The Lincoln city council heard at Tuesday's committee meeting that giant windmill pieces are coming through Lincoln on their way to a construction site near Bloomington. One of the 180,000-pound trucks lost its way and ended up on city streets, resulting in a $20,000 fine from the state, according to city officials. But the supervisor of the Railsplitter Wind Farm says neither that truck, nor any of the others that will come through, is bound for the Railsplitter Wind Farm.

Hot air flowing on the presidential campaign trail this year is touting the expansion of wind-generated electricity to solve the nation's energy needs, and some people in Macon County are taking action to prepare for potential wind farm expansion here. Although no wind farms have been built in the county, an increasing number of wind turbines are being erected in fields throughout Central Illinois -- with projects constructed or being considered in Christian, Clark, DeWitt, Logan, McLean, Montgomery and Shelby counties.

The Logan County Board is closer to finalizing its $6 million, fiscal year 2009 budget, but officials are cautious about counting on revenue from the development of a wind farm. The county is expected to receive more than $200,000 from the Horizon Wind Energy project in 2009. The Houston-based developer plans to build The Rail Splitter Wind Farm, a 29-turbine development in Logan and Tazewell counties. Still, officials are hesitant to add that figure to projected revenues because the deadline for an appeal by a group opposed to the wind farm has not yet passed.

Prairie Power Inc. has announced plans to develop a 30-megawatt wind farm near Pittsfield. While the exact number of wind turbines has yet to be determined, initial estimates are for about 20, 1.5 megawatt turbines, the Jacksonville company said. According to wind resource studies, central Illinois, and particularly the area around Pittsfield, has good wind energy potential.

Public input at Woodford County Board meetings is a meaningless process that creates more problems than solutions. Public input at Woodford County Board meetings is an essential part of the democratic process. County Board members will decide between those views tonight when they consider a resolution that would remove the public comment segment from their monthly agenda. ...Janssen pointed to the onslaught of public comments at the last County Board meeting as part of the problem. The board that night approved the special-use permits for a wind farm outside El Paso after nearly an hour of public comments.

Construction on the northern portion of the Railsplitter Wind Farm has begun in Tazewell County. John Fulton, Horizon's project manager for this phase of the construction, said it will be "weeks and months" before the effort is completed. Fulton said the work is beginning near the intersection of Interstate 155 and Illinois Route 122, also known as Market Road. The exit, which leads west into Delavan, is currently closed to accommodate the construction.

The Spanish company Iberdrola Renewables is expected to begin developing the 155-turbine Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm this fall. The electricity-producing towers would be scattered across 15,000 acres, primarily between Odell and Emington. The Livingston County Board approved the project in July. Construction and maintenance of the project will use 6.25 miles of county roads and 41 miles of township roads, so road use agreements were needed.

The Rail Splitter Wind Farm is expected to cover 11,000 acres in Logan and Tazewell counties. Nearly 70 wind turbines are planned, or enough to supply approximately 30,000 homes, according to developer Horizon Wind Energy. Work would begin in Tazewell County, despite recent objections by State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz, who threatened legal action if the project was included in the county's enterprise zone. Umholtz recently told the Tazewell County Board the project's inclusion wasn't a proper use for enterprise zones.

The districts, Keeneyville Elementary District 20 in Hanover Park and Community Unit District 300 in Carpentersville, started to explore wind turbines that can harness wind power and convert it into electricity. But both districts soon found their promising idea stymied by restrictive state and local laws. The districts then hit upon another solution: wind farms, clusters of turbines that can generate enough electricity to power several buildings, or even multiple local governments. ...An Illinois House bill could potentially fix these issues and provide the legal framework for school districts and municipalities throughout the suburbs to start benefiting from wind power produced on a large scale.

The effort will begin in Tazewell County, despite recent objections by State's Attorney Stewart Umholtz who threatened legal action if the project was included in the county's enterprise zone. Umholtz recently told the Tazewell County Board the project's inclusion wasn't a proper use for enterprise zones The appeal period for Tazewell County has expired, though, meaning Horizon has cleared the legal hurdles of receiving the conditional use permit.

