In a blustery stretch of desert two hours east of Los Angeles, where many of the world's first power-producing windmills were built, a plan for more turbines has triggered a backlash that echoes a national debate over the merits of wind energy. A proposal to build about 50 windmills next to Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument has aroused passions in a region already dotted with 3,000 windmills, with opponents charging that the wind energy industry has neither delivered the promised power nor spared the environment. The industry, which was born in California, now has projects in 40 states and $8 billion in investments over the last two years, according to the American Wind Energy Assn. Supporters say wind power has come of age and will help slow global warming, while critics contend that it has delivered only a quarter of its promised energy, proved lethal to wildlife and, in the view of many residents, blighted the landscape.

Dozens of people were turned away Tuesday from a packed tour about the contentious Dillon Wind Project. About 250 residents and tourists showed up to the PPM Energy "Windmill Tour," which took busloads out to existing wind turbines similar to the 45 that would be built on county and Palm Springs land, about a mile south of Desert Hot Springs. Some area residents are against the project, saying the windmills will ruin views and property values. At recent Desert Hot Springs City Council meetings, residents complained about the air traffic warning lights on the 327-foot-tall structures, plus the sunlight strobe and bird deaths from the turning blades.

Shell Wind Energy has applied to the county to build a major wind power project on remote ridgeline ranch lands about six miles south of Ferndale. An application has been submitted to the Humboldt County Planning Department and awaits only a few pieces of information to be complete. The Bear River Wind Power Project would consist of 30 to 35 turbines generating 60 to 70 megawatts of power. That's more than half of what the Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s King Salmon power plant generates, and is enough to supply 60,000 to 70,000 homes with electricity. It would be the first major wind power project in the county, and comes as the state has begun an initiative to cut its emissions in part by asking utilities to develop clean and renewable power.

State utility regulators Thursday approved more sections of Southern California Edison Co.'s $1.8-billion Tehachapi renewable power transmission project as well as a 4.5% rate increase for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The Edison project is designed to allow the flow of renewable power - mainly from wind farms in the Tehachapi area northeast of Los Angeles - and is key to the utility's push to increase the amount of renewable power delivered to its 4.7 million electricity customers. The Tehachapi project has 11 phases that by 2013 will have the potential to bring 4,500 megawatts of renewable power to the state power grid. The California Public Utilities Commission on March 1 approved the transmission line's first phase, which is for 300 megawatts. Phases 2 and 3, which the PUC approved Thursday, are for 400 megawatts.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office is seeking public comment on a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzing a proposed wind energy project in Palm Springs, California. The 45 day public review and comment period began on February 23, 2007. A public scoping meeting was held on June 27, 2006 at the Desert Highland Community Center in Palm Springs with notice of the meeting published in the Desert Sun newspaper. Mountain View Power Partners IV, LLC has applied for a right of way on public lands and a conditional use permit on private lands to construct a wind energy generating facility in the Coachella Valley, in Riverside County.

Taller electrical towers are set to traverse the northern part of the Santa Clarita Valley after state utility authorities Thursday approved construction of a planned power line project that would replace some power line towers in the city with ones that are 70 feet taller. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the Antelope-Pardee Transmission Project that would transport electricity generated from future wind farms in the Tehachapi area to Edison’s Pardee substation located in the Valencia Industrial Center.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved Southern California Edison’s application to build the first segment of the Tehachapi renewable transmission project. When all phases are developed, the Tehachapi project will include a series of new and upgraded high-voltage transmission lines capable of delivering 4,500 megawatts of electricity from wind farms and other generating companies. SCE has proposed constructing the project in 11 segments to coincide with the development of independently owned wind farms. Thursday’s decision approves the first of three segments, pending approval by the U.S. Forest Service.

A massive wind power facility proposed for the Tehachapi area, if approved by state regulators, would become the largest project of its kind in the nation. The $3 billion Alta Wind Energy Center would involve installing as many as 750 wind turbines over a 50-square-mile area east and south of Tehachapi. It would generate as much as 1,500 megawatts — more than twice the power of the largest existing wind energy facility in the United States. It also would more than double the wind energy produced in the Tehachapi area.

A big energy company plans to slash the number of wind-powered turbines to about 200 from more than 460 at its sprawling Mesa Wind Farm in the wind-whipped San Gorgonio Pass. Western Wind Energy Corp. met with Bureau of Land Management officials Tuesday in Palm Springs as part of an effort to seek regulatory approval for a major overhaul that’s expected to take four to five years. The company will slim down by bringing in bigger, more technologically advanced windmills that operate much more efficiently. “We’re in the process of doing what’s called a re-powering of the project,” said Mike Boyd, Western Wind’s vice president of development in California. “We plan on gradually converting out the old and bringing in the new.” Western Wind has yet to determine the exact type of wind turbines it will use, Boyd said.

