The commission and Cape Wind disagree over whether the Cape agency has jurisdiction over effects of the project that come from the portion in federal waters. The existence of those "non-jurisdictional" areas - the turbines themselves - seems to have influenced the commission's review of Cape Wind's transmission lines, Rosenzweig said. ...Once the state makes a determination that a project requires an environmental impact report it automatically triggers a commission review. The state approved an environmental review of the project in March.

Developers of a long-delayed plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound say they will appeal the Thursday's vote of the Cape Cod Commission to deny a permit for the project, threatening to kill it. A commission subcommittee recommended the denial, saying Cape Wind Associates, the developer of the project, was unwilling to provide more time and information. But Cape Wind's executives said the company provided exhaustive amounts of information about the project, which has already cleared previous hurdles.

It'll be up to selectmen to decide about fighting the Zoning Board of Appeals' decision to kill a plan to install a windmill at Fairbanks Park. Assistant Town Administrator Nancy Baker told selectmen last night that the Park and Recreation Commission itself does not have the authority to bring a lawsuit. Commissioners voted Monday to appeal the Zoning Board's Oct. 4 denial of a permit for a 90-foot wind turbine, which would power the lights at Fairbanks Park. The appeal, Baker said, "would have to come from selectmen."

After a speaker accused the Cape Cod Commission of being "captured by a few special interests with enough money to buy just about anything they want, including the government agency intended to protect us all," its members voted unanimously yesterday for a procedural denial of the portion of Cape Wind's project on land and in state waters. The denial is without prejudice, which means Cape Wind can resubmit its plans as a Development of Regional Impact at any time. The decision did not address the 130-wind turbine installation itself planned for federal waters in Nantucket Sound.

The Cape Cod Commission has voted to deny a plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. A commission subcommittee recommended the denial, saying Cape Wind Associates was unwilling to provide more time and information. But the company said it provided exhaustive amounts of information about the project, which has already cleared previous hurdles.

The City Council will discuss rules governing wind energy at its Tuesday meeting, according to the council's agenda. Councilor at-large Jay Cruz Jr., along with two members of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals, have offered a petition that would amend the Fitchburg code to govern wind turbines. "Basically it's important to get something on the books pertaining to wind energy," said Matthew Straight, a ZBA member and former city councilor who is co-sponsoring the legislation.

The Cape Cod Commission - a regulatory agency formed to slow the dizzying pace of development of the Cape in the 1980s - is expected to deny Cape Wind Associates a permit this week, potentially delaying the nation's first offshore wind farm even further. A subcommittee recommended that the commission deny the permit due to insufficient information - a ruling that prompted howls from allies of Cape Wind Associates, which has been pitching its plans to the commission and other governmental agencies for six years.

Quincy is taking the first steps to address the growing possibility of wind power turbines built within city limits, following the announcement by a local construction company that it plans to build a wind turbine on its own property and use the energy itself. ...While the time is right for a city ordinance, said Dave Murphy, the city's chief of operations, it's not yet time to encourage large-scale development of wind power because the city doesn't have a site. The city has been measuring wind speed at the police station on Sea Street, and at a privately owned radio tower inland at Quarry Hills, to assess the feasibility for sites, Murphy said.

A race for windmills - or at least windmill bylaws - is on in Savoy. Landowner Harold Malloy and the town Planning Board both are proposing zoning bylaw changes that will provide guidelines for wind-powered turbine development - with the board's yet-to-be-completed proposal having far more stringent guidelines than Malloy's. ...Town Clerk Phinney said she was fairly certain that Malloy's proposal, if put to a vote, would fail. "As town clerk, I get a lot of feedback while in my office, and the general attitude is mostly against the Malloy amendment," she said. "I won't say it's 100 percent, but I'd say 2 to 1 - and mostly because people don't like things changed very much."

FAIRHAVEN — The Fairhaven wind project and developer CCI Energy seemed one step closer to securing turbines for their project after the Orleans Board of Water Commissioners decided against proceeding with its own wind project last week. But that one step is still tantalizingly far from the finishing line now that the Orleans Select Board voted Wednesday night to reopen the review process.

