Slow down, the Franklin Regional Planning Board has advised the state about its proposed 'fast-track' wind energy siting legislation. The Legislature should conduct a hearing in Franklin County, the regional board wrote this week in its comments on the fast-track bill.

nder the newly released ocean management plan for the state's coastal waters, Greater Newburyport's coastline could one day be home to 10 wind turbines. Massachusetts officials yesterday released a draft of the plan that spells out rules for setting up wind farms in state waters.

Members of the Alternative Energy Initiative Committee are disappointed that town meeting voters rejected a request for $55,000 to study possible sites for wind energy. ...The request was for up to $55,000 to study two places believed to have enough wind velocity to harness energy.

A state plan to manage future renewable energy projects in coastal waters would put the kibosh on proposed large wind farms in Buzzards Bay but open up the possibility of as many as 10 turbines in the waters around Cape Cod and almost 170 turbines southwest of Martha's Vineyard. "We're the first state in the nation to conduct such a comprehensive ocean management plan," Ian Bowles, state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said.

Dozens of wind turbines could sprout within sight of the Massachusetts shoreline under a first-of-its-kind state blueprint with the promise of generating both electricity and controversy. The draft plan, scheduled to be released today, would allow a series of small wind farms of up to 10 turbines each in coastal waters that stretch 3 miles from shore.

The Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board has voted 7-0 to authorize a Certificate of Environmental Impact for the Cape Wind offshore wind energy project. The board effectively granted nine state and local permits required for the project to proceed. In doing so, the board overrode the 2007 decision by the Cape Cod Commission to deny a Development of Regional Impact permit for the electrical cable.

On most sites a 40-foot wide road to the turbine location would to be built to allow for crane access. Tilly estimated the average wind speed across the sites at around 11 mph at 49 meters above the ground (150 feet) and 15 mph at an elevation of 80 meters. B&V relied heavily on measurements made by a test tower at the golf course. Wind speeds peak in March and hit a trough in August. Breezes from the southwest would generate most of the power.

Reminding a state panel Shay's Rebellion was fought in the Berkshires, numerous area residents expressed their displeasure on Wednesday night with a bill working its way through the Legislature they say would put too much control over wind-turbine permitting in the hands of a "politically appointed" state board. "This is about giving away your freedom, this is about giving away your power," said self-proclaimed mountain man Rene Wendell.

On the first sunny evening all week a crowd of 247 voters turned out to Special Town Meeting Thursday to vote on a citizen petition proposed “moratorium” on the wind energy bylaw and an article amending the previously approved article on the high school’s turf field. Shortly after Town Meeting was called to order Town Moderator Daniel Evans told the crowd they would not be able to act upon the wind energy bylaw as it was set forth in the warrant.

While the Berkshire hills are being eyed as the primary location for wind power projects on state-owned land, turbines aren't likely to start popping up anytime soon, state officials said Wednesday during a public input session at Berkshire Community College. ...opponents accused the state of being misguided into believing wind power will help the state meet future energy needs.

Citizens expecting to head to the high school gymnasium tonight (Thursday) to cast their vote on a proposed amendment to the wind energy bylaw will not be given the chance. On the eve of the scheduled Special Town Meeting Wednesday a majority of the Planning Board determined they needed more information, discussion and clarity on the citizen petition article concerning the wind energy bylaw.

The committee began looking over the ordinance in April. The City Council had agreed