friends.

At a Riverside County Planning Commission meeting Wednesday, officials approved a project to have 40 wind turbines proposed by Portland-based developer PPM Energy on county land. "We're going to continue to fight it," said Michele McNeill, a Desert Hot Springs resident who lives near the proposed site.

Energy giant BP revealed yesterday that it had brought a new partner into the project for a world-first carbon-capture and storage scheme at Peterhead. International mining group Rio Tinto of the UK has formed a new company with BP to develop decarbonised energy projects around the world. The hydrogen-fuelled power projects planned for the north-east and California will become part of the new jointly-owned firm called Hydrogen Energy.

Dozens of community activists, public officials and environmentalists Thursday criticized a plan that sets the stage for the federal government to overrule state decisions on new power lines. At the same time, several elected officials and business leaders supported giving the federal government power to solve Southern California's electricity problems if the state fails to adequately address the challenge of keeping lights and air conditioners on. San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, one of about 60 to testify at a hearing hosted by the U.S. Energy Department on a proposed national power corridor for Southern California, said that allowing a federal commission to overrule a state regulatory body is a bad idea.