How power-generating wind turbines affect birds and bats figured prominently in testimony Thursday as a county hearing on the proposed White Oak Wind Energy Center entered its third day. Paul Kerlinger, a bird migration and ecology expert from Cape May Point, N.J., spoke before the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals. About 160 people attended the hearing at Heartland Community College.

WIND Power Pty Ltd has scrapped a proposal for a wind farm near Haddon saying the project was not economically viable.

A Magic Valley wind farmer and Idaho Power Co. are close to reaching an agreement that could launch a small-farm wind industry near Hagerman. The potential deal comes after months of wrangling between the power company and two Magic Valley wind farms that could generate 200 megawatts of zero-emission energy. The battle began in September, when Jared Grover resisted paying the power company $60 million to upgrade its grid to accommodate two wind farms, Cassia Gulch Wind Park and Cassia Wind Farm. Grover has interests in both projects. The power company said that incorporating wind farms from that area would require transmission system up-grades. Grover said it’s up to the utility company to finance infrastructure improvements - wind farmers already pay to connect to the power system. The power company said it’ll have to pass the costs on to customers if it pays for the upgrades.

The Conservatives have criticised Welsh Secretary Peter Hain for his comments about the huge Gwynt-y-Mor wind farm planned off the North Wales coast. Hain said the project was a "litmus test" of how seriously Wales was taking climate change.

Haldimand council last week rejected a motion from the county's agricultural advisory committee calling for a moratorium on solar energy projects on viable farmland. The advisory committee is not convinced that land used for solar energy can be easily reverted to agriculture.

Greg Clark, the Minister for Decentralisation, said: "We're putting reforms in place that will deliver an efficient planning system that still supports sustainable growth and green energy developments, but rightly gives communities a say in the planning of their local area."

Halifax regional council put off a decision on wind turbines in rural and industrial areas Tuesday following a long public hearing. More than 20 people spoke out during the meeting at City Hall. Most of them were in favour of allowing turbines.

Storeys-high wind turbines might not be the first thing you think of as part of the Halifax skyline, but city officials want your input. ..."While wind energy is valued as an environmentally friendly power source, the size of the wind turbines and wind farms also raises planning issues regarding compatibility with homes from noise and impact on views, et cetera," says the report drafted for regional council

Members of Halkirk District Community Council have voted against the proposed wind farm at Spittal Hill and agreed that a leaflet should be prepared setting out some of the issues surrounding the £83 million venture. The 30-turbine scheme planned by Spittal Hill Windfarm Ltd, a company set up by brothers Tom and Steven Pottinger, was discussed at the community council's latest meeting. It was agreed by 4-2 that a letter should be sent to the Scottish Executive opposing the application on the grounds of close proximity to inhabited residences; potential noise problems; and cumulative effect.

Hamburg Town officials have begun considering a moratorium on windmill energy in the town, designed to keep the Steel Winds project at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna, from putting up more turbines in their town without scrutiny.

Nikki Schwerdfeger won't believe it until she sees the blades spinning. The Hamilton County landowner remains cautiously optimistic about the proposed 135-megawatt wind farm about to be developed near her rural Coolidge home. One of the landowners who signed a lease for erecting wind turbines on their property, she has yet to learn if any of the around 90, 262-foot-tall turbines will spin on her land.

The county's Plan Commission is considering drafting an ordinance to govern both commercial wind farms and wind generators for private use. Although no wind farm has been proposed for the county, officials want to be prepared. They've watched wind farms grow in other Central Indiana counties and also spur debate in neighboring Boone County, which also is trying to decide whether to allow wind farms.

The city of Hamilton may soon be a test spot for wind energy. A private company wants to put 150 small wind-driven generators on public buildings in the city to demonstrate how effective they can be in cutting electricity bills and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Signs are pointing away from Hamilton for new wind energy production by Siemens Canada that could help cushion job losses in the pending closure of an existing company factory in the city.

HAMLIN - By a vote of 3-0, the Town Board on Monday approved a one-year moratorium on wind farm development, giving a nine-member town committee time to research wind farms and make recommendations. "This moratorium will give our committee time to thoroughly discuss the facts without the fear of a developer coming in tomorrow" asking for a project approval, said Supervisor Denny Roach.

The Hamlin Town Board will discuss proposed laws to regulate wind towers during a workshop meeting tonight at Town Hall. The draft legislation, prepared by attorneys from Hodgson Russ, was outlined to the board during a Nov. 14 meeting. "Our goal is to have laws in place regarding wind towers so we can retain local control if a project is proposed," said Supervisor Denny Roach. A wind power company is investigating whether Hamlin would be a good site for a wind farm, but hasn't made any formal proposals. Informally, the company has said such a farm could include numerous tall wind turbines, each nearly 400 feet high.

The community of Hamlin is one step closer to deciding whether to allow wind turbine farms. The town's wind tower committee has been investigating whether parts of the town would be suitable for wind turbine development and presented its findings to the town board Monday snight. The committee is concerned their deadline to do so was pushed up several months.

HAMLIN - The Hamlin Town Board is holding a special meeting beginning at 6 p.m. tonight to discuss a town community center and to hear the town Wind Tower Committee's recommendations to the board. The community center hearing will begin at 6 p.m. and the wind committee presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Wind Tower Committee, formed earlier this year, has been investigating whether parts of the town would be suitable for wind turbine development and whether the town should enact laws to control wind farms in town.

During his community forum in Irondequoit last night, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told a group of Hamlin residents that he'd send an environmental attorney to look into the town's wind tower regulations and the circumstances under which they were passed. He was responding to repeated requests from a group of town residents, all members of the Hamlin Preservation Group.

Questions, criticism and bewilderment characterized the exchanges made by attendees in the full-to-overflowing meeting room at the Town of Hamlin offices during the February 20 wind tower committee meeting. Several individuals called for the meeting to be canceled and rescheduled at a larger venue so those individuals who were forced to stand in the hall could hear and have their comments heard. Troy and Tricia Nesbitt, part of the Hamlin Preservation Group, handed out fliers to all who walked through the doors. The flier contained a list of questions “You might want to ask … .” Art McFarlane, chairman of the Wind Tower Committee, refused to take one of the fliers saying, (he) “can’t be swayed … and was not interested in the information the flier contained. I’m thinking scientifically and coming to my own conclusions,” McFarlane said. He did say that based on his research so far, wind towers are not a bad thing. ‘But, my mind is still open.”