A group of residents on the west side of the county plans to ask the Sangamon County Board to impose stricter rules on placement of wind turbines near rural homes. An attorney for the group said today the request that the current minimum of 1,000 feet be extended to a mile is in anticipation of a wind farm of up to 200 turbines in the area.

The regulations both protect the county for such costly endeavors and facilitates their development, Morgan County Planner Dusty Douglas said. The ordinance requires a "secure financial assurance" from a prospective company for repair work if any roads are damaged during construction, operation or maintenance, liability insurance and a thorough decommissioning plan. ...Morgan County does not have a countywide zoning code, which energy companies typically use and adhere to in developing wind turbine projects.

Amid the legal wrangling, work continues on the $1.5 billion Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm, a 155-turbine project spread over 15,000 acres between Odell and Emington in Livingston County. Michael Iasparro, the attorney representing the wind farm opponent group People Protecting Cayuga Ridge, filed a motion Wednesday in Livington County Circuit Court to voluntarily dismiss the group's lawsuit without prejudice.

DeKalb County Board Member Mike Haines addressed the Genoa City Council last week asking for feedback on two issues: a133-unit windmill operation proposed by NextEra Energy Resources, and a solution to the county's need for more landfill space. ..."All the tough decisions are when there's no right or wrong answer," Haines said. "There will be good people on both sides of the issue."

Holland has it. California has it. Kansas and other prairie states have it, so why shouldn't Kane County? What is it? Wind. And according to Michael Hoadley, director of business development for the Chicago-based consultant firm of GSY Energy Inc., Kane County has a lot of wind. "There's a wind blowing across the prairie, and you are in the way in Kane County," Hoadley told members of the county's energy and environmental committee recently.

Stephenson County officials are asking certain area taxing bodies to abate property taxes for the EcoGrove wind farm project for approximately three years, as part of an effort to ensure the initiative's financial viability. While these taxing bodies would lose money in the short term, they would make a considerable amount of funding once the wind farm is up and running and if the project continues to expand, officials said.

It might have been one of the most well-attended canceled meetings in DeKalb County history. An estimated 375 people packed a room in the county health facility Thursday night for a public hearing on a proposed wind farm. ...Because so many wanted to hear and be heard, DeKalb County Hearing Officer Dave Dockus canceled the meeting shortly after it started on account of the venue being too small and conditions "unfair" for everyone in the audience to hear and participate.

Beth Einsele of Shabbona doesn't have one nice thing to say about windmill farms. They're dinosaurs, the Realtor said about the rows of typically white whooshing turbines. They're offensive to home buyers. They're dangerous. They don't produce anything. ...Not surprisingly, Einsele is among those opposing a 151 turbine wind farm proposed for ...DeKalb and Lee counties. The project is proposed by Florida Power & Light Energy Illinois Wind LLC.

Commissioners refused to make a hasty decision at Tuesday night's council meeting, and instead tabled a proposed contract with Chicago-based GSY Energy Inc. GSY provides renewable energy consultation, development and management, according to its Web site. The company wants to conduct a wind turbine feasibility study for the city - at a cost of $30,000.

Once again, plans for a wind farm are before DeKalb County officials, this time with 133 turbines being proposed in DeKalb County and 18 turbines in Lee County. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 7 tonight in the multipurpose room of the DeKalb County Health Department, 2574 N. Annie Glidden Road, DeKalb.

The winds of approval blew east Tuesday as the Lee County Board sanctioned 18 potential wind turbines, leaving DeKalb County the last word on the project's remaining 132 turbines. If DeKalb County gives its OK, the turbines will be built in Alto and Willow Creek townships in Lee County's northeastern corner. NextEra Energy Resources, the company leading the project, said the turbines would be erected this summer, with a targeted completion date in December.

Thirty-five of Horizon Wind Energy's 38 turbines under construction in Tazewell County are assembled, project manager John Fulton said Friday. ..."The first thing we did was the roads. The roads we started back in September. Then we started doing the excavation of the sites. Then of course we do the foundations and then we do what we refer to as the erection of the turbines."

The Woodford County Zoning Board has granted initial approval to an 87-turbine wind installation around Minonk after a series of public hearings earlier in the week. But the project, proposed by Minneapolis-based Navitas, still faces several hurdles before towers can sprout in rolling farm fields in rural Woodford and Livingston counties.

Project organizers say that approximately 50 full turbines have been completed so far for the 67-turbine wind farm proposed for northwest of Lena, and that the goal is to complete the farm by the end of March. The EcoGrove Wind LLC wind farm is located just north of the Galena Road and Baker Road intersection outside Lena.

Lee County is one step closer to hosting 18 new wind turbines, despite concerns from local residents who say the project is moving too quickly. The county zoning board approved a special use permit Thursday, which means the only hurdles left for builders to clear are a full board vote Feb. 17, and approval from DeKalb County, where the company wants to build 133 turbines in portions of Afton, Clinton, Milan and Shabbona townships.

A meteorological tower set to be placed in Tazewell County will now likely be erected in Logan County. The Logan County Zoning Board of Appeals will meet at 7 p.m. today in Hartsburg's American Legion Hall to discuss giving Horizon Wind Energy a conditional-use permit to move the tower's location. Logan County zoning officer Will D'Andrea said the tower wasn't going to be effective in Tazewell County, and Horizon felt one of the previously studied locations in Logan County would work better.

Locally, the project entails six turbines in southern Alto Township and 12 turbines in Willow Creek Township, just north of U.S. Highway 30. Those townships stand to collect about 70 percent of the $220,000 paid yearly by FPL Group, the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, the subsidiary handling the project. That money would be used to fund things such as road maintenance and local school districts. In DeKalb County, 133 of the nearly 400-foot-tall turbines are proposed.

Some Commissioners have expressed concern over shelling out $30,000 for a wind energy feasibility study, especially considering that it's $30,000 the city had not budgeted to spend this year. Andre De Rosa, CEO of GSY Energy Inc., Monday rebuffed those' concerns and pushed for a speedy commitment to a $30,000 study, which he said would be covered by federal funds.

The La Salle portion of the proposed Top Crop wind farm got a near-unanimous vote of approval Thursday by the La Salle County Board. A special use permit for a wind farm in the far southeast corner of the county that was recommended in December by a 3-2 vote of the Zoning Board of Appeals got a 25-1 vote from the County Board. Jerry Myers, R-Streator, abstained. The vote clears the way for construction of the first, and smallest, phase of the project.

Farmers wanted to know how wind turbines influence aerial pesticide applications, while landowners sought advice on working with wind-farm developers. At a recent wind farm forum in Manito, some questions were answered easily; others weren't. About 150 attended the first of four meetings being coordinated by the Illinois Wind Working Group (IWWG) and University of Illinois Extension with assistance from local groups.