The McEvoy Ranch’s plans to build a 189-foot-tall windmill on its North Marin property has put some local environmentalists in the uncomfortable position of protesting a source of alternative energy. Both environmentalists and neighbors are quick to point out that they aren’t opposed to wind power - or even to the prospect of a windmill at the McEvoy Ranch, a project the Marin Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday. “We’re for renewable energy,” said neighbor Susie Schlesinger, whose Petaluma ranch is powered in part by solar cells and a small windmill. “But the county wouldn’t let someone put up a 19-story building anywhere else without saying something about it. This could be the tallest structure between the Golden Gate Bridge and Portland, Oregon.”

The power of wind in the Shasta Valley is undeniable. It can be measured in terms of force on a raised hand, or converted from meters per second, to revolutions per minute, and eventually, kilowatt hours. But harnessing that power and turning into electricity remains science fiction outside Weed, at least for now. While those who have looked into installing wind farms north of Weed believe that it would be a viable form of alternative energy, the consensus is there isn’t enough data yet available.

The first phase of a $1.85 billion high-voltage transmission system necessary for the development of one of the biggest collection of wind farms in the United States goes to the California Independent System Operator board on Jan. 25, the grid operator said on Friday. The Cal ISO staff recently recommended to the ISO board that it approve the project. “The project goes a long way to helping us green the grid,” said Cal ISO spokeswoman Stephanie McCorkle.

The city of Desert Hot Springs has voted “no” on giant windmills being built near the town. The city council voted 4-to-1 for a resolution opposing plans for new windmill construction outside the city limits.

A resolution to officially oppose 40 planned windmills just outside of town is expected to be approved at tonight’s City Council meeting. “There’s nothing binding. It’s just a resolution to the Board of Supervisors of Riverside County” declaring the council’s position, Councilwoman Yvonne Parks said. Windmill developer PPM Energy of Portland, Ore., is proposing the project and must ask for several variances from the county Planning Commission to do so. The project must ultimately be approved by the county Board of Supervisors. The City Council’s opposition comes in conjunction with a grass-roots movement by residents to stop the 327-foot wind turbines.

Residents of Whitewater, Painted Hills and some residents of Desert Hot Springs gathered at the Carl May Center to speak out Thursday night against Dillon Wind’s proposal to build more windmills in three locations in and near the city’s sphere of influence.

A grassroots movement to stop construction of 45 30-story windmills is gaining steam among Desert Hot Springs residents. About 50 people - nearly all of whom opposed building more wind turbines - gathered Thursday at Carl May Community Center to devise ways to stop the behemoths from being built in their back yards.

The proposed project, currently being processed by the Riverside County Planning Dept. in Indio would put 360 ft. high windmills on the western ridgelines of the San Jacinto Mountains above Snow Creek and 410 ft. high windmills directly in front of the spectacular North Face of Mt. San Jacinto. This proposal, like the last Enron proposal will be on the “Fast Track” with public hearings starting in January in downtown Riverside. The meeting will start at 9AM and the public comments period begins at 11AM.

Bolstered by new statistics and new leadership in the U.S. Congress, an alliance of environmental groups is preparing for another offensive against four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River. The aim will be the removal of all, or at least some, of the dams so the Snake will flow more freely and help the entire Pacific Northwest salmon population recover to the bountiful levels of decades ago. “At one time, 50 percent of the entire Columbia Basin salmon production came out of the Snake River Basin,” said Trey Carskadan of the Northwest Sportfishing Association. “And we certainly know we are not seeing that production now.” Proponents of dam removal say it’s a clear choice between the dams and the fish, and a new study released by the salmon crowd contends that advances in the development of energy efficiency and wind generation, plus the potential of a revved-up fishing industry stretching from the mountains of Idaho to the Pacific Coast, means no one will particularly miss those dams.

The whirling blades of 100 giant wind turbines sent a jolt of electricity into California’s power grid as a group gathered in Rio Vista on Wednesday to dedicate the Shiloh Wind Power Plant. Portland, Ore.-based PPM Energy’s plant, which has been coming online gradually over the last year, is the first renewable project in the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. service area since the state’s 2002 adoption of the Renewable Portfolio Standard, PG&E officials said. The plant will help California meet the recently updated goal of getting 20 percent of its power from renewable sources like wind energy and solar power by 2010. And it will help keep lights burning, water flowing and businesses transacting in the Bay Area and across the state, PG&E said......... Though wind energy is better for the environment, it is more expensive. It costs about 6.2 or 6.3 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with current nuclear energy sources or coal, which each run around 2 or 3 cents a kilowatt hour, experts say.