The Cape Cod Commission will hear public testimony this week on a process that may be used as it reviews Cape Wind Associates' proposal to build 130 wind turbines on Nantucket Sound. The proposed changes to the Commission process will affect projects that go before the state's energy facility siting board. That body has already approved the part of the Cape Wind project over which it has jurisdiction - the connection of the wind turbines' power line to the power grid. The Commission's regular meeting tomorrow begins at 3 p.m. with public comments on the new process in the Assembly of Delegates Chamber in the Barnstable District Courthouse.

Local environmentalists say rules changes proposed by state regulators would cut ordinary citizens out of the democratic process and leave the environment vulnerable to ill-considered development projects. They point to cases where citizen involvement has made a crucial difference in heading off developments, such as a plan to build houses on wetlands adjacent to Silver Lake in Kingston. The environmentally sensitive area ultimately became the Silver Lake Sanctuary, after residents appealed to the Department of Environmental Protection under the state's Wetlands Protection Act. The Department of Environmental Protection last month proposed changes intended to speed up environmental decisions that leave developers hanging for two years or more and imperil financing for worthwhile projects. The new rules would eliminate the right of any 10 residents of a community to appeal a DEP decision to the department's administrative law division for a hearing before an administrative law judge. But state officials say the new rules would retain essential protections.

BREWSTER - The discussion began cordially enough. After all, the two men on the small stage last night at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History were well respected in their own circles and came bearing long lists of endorsements for their views. But as the room heated up and despite a veneer of agreement on general issues such as the need to combat global warming and protect the Cape and Islands from environmental degradation, Jim Gordon and Charles Vinick were bound to disagree. The packed room of more than 140 audience members waited for it and when the oral blows fell, they cheered.

SAVOY - Hoping to "start the clock ticking" on a commercial wind-turbine farm, Harold Malloy filed a petition Tuesday to amend the town's bylaws. Malloy - who owns the 290 acres on West Hill where Minuteman Wind LLC hopes to put a five-turbine, 12.5 megawatt wind farm - acquired the 45 signatures necessary to file the citizen's petition and put the question to a town vote. "This petition is to amend our existing bylaws and will be using the template bylaw from the Massachusetts Department of Energy. It would allow by special permit the construction of commercial wind facilities," Malloy said.

EASTHAM - It seems the dream of the former Eastham Energy Committee, to site four 460-foot tall wind turbines on town-owned property in North Eastham, was just that - a dream. There is little likelihood any commercial wind turbine will be erected in Eastham, due to noise and setback concerns. Tom Reilly, chairman of the Wind Turbine Ad Hoc Committee, told selectmen Monday that after five meetings, "a majority of the ad hoc committee feels that there are significant hurdles to siting commercial-scale wind turbines in a residentially zoned area in such a way that the noise impact does not negatively impact nearby residences."

European experiments with deep-water wind farms are raising hopes among opponents of the Cape Wind project that giant turbines could one day be built farther out to sea than previously believed. Talisman Energy has recently installed two giant turbines about 12 miles off the coast of Scotland in waters as deep as 150 feet. The so-called "Beatrice Project" is considered one of the first major pilot programs to test the technology needed to build turbines in deep waters. Other deep-sea pilot projects are being eyed in Germany and Britain.

WESTPORT - The Town Hall wind mill is still alive, despite the misgivings of some members of the Board of Selectmen. The board on Monday accepted a builder's bid for the project and also approved having him apply for a $63,400 grant to build the structure. The project was proposed by the Alternative Energy Committee and approved by Town Meeting this year. But two-thirds of the troika opposed to the wind turbine, Selectman Chairman Veronica F. Beaulieu, and Robert P. Rebello, only said yes on Monday because they have to vote to accept the grant. The third opponent, Selectman Gary Earle Mauk, tried to kill the idea at Town Meeting but was stopped by the Town Moderator for maneuvering to stack the hall.

Central Maine Power and Maine Public Service have asked the ISO New England to review the feasibility of a transmission line that would link northern Maine with the regional grid and create a path for wind power to flow to load centers in southern New England. Tim Brown, MPS director of corporate planning and regulatory affairs, said Thursday that the line, expected to be in excess of 100 miles, would allow transmission of more than 500 MW of wind power, most of it still in planning. While the idea of connecting northern Maine to the regional grid has been discussed for years, it has taken on a new significance given the difficulty utilities and merchant generators have encountered when they've attempted to build plants in the high-demand southern New England states. In addition to growing demand, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have renewable portfolio standards, which create pressure for more large scale wind. But no major projects have been built in southern New England. In northern Maine, about 42 MW of wind is operating and an additional 500 MW has been proposed. If the line is not built, Brown said wind electricity in northern Maine could be routed into Canada then into southern New England. That, however, would require major upgrades to grid interface between MPS and New Brunswick Power. Brown said the utilities expect the ISO impact study to be completed by the end of 2007.

Selectmen on Monday night voted to sign a 25-year lease with a private developer to install two 396-foot wind turbines on Little Bay. A final signature on the 22-page lease agreement is contingent on a formal site plan for the project to be submitted by developer CCI Energy. "It's time to move this lease forward," said Selectman Michael Silvia. "It's time to follow the Town Meeting's wishes."

Environmental activists are fuming because Governor Deval Patrick is trying to limit residents' right to appeal state permit decisions as part of an effort to speed up permitting decisions for developers. Advocates contend that the administration is not practicing what it preached during the campaign: openness and civic involvement for all. On devalpatrick.com, the website formed to solicit citizen input and to engage the governor's vast grass-roots network, readers are panning the notion of restricting citizens' involvement in the permitting process for wetlands development. The administration wants to rewrite wetlands regulations curbing that right of appeal.

A $7.3 million project to install two wind turbines in the Orleans watershed is moving closer to construction. This week the Massachusetts Senate referred to committee the bill needed to permit the private project on four acres of land in the public watershed off Route 28 in Orleans. The bill's final passage isn't likely until after Labor Day. On Monday night, Orleans water commissioners and selectmen meet to work on a request for proposals for a private developer to build and operate the 397-foot tall turbines, water commissioner Kevin Galligan said yesterday. If all goes well, the request for proposals from bidders may go out in August, and turbines may be operating by next spring or early summer, he said. Voters originally approved the turbines last year.

Members of the new Wind Turbine Ad Hoc Committee got into the meat of the issues Monday surrounding the town's controversial proposal to erect wind towers off Nauset Road, a plan that has divided townspeople. The proposal would have sited up to four commercial wind towers, each 460 feet tall, on 12 acres of town-owned land. That proposal is off the table, and with it went two proposed zoning bylaws to regulate these wind turbines. The two bylaws, one proposed by the town and its energy committee, the other by abutters opposed to the proposal as it stood, were withdrawn from consideration by town meeting in May so that a new zoning bylaw, more palatable to both sides, could be submitted to selectmen. The committee, led by Tom Reilly, is charged with taking a look at the two original bylaws that were withdrawn and come up with a compromise bylaw to present to selectmen by Oct. 31. Monday's meeting was the committee's fourth and it plans to complete the job in nine meetings.

SCITUATE - The town has received a $65,000 grant to study whether wind energy can power its wastewater treatment plant. The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant comes after more good news for wind-power advocates: 12 months worth of anemometer readings at the plant show that there is enough wind to make it a suitable site for a turbine. Selectman Paul Reidy estimated that the town could save thousands of dollars by using wind power. The treatment plant used $146,000 worth of electricity last year. A draft of the feasibility study is expected to be ready by September. Officials are considering a public meeting at that point to discuss the town's options.

Two citizen groups filed an appeal Friday morning in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston seeking to overturn the state Department of Environmental Protection's decision last month to allow the Hoosac Wind Project in Florida and Monroe to move forward. The 20-page complaint charges that the DEP's June 20 decision to issue a wetlands permit for the 20-turbine wind farm - which overruled a decision of an administrative magistrate with the state Division of Administrative Law Appeals in May - was "procedurally irregular," against state law and not supported by substantial evidence.

Salem wants to help lead the way when it comes to tapping the power of the wind. The city is working with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public agency that invests in renewable energy projects and companies across the state, to pursue the goal of locating one or more electricity-generating wind turbines on municipal sites in Salem. As a first step, the collaborative recently agreed to provide Salem with a preliminary analysis of eight potential sites for wind turbines identified by the city's Renewable Energy Task Force.

An abutter's lawsuit has derailed a local businessman's plan to construct a 123-foot-high, commercial wind turbine on his Depot Road property. It is the first industrial turbine development to be approved in Harwich.......... According to the lawsuit, Davenport claims that the planning board, as the special permit-granting authority, exceeded its authority in approving the project and failed to meet several conditions required under town bylaws.

A Northampton lawyer, hired by a local citizens group, says a proposed wind turbine farm and an existing meteorological tower on West Hill are not allowed under the town's current zoning bylaws. The group, Savoy Neighbors, commissioned Jonathan Z. Souweine of Lesser, Newman, Souweine & Nasser LLP to do an analysis of Savoy's zoning bylaws in light of the proposed five 420 foot-turbine, 12.5 megawatt wind power facility to be located on 290 acres of West Hill. He determined the current bylaws prohibit any structure over 35 feet from being built in town.

Mihos has plans to install wind turbines at nine of his 15 Cape locations, including the Christy's overlooking Hyannis Inner Harbor and at the corner of Route 28 and Falmouth Road at the Hyannis/Yarmouth border........"They're not large at all and work aesthetically," he said of the turbines.

When it comes to getting major municipal projects approved at town meeting, Eastham looks a lot more like struggling Julio Lugo than Red Sox batting leader Kevin Youkilis. Three major municipal projects - a four-turbine wind farm, a 250-space parking lot and oceanside beach, and a $75 million municipal water system - are all in holding patterns through a combination of negative town meeting votes, pending litigation, and/or determined opposition. Major projects often require a two-thirds vote at town meeting, and that can be the choke point for a project, particularly in the face of a determined opposition.

FITCHBURG- A public meeting about wind turbine technology packed the Veterans Memorial Room in City Hall yesterday with residents. Several attendees peppered the conversation with independent research opposing the machines.