CAMBRIDGE - About 35,000 acres of land in Henry County have been leased to a wind energy company that hopes to bring 266 wind towers to the area. Michael Arndt, development manager with Wisconsin-based Invenergy LLC, told the Henry County Board on Tuesday night his company will soon meet with the county's planning committee and Zoning Board of Appeals to formally request special use permits for the towers.

EUREKA - As development grows in Woodford County, so does the need for more personnel to monitor zoning-related issues, a majority of the County Board believes. With a 7-4 vote Tuesday, the County Board voted to scrap a plan that would have eliminated a zoning specialist from the county's tentative fiscal year 2007 budget.

Rural electric board member Roger Arthur of Postville, Iowa says efficiency involves renewable energy sources, such as wind power, however he says back-ups are necessary to make it reliable. “When people throw that switch on they expect to have power,” Arthur told Brownfield from the regional meeting Tuesday, “so you have to able to do that 99.99 percent of the time that throw that switch.”

The Sierra Club on Tuesday asked the U.S. Environmental Appeals Board to leave intact City Water, Light and Power's construction permit for its new coal-fired generator, which includes the purchase of wind power and emissions reductions the environmental group negotiated. Its filing is in response to Springfield developer David Maulding's request last week that the appeals board review the permit and strip it of the Sierra Club-negotiated requirements.

BENSON - A wind farm developer who wants to construct a 79-turbine farm in rural Woodford County has been asked by three townships to pony up an additional $200,000, according to the company. But Minneapolis-based Navitas Energy will not pay any kind of inducement fee, or extra money requested by the townships, thereby throwing a "big kink" in the overall wind farm project.

A Springfield real estate developer officially objected Friday to the permit issued last month by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for City Water, Light and Power to build a new coal-fired generator. The move could stall the $500 million project for at least a couple of months. The development stunned mayor Tim Davlin, who spearheaded the deal that led to the permit. Davlin said Friday that the delay might last as long as a year, perhaps even more, and could cost the city tens of millions of dollars. David Maulding, owner of Maulding Development, filed a petition for review with the U.S. EPA's Environmental Appeals Board in Washington. The petition essentially asks that the terms of the city's contract with the Sierra Club, a national environmental group, be stripped from the city's permit.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama are blocking Senate confirmation of a Defense Department nominee in an attempt to pressure the Pentagon into releasing a study that is holding up wind turbine construction in Illinois and other states.

BLOOMINGTON - A new wind farm could spring up in McLean and Woodford counties as soon as the fall of 2007 if all permits are received by October, according to Invenergy Wind LLC. The Chicago-based company filed a special-use permit application Wednesday for a 100-turbine wind farm northwest of Bloomington. The 12,000 acres proposed for the wind farm are west of Interstate 39 and north of Interstate 74 between Hudson and Carlock.

"Wow, these are big," the Yorkville Republican said as he looked at the turbine equipment during a ground-breaking ceremony for the GSG (God's Sustaining Gifts) wind farm.

Whether they are relaxing or not is arguable. What isn't arguable is that the wind farm will provide hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to schools in Mendota Paw Paw and Amboy. “It's a great influx of money into the schools without them having more children at the same time. So they can use the money to service the needs of what they have.”

Chicago-based Invenergy Wind LLC plans to file a request Wednesday for a special-use permit for a 100-turbine wind farm in McLean and Woodford counties. White Oak Wind Energy Center, proposed for 12,000 acres of farmland in Dry Grove, Hudson, Kansas, Montgomery, Normal and White Oak townships, would produce 150 megawatts of power — enough energy to serve 40,000 homes, said Joel Link, director of business development for Invenergy.

Judge Gerald Grubb nipped farmer and wind farm advocate Wallace Ramsay’s class action lawsuit in the bud. According to Ramsay’s counsel, Rene Hernandez, Grubb denied the complaint because he deemed it an equity claim. Ramsay and his wife, Jean, had filed the lawsuit on behalf of all Boone County taxpayers.

He says the deal will help build a wind turbine in Winnebago County, where electricity generated will be put on the power "grid" and sold to the buyers in Chicago.

Gov. Blagojevich unveils ambitious energy independence plan to reduce Illinois’ reliance on foreign oil. Governor’s plan would meet 50 percent of state’s motor fuel needs with alternative homegrown sources made from crops and coal by 2017. Illinois would be the first state to achieve this level of energy independence; Governor sets goal of replacing 50% of our energy supply with homegrown fuels. Plan to triple ethanol production and invest in clean coal technology will create 30,000 new downstate jobs and save consumers billions of dollars

ELLSWORTH - Building a wind farm is not as simple as putting up some windmills and waiting for the wind to blow. The wind farm under construction in McLean County, about 15 miles east of Bloomington, has involved almost five years of planning, permitting, negotiating with local governments and landowners and improving roads and other infrastructure.

(AP) SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Republican Judy Baar Topinka called Monday for a push to make Illinois the national leader in "clean energy" with a plan that includes new requirements for gas stations and power companies.

EUREKA - With a more than $200 million wind farm project likely coming to rural Benson next year, Woodford County officials are hoping to attract other economic development, including an ethanol plant. But county officials warn that if townships, attorneys, fire departments and others cause problems with the wind farm development, it could impede other developers from coming to Woodford County.

EUREKA - Woodford County volunteer firefighters are asking for more than eight times as much money originally offered from the developers of a wind farm so they can be trained to combat potential emergencies involving the gigantic turbines.

Putting their faith in City Water, Light and Power's cost estimates, a Springfield City Council majority Wednesday approved the city-owned utility's power plant agreement with the Sierra Club.

EUREKA -- Questions about which roads will be used during the construction phase of a wind farm has delayed the approval process by a month.