City Council is considering seeking a financial contribution from the city's biggest company in return for allowing it to alter the horizon with wind turbines tall enough to be visible almost everywhere on Cape Ann. The issue was raised by Councilor Jason Grow as councilors inched toward a vote Tuesday night on permitting Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates to build what would be the tallest turbines in the state. "I support (Grow) on this," said Peckham. "The city will have to live with (the turbines) every single day."

Yesterday at a Cape Cod Commission subcommittee meeting, Cape Wind officials agreed to allow the regional planning and regulatory agency two more weeks to reach a decision on the project. The extension gives the commission until Oct. 21 to make a determination on the project.

The Cape Cod Commission is being squeezed by those who want it to kill Cape Wind Associates' proposal to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound and those who don't want it to review the plan at all. "If you're ever going to be in a position to exert your authority and the authority you're charged with by the Legislature, I would say now is the time," said Charlie McLaughlin, a lawyer for the town of Barnstable, in testimony yesterday before a subcommittee reviewing the project.

Massachusetts were shelved temporarily yesterday after officials were informed a wind turbine in Oregon collapsed and took a life four days earlier. Conveying the news, Michael Faherty, the attorney for Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, had to raise his voice over the noise of a helicopter hovering above Blackburn Industrial Park. The helicopter was brought in by Varian to show the council and community how high and visible the twin turbines would be. ... The towers would rise 328 feet from their bases with blade heights adding another 168 feet, for a total of 496 feet - roughly the height of a 30-story building.

Following a public hearing yesterday, the Cape Cod Commission voted to recommend a new adjudicatory process for Development of Regional Impact reviews of energy-related facilities under the jurisdiction of the state Energy Facilities Siting Board. Commission chair Bob Jones of Sandwich advised with a smile that he could save some "heartburn" for audience members by announcing that language making the changes applicable to the Cape Wind project would not be included. Actually, he probably just shifted the upset from backers of the project to its opponents. The latter had hoped Commission action would have established a process that would satisfy the EFSB's standards.

The Air Force has approved siting of a proposed wind turbine at the Massachusetts Military Reservation within a buffer zone around the PAVE PAWS radar station in Sagamore. In June, the U.S. Department of Defense established a 25-kilometer zone around the PAVE PAWS facility within which any proposed wind turbines would require review by military officials. The buffer zone is about 15 ½ miles.

Plymouth has been awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative for Wind Turbine Project Feasibility Studies at a number of sites in town. The feasibility study will provide crucial information that will help Plymouth determine the most appropriate ways to pursue potential wind projects at up to three sites, including the wastewater treatment plant, Plymouth South High School and the Indian Brook Elementary School.

SOUTH DENNIS - Selectmen last night joined their Yarmouth counterparts in endorsing a wind data tower at the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School in South Yarmouth. The Dennis board unanimously approved placing the proposal before the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District Committee, which must ultimately decide whether the project moves forward. The proposed meteorological tower - known as an MET tower - is the next step in efforts to erect a wind turbine that could serve much of the regional school district's energy needs.

NEWBURY - The town's Alternative Energy Source Committee is hoping to catch the wind - or at least enough of it to save the town a little money. The three-member panel will apply to a program called the Community Wind Collaborative that would provide a meteorological test tower to measure the wind at a town-owned, 51/2-acre lot on Plum Island. The group wants to find out if there is enough of a breeze to operate a wind turbine to generate electricity that could be sold back to the region's power grid, energy committee Chairman Gene Smith said.

The state's largest commercial fishing organization is publicly challenging assertions by the developer of the Cape Wind project that their offshore wind energy project will actually improve fishing in Nantucket Sound. The Massachusetts Fishermen's Partnership (MFP), which is comprised of 18 commercial fishing organizations, decided to take its message to the airwaves in a TV commercial now appearing on several channels, said Executive Director David Bergeron, "because the public needs to know that sustainable commercial fishing would be impacted and displaced" by the Cape Wind development project on Horseshoe Shoal.