The agreement does not give any special consideration to a controversial wind farm in Buzzards Bay. ...Under the new legislation, no renewable projects could be built in the state's ocean sanctuaries - the entire coastline except for a stretch from Boston Harbor to Marshfield - until the management plan is completed, and only then if the project is deemed appropriate for the region where it is proposed and consistent with the plan. Cape Cod Ocean Sanctuary, which includes the Cape Cod National Seashore, would be excluded.

Despite vocal opposition from some town residents, a proposed wind project cleared another hurdle last week when the town's Conservation Commission issued an order of conditions. The commission approved the project last month. Developer James Sweeney of CCI Energy also needs approval from the Planning Board before the project can move forward. Mr. Sweeney is proposing to erect two, 397-foot wind turbines on town-owned land adjoining the waste treatment plant on Arsene Street. The Planning Board held a two-night public hearing on the project in April and will address the matter at its meeting tonight.

A landmark bill designed to better manage everything from wind farms to whale watching in the coastal waters off Massachusetts is making its way through the Statehouse and could emerge from a key legislative committee as soon as this week. ...A single, compromise version of the bill is expected to be released this week. ...Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth said the bill is needed as the ocean waters are increasingly coming under pressure. "Our ocean is the last great stretch that has not yet been developed," Murray said when the Senate approved their version of the bill. "We have well-established laws for planning how we use our land, but nothing for our ocean."

Teams of men and women watch hawkishly over power supplies and power demand 24 hours a day, year-round. But the infrastructure that keeps the juice flowing - throughout New England and onto the Cape - faces serious challenges, from both inside and outside the system. "The same 14 million people are using more electricity every year," Gordon van Welie, president and chief executive officer for ISO, said during a recent interview in a conference room above the busy control room.

The state would open up ocean sanctuaries to renewable energy development under a legislative agreement that could allow a controversial wind farm in Buzzards Bay to be built under certain conditions. ...Under current law, development can only take place in the state's ocean sanctuaries if it is deemed a "public necessity." The five protected sanctuaries are on the North Shore, Cape Cod Bay, the southern Cape and islands and Buzzards Bay. The new law would allow renewable energy projects, but they would be subject to an ocean management plan to be drawn up by a special commission by Dec. 31, 2009, according to people familiar with the agreement. The commission will decide the specific regulations, including allowable distance from shore, scale and type of technology, community benefits and environmental impact.

Last night, the second session of this year's Town Meeting approved a bylaw governing windmills, as voters continued to make their way through a hefty 43-article warrant. ...The bylaw will allow building-mounted units that do not increase the height of a building by more than 20 percent, but require those looking to build free-standing structures to obtain a special permit from the Planning Board. All windmills will be less than 150 feet in height and, in an effort to limit wind farms, only one turbine will be allowed per acre of land. The bylaw also includes color, noise and setback requirements for wind power units.

Town Meeting last night temporarily shot down a bylaw that would have set up guidelines for wind turbines, with critics saying the measure was inflexible and incomprehensible. Meeting members referred the proposed bylaw back to a committee that will include two members of the Planning Board, two members of the Standing Committee on Planning and Zoning, two members of the Greener Framingham Committee, and one member from the Board of Selectmen. That task force is to report back to fall Town Meeting with its recommendations, said Town Moderator Ed Noonan at the conclusion of the Town Meeting session. The town does not have a wind turbine bylaw.

The fate of the Town Hall wind turbine was again delayed Monday as selectmen held voting on a contract until Wednesday to get more information on costs and other variables. The town and contractor Steve Pitney, of Alternate Energy, agreed in principal to a contract last week, but some selectmen wanted to find out how much it would cost for the Highway Department to do preliminary and foundation work and how much the cost in materials has risen since Alternate Energy bid on the project more than a year ago. ...[Selectman Mauk said] he has opposed the turbine because no one has ever proven that he's wrong about the project not producing enough energy. Exact figures for increases in material costs are missing, too, he added.

Developers of a proposed trio of wind farms in Buzzards Bay have dropped part of the project planned off the Fairhaven shoreline, citing the area's high boat traffic and population of endangered roseate terns. Patriot Renewables, LLC, a Quincy firm affiliated with Jay Cashman Inc., announced the decision Monday to end plans for the cluster of turbines off Fairhaven in the area south of Sconticut Neck and West Island. Patriot Renewables continues to study two other Buzzards Bay locations - off Dartmouth and Naushon Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands. ...the firm's goal would continue to be to develop a project that would generate 300 megawatts of electricity. Instead of the three locations for up to 120 wind turbines, there would be two.

While Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick continues to push for more renewable energy and conservation efforts, a plan to build 20 wind turbines in Florida and Monroe is stymied by a protracted legal challenge from environmentalists. ..."We want to be sure that the state's environmental regulations are properly enforced," said John C. Bartenstein, the attorney representing neighboring opponents and another organization, Green Berkshires.