The lack of an agreement has been a sticking point with the Woodford County Board in approving a special use agreement for the 3,000-acre wind farm A stipulation from the Zoning Board of Appeals more than a year ago required an agreement between the company and road commissioners from Greene, El Paso and Palestine townships. Paul Lewis of Peoria, Navitas' local attorney, confirmed the agreements were reached Monday afternoon.

Unit 5 Superintendent Gary Niehaus has been getting a lot of questions about the potential of adding wind turbines to the district's energy plans. The board has applied for a grant to pay for a feasibility study that would take about a year. A turbine could be constructed in about three years

A road agreement needed for the development of a Livingston County wind farm is nearly complete, but some details still need to be worked out, the County Board heard Thursday. "The technical aspects are really in the final form," Livingston County Highway Engineer David Winters said. "We are quite satisfied with this agreement as far as county road use." Iberdrola Renewables, a Spanish company, wants to erect 155 electricity-generating turbines on sites scattered across 15,000 acres between Saunemin and Odell. Construction is expected to begin this fall.

On Thursday, the Livingston County Board learned more details of the technical aspects of the road agreement between the county and Iberdrola Renewables involving wind turbines to be erected between Saunemin and Odell. The road agreement is the first step in the company erecting 155 turbines. Work is expected to begin this fall. The board approved a special-use permit for the wind farm in July on the condition that Iberdrola and the county reach an agreement within 45 days - or by Sept. 2 - on the road work to be done as part of the turbine construction process.

A new state law specifies that units of government, such as a county, a municipality or a school district, may own and operate a wind farm. Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed House Bill 4646 into law on Tuesday. It takes effect immediately. Under the measure, the governmental units can opt for individual or joint ownership of a wind farm.

A proposed wind tower farm could bring additional tax revenue and jobs to Iroquois County. The Iroquois County Board learned Tuesday that Vision Energy has proposed building a 300-tower wind farm in the counties of Iroquois, Ford, Livingston and Kankakee -- with 45 to 50 towers to potentially be built in Milks Grove Township in Iroquois County's northwest corner, between Chebanse and Herscher. ...The company intends to call the project K4 Wind Farm with construction projected to start in the fourth quarter of 2009.

An agreement has been reached between Kurt and Ronda Geldean and the developers of the Walnut Ridge wind farm. ...The agreement calls for the Geldeans to withdrawal their complaint against the turbines and for Midwest Wind Energy to withdraw plans for the five turbines closest to the Geldeans' airstrip.

The next time you take a drive through the country, take Interstate 55 south about 140 miles, merge onto Interstate 74 and follow it east about 10 miles. Look around you. You probably won't see much, but this undeveloped plot of land could soon house machinery that would generate enough electricity to power three school districts. Two suburban school districts - Community Unit District 300 and Keeneyville Elementary District 20 - are looking to partner with a third district downstate - Tri-Valley School District 3 - to build a wind farm in Downs - about 10 miles southeast of Bloomington.

Landowners have been contacted by representatives from an alliance of two California companies, American Wind Energy Management and Oak Creek Energy Systems, about land lease agreements that could pave the way for a wind farm to be called Sugar Creek Wind One. The project is in the preliminary stages, so developers don't know how many turbines would be built or how much the project would cost. They companies are looking for test sites now.

Horizon Wind Energy confirmed in March it was in the early stages of evaluating the potential of a wind turbine project that would cover the corners of Vermilion, Champaign, Edgar and Coles counties. Horizon officials have said test towers could evaluate the wind for as long as two years before work begins. In Danville, however, work has already began to make sure all bases are covered for the potential of an incoming wind farm. Bill Donahue, chairman of the Vermilion County Board's finance committee, is working on an ordinance setting certain rules for everyone involved, ranging from landowners to Horizon.