The 35-foot-tall Skystream 3.7 - a small wind turbine marketed for residential use - overlooks Palos Verdes Drive East from Ramirez's fruit tree-filled backyard. Neighbors and passers-by have been calling Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall to ask about the electricity-producing turbine since it began spinning last month. The inquiries led to a code violation letter from municipal staff to Ramirez, who put up the turbine to power his home without seeking city permission.

A "wind farm" that would take advantage of the gusts that have been blowing through the Central Coast at 30 to 50 mph is moving right along despite a lawsuit filed against the county's approval of the project. Construction won't begin for at least a year, but in the meantime officials of the developer say they are working to meet all the requirements imposed by the county with the intention of protecting the environment surrounding the "clean energy" project.

Operators of the Altamont Wind Farm are considering construction of a similar series of wind turbines on the hills of Tomales. Yet a spokesman for NextEra Energy Resources - a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light Co. - said the project remained in its earliest stages.

Harnessing the sun and the winds will be looked at Monday by the Mohave County Supervisors. The supervisors will look to hold a special workshop in the coming months dealing with renewable energy projects in Mohave County. No workshop has been scheduled, but, upon recommendation of the county planning and zoning board, one is highly likely.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously February 25 to streamline the permit process for meteorological equipment testing (MET) facilities. "It's always a balance," said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. "The Administrative Permit process still allows a public review process. Specific conditions have to be met."

An appeal to the U.S. Department of the Interior over its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval of San Diego Gas & Electric's Sunrise Powerlink transmission project was filed recently by three local organizations in San Diego County. The appeal notice to the Interior Board of Land Appeals is the first step to a court appeal. It shows that the BLM failed to adequately conduct environmental reviews and therefore BLM's decision to approve the project should be reviewed.

Despite a bankruptcy declaration filed by its financier, the Hatchet Ridge Wind Project will continue with plans to set 43 windmills in eastern Shasta County, representatives of the business said. Nevertheless, opponents of the turbine project, like Bob Nelson of Save Burney's Skyline, said they found hope in the news of Australian-based Babcock & Brown's financial troubles.

While President Obama has made development of cleaner energy sources a priority, an effort is underway to close off a large swath of the Southern California desert to solar and wind energy projects. In a move that could pit environmentalists and alternative energy industries against each other, the senator wants hundreds of thousands of acres in California designated as a national monument.

To his chagrin, some of Mr. Myers's fellow environmentalists are helping power companies pinpoint the best sites for solar-power technology. The goal of his former allies is to combat climate change by harnessing the desert's solar-rich terrain, reducing the region's reliance on carbon-emitting fuels. Mr. Myers is indignant. "How can you say you're going to blade off hundreds of thousands of acres of earth to preserve the Earth?" he said. As the Obama administration puts development of geothermal, wind and solar power on a fast track, the environmental movement finds itself torn between fighting climate change and a passion for saving special places.

A 5-mile swath of the proposed path through Chino Hills would double the size of existing, though inactive, Edison power lines to about 200 feet, and about 1,000 residents would live within 500 feet of the power lines. Residents and city officials said they are concerned about the large electrical towers possibly falling over or near homes during an earthquake or high winds and the potential for adverse health impacts from the electromagnetic fields created by the power lines.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is urging the U.S. Department of Interior to stop processing applications for more than a dozen solar energy projects sought on Mojave Desert land that was donated to the government by a conservation group. Feinstein, D-Calif., is preparing legislation to protect about 600,000 acres of former railroad company land deeded to the federal government.

Residents - attending a public hearing on the project held by the California Public Utilities Commission - are riled over a Southern California Edison plan to enlarge and energize towers and lines that cut through the city. The entire 250-mile Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project, proposed by Edison, aims to bring green energy from wind farms in Central California to the Los Angeles Basin and is part of a state initiative toward using more sustainable energy.

This news report was submitted to Windaction.org by Scott Jackson, a reseller of Redriven windmills. Mr. Jackson is seeking to get the Redriven turbine de-certified in the State of California for safety reasons.

Environmentalists, renewable energy developers, and regulatory officials on Tuesday hammered out ways to build solar, wind and geothermal projects in the Mojave Desert and still preserve the ecosystem. "It will be a challenge to strike that balance... but it can be done," said Kevin Hunting, of the state Department of Fish and Game.

A land conservancy from Oak Glen spent years amassing $45 million in private donations and negotiating the purchase of more than a half-million unspoiled acres in the California desert so it could be turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for protection. Now, the BLM is considering applications for wind turbines and solar-energy arrays on thousands of those acres.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has proposed another route for its controversial Green Path North project that would bypass pristine desert land in the High Desert and closely parallel the 10 Freeway. The newly proposed route, about 80 miles in length, would run 230-kilovolt power lines westward from just below Desert Hot Springs in Riverside County to Lytle Creek. ...Environmentalists, however, still remain wary. The new route could impact about 370 properties along the 10 Freeway, 16 of which are homes.

Opponents of a wind power project planned for a ridge near Burney gathered outside of the Shasta County administration building Friday to voice their concerns about eagles that will be killed and land that will be altered by giant turbines on Hatchet Ridge. "That's our sacred land and it's going to go away," said James Hayward Sr., one of the protest's organizers and co-chair of the Advocates for the Protection of Sacred Sites. The protest of the 103-megawatt Hatchet Ridge Wind Project drew about 100 people, many of them members of American Indian tribes, and lasted for about an hour.

Wildlife researcher Jim Wiegand says "Green energy is a cover up and a lie because birds of prey are getting killed, people wouldn't believe how these turbines chop them up." Many members of the Pit River Tribe were among the protestors outside the Shasta County Administration Center touting the deadly effects wind turbines have on birds, particularly bald eagles.

Saying its blades will leave eagle blood in the air and on the ground, opponents of the Hatchet Ridge Wind Project are planning a protest rally. "It just really needs to be relooked at," said Radley Davis, a member of the Pit River Tribe and one of the protest organizers. The protest will be at noon Friday in front of the Shasta County Administration Center, organizers said.

But the company behind one of the two wind energy projects completed last year in California, which formally dedicates the project today, doesn't expect more than a handful of these projects to be built in California in the near future. ...Other states are eager to provide wind energy to Californians. A consultant's report presented to the California Energy Commission in late 2008 noted that large wind farms in Wyoming, Washington, Utah and Oregon are emerging as sources for municipal utilities seeking to meet state renewable standards.