The Logan Township Planning Commission is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a request to expand the wind zone so turbines can be built above Avalon Road north of Altoona. The vote, in the form of a recommendation, will be a key factor for supervisors to consider when they address the request in January.

Jill Stull from Portage says her life and farm have turned upside down ever since some unwelcome neighbors moved in 2006. "We want the noise to stop. I want my husband to be able to sleep in our home," Stull said. The noise she's referring to is from the six turbines surrounding her 100-acre farm. At least once a week, Stull says she can hear and feel the turbines humming, and it's a sensation she says comes at irregular intervals.

Doylestown Township officials held a public hearing last week on a proposed ordinance that would regulate the placement and size of windmills in the township. The supervisors seemed ready to approve the ordinance until Philo pointed out that it said nothing about advertising being painted on the windmill. They voted unanimously to table the ordinance for further consideration by the township planning commission.

Construction of a 36-turbine wind farm that covers three townships in Somerset County is likely to begin this winter. Officials from Allegheny Township, Musser Engineering and the E.On energy company ...have received mixed community feedback. But officials said the farm is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2009 and will dot the mountains of Allegheny, Stonycreek and Shade townships with turbines.

Construction of the 35 windmills in the second phase of what will be one of Pennsylvania's largest wind farms is completed and should be in operation before the end of the year, an official with Gamesa Energy USA said. News of the anticipated startup comes as sound experts working on behalf of Portage Township completed the study setting the level of the existing - ambient - noise at and near North Allegheny Wind Farm, which is adding nine turbines to the skyline in the Blue Knob area of the township.

Supervisors on Tuesday approved plans for BP Alternative Energy to build a portion of a wind-turbine facility in the township. The company wants to build up to 87 turbines within the boundaries of Noxen, Eaton, Forkston and Mehoopany townships. Up to 35 of the turbines will be located in Noxen, BP business developer Kevin Davis said.

Part of a wind turbine project proposed in Logan Township, north of Route 36 near Avalon Road, will be visible not only to nearby residents, but to those who live and drive as much as five miles from the site. "I totally oppose this," Avalon Road resident Mark Twardon said. "You're going to be coming down 17th Street, and instead of the mountains, you're going to see these huge towers." Twardon was one of 18 people who asked questions and offered comments, mostly in opposition.

The state will play a major role in deciding whether a windmill is installed at Green Tree Park to generate electricity and help pay for the town's energy costs. The borough has applied for two Department of Environmental Protection grants, each for $168,000, to fund a proposed $173,000 windmill and solar electric system. The borough would pay $5,000 toward the overall cost. ...Council President Mark Sampogna said, however, he is unsure if council will approve the project, even if funding is secured. The height of proposed installation, 100 feet to 120 feet, could detract from the appearance of the park, he said.

Four large balloons are to be visible Wednesday morning in the sky above Avalon Road, representing the proposed locations for wind turbines. Gamesa Energy, seeking Logan's approval to build a wind farm inside and outside the township's wind zone, arranged with the Federal Aviation Administration to put up red and yellow balloons ...The commission, which is reviewing Gamesa's request for a proposed wind farm, has received more than 30 postcards, some with multiple signatures, opposing turbines.

The plan to erect wind turbines on the Burnside Mountain south of Shamokin has been stalled because of the sour economy. Penn Wind LLC is still actively pursuing the project, but the failure of some of the nation's largest financial institutions makes the market for the important tax-credit piece of financing for such a large project a tough one ...While Penn Wind is a small Sunbury-based company, it is affiliated with an international alternative energy giant in German renewable energy company Juwi GmbH.

Three environmental groups said Wednesday afternoon that they have obtained federal government records that show that the proposed site of the Shaffer Mountain Wind Project outside Ogletown is indisputably occupied habitat of the endangered Indiana bat, and that habitat used by the species already has been illegally destroyed.

Supervisors on Tuesday accepted plans from BP Alternative Energy to build part of a proposed wind farm in the township. BP plans to build 35 wind turbines in the township as part of a larger wind turbine facility of up to 87 turbines that will also be located in Eaton, Forkston and Mehoopany townships. Noxen supervisors on Tuesday did not take action on the plans.

Borough officials have restricted hunting in a 50- to 60-acre radius around a Gamesa Energy USA wind-monitoring tower on borough-owned land at Adams Run Reservoir on Second Mountain in Pine Grove Township. The Philadelphia-based company is working to build wind turbines on Second and Sharp mountains in the township and is completing an environmental study at the Adams Run Reservoir tower.

A way to reduce the high number of deaths of migratory bats at wind turbine sites may lie in a groundbreaking study at Iberdrola Renewables' Casselman Wind Power Project in Somerset County. During the study, conducted at the 23-turbine project from late July to early October, selected wind turbines were stopped during low wind conditions to determine whether shutting down the big blades during low power production periods would reduce bat deaths while having a minimal impact on power generation. ..."The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is concerned that several species of bats, including potentially endangered bats, are killed each year by wind turbines," said Alex Hoar, the service's northeast coordinator for review of wind power projects.

A windmill farm may be on its way to the Town of Barton, but as to when it will happen is still years away. The windmill farm is being sought by Gamesa Energy USA, which is the United State's branch of Gamesa Corp. The company, which is based in Spain, specializes in sustainable energy technologies, mainly wind power. The company was represented at Monday's town council meeting by Timothy Vought, who is the director of development for Gamesa's Atlantic region.

In a first-of-its-kind study, the owners of a Somerset County wind farm and an independent conservation group are joining forces to study the effects of turbines on bats. Bat Conservation International is conducting a controlled experiment in which select turbines at Iberdrola Renewables' Casselman Wind Power Project were shut down during certain wind conditions from July through earlier this month. It is the first study in the country to look at the impact of temporarily stopping the turbines on reducing bat deaths.

Dr. Tom Cade, a professor who preserved the peregrine and is rescuing the California condor, said people making ordinary efforts can help extraordinary birds right here in Pennsylvania. "One problem you folks are facing are these wind turbines proposed to be built on the migration routes," Cade said on the telephone from his home in Idaho. "I don't think there's any doubt that birds, butterflies, bats and bees - they all get hit by those turbines."

The township has received an application for a conditional use permit from a company that wants to build a wind turbine facility. BP Alternative Energy plans to build a facility with as many as 89 turbines in the southern part of Wyoming County, within the boundaries of Noxen, Eaton, Forkston and Mehoopany townships. On Tuesday, Supervisor Randy Ehrenzeller said the application permit calls for 17 turbines.

An appeal filed recently in county court alleges that the developer of the Laurel Hill wind energy project may have unfairly benefitted by being represented by the same law firm that represents the county. The appeal, which challenges the county Planning Commission's approval of preliminary land development plans for the project, was filed by attorney Christian D. Frey, of the law firm Lepley, Engelman and Yaw, on behalf of a group of residents living near the proposed project site.

A Northumberland County firm has backed off a plan to build wind turbines on South Mountain in eastern Lebanon County. ...But birds and bats got in the way of the plans, said Justin R. Dunkelberger, chief executive for Penn Wind. He explained that the South Mountain site is part of a bird-migration path and is also frequented by bats. "As a wind developer, we have to be concerned with birds and bats," Dunkelberger said. "We want to be responsible developers."