Plans are still on track for construction of five, 2.5-megawatt wind turbines on West Hill, according to Don McCauley, president of the Framingham-based Minuteman Wind. Voters approved a zoning bylaw that would allow the project in January. Since then, the Attorney General's office approved the bylaw and according to Jane Phinney, town clerk, the new bylaw was posted last week. "The new law says that he'll have to apply for a special permit from the town," she said.

Proposals to create a residential and agricultural zoning district for John Wise Avenue, reduce spending on the Essex Youth Commission, approve a bylaw governing windmills, and take the latest step toward selling a portion of land on Conomo Point highlight a hefty 43-article Town Meeting warrant officials expect will take until Tuesday to settle. ...The bylaw would allow building-mounted units that do not increase the height of a building by more than 20 percent, but require those looking to build free-standing structures to obtain a special permit from the Planning Board. No windmill of any kind could exceed 150 feet in height and, in an effort to limit wind farms, only one turbine would be allowed per acre of land. The bylaw also includes color, noise and setback requirements for wind power units.

NStar electric customers in Massachusetts will be able to buy renewable energy directly from wind farms - including one under development in Maine - under a newly approved billing option. ...The energy would come from either Maple Ridge Wind Farm in upstate New York, or from Kibby Mountain, a wind farm under development in Maine. NStar has signed two 10-year contracts to receive energy from the wind farms.

Just months after House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi killed a bill that was designed to block a controversial liquefied natural gas project from being built on 73 acres in Fall River, the landowner, Jay Cashman, sold the property to the terminal developers and made a $14.2 million profit, according to a Globe review of real estate and legislative records. ...DiMasi said he sought to open up Buzzards Bay to wind farm development because he strongly supports alternative energy, not because Cashman was interested in developing the site. "We don't talk about those things. It was all policy-driven," DiMasi said. Cashman declined to be interviewed. His spokesman, George Regan, said Cashman did not discuss his financial interest in the LNG terminal in Fall River or in the wind farm in Buzzards Bay with the speaker.

Looking to encourage the use of renewable wind energy while protecting the rights of residents wary of large windmills looming above the countryside, Planning Board members say they are open to tweaking parts of their proposed wind-energy bylaw at Town Meeting. ...For turbines not attached to buildings, the new bylaw would bar units on free-standing towers from exceeding 150 feet and would require them to be located one-and-a-quarter times their height away from the nearest property line, public road or utility lines. Owners would be required to get a special permit from the Planning Board, but not a variance. Holton said the Planning Board had reached a consensus on not wanting large commercial wind farms or towers in town since the lack of large, elevated, open parcels in Essex makes such endeavors better suited to other towns.

Beginning in 2010, wind in the Berkshires will help meet some of the electricity needs of 14 Central and Eastern Massachusetts communities whose municipal utilities belong to the newly formed Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative. ...The deal is expected to close next month. When it does, MMWEC and the 14 other municipal utilities that are members of the Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative will own the project, acquiring easements, permits, agreements, engineering documents, developed property and other assets of early preconstruction development work. At full capacity, the 10 wind turbines will produce 15 megawatts of power. One megawatt is enough to supply electricity to 300 to 400 homes.

By the time federal regulators stopped accepting public comments about the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm on Monday, two of the letters had already raised some eyebrows among the project's critics. That's because the two letters were signed by the same person, state Division of Marine Fisheries director Paul Diodati, but they struck noticeably different tones. ...Diodati's first letter [dated Feb. 20] spells out the loss of access that fishermen could face as well as concerns about rescue crews reaching a troubled boat in the area. But the second letter, dated March 7, tones down the rhetoric considerably, reducing the section that lists the potential impacts to fisheries to just a few sentences. The section also mentions a couple of possible benefits, such as certain species becoming attracted to the newly built tower foundations.

More than 40,000 individuals and organizations have submitted comments on an environmental review of the wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound, according to federal officials. "I've never seen anything like this before," said Rodney Cluck, Cape Wind project manager for the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the lead federal agency to review Cape Wind Associates' plan to build 130 wind turbines in the sound. ...No other project reviewed by the agency during Cluck's 11 years with MMS has received as much attention, he said.

The Fairhaven wind project is one step closer to the finish line after being approved by the Conservation Commission Tuesday night, but it still needs to get past the Planning Board. A public hearing on the project was held before the Planning Board Tuesday; after more than two hours of public comment and questions, the board voted to continue the hearing to May 6. About 20 people attended the hearing. Fourteen of them raised their hands when asked by the chairman if they were opposed to the proposed site of the two turbines. "No one is saying here that wind turbines are bad," said Ann DeNardis, a resident who spoke against the project. "What you are saying is this is not the location for wind power in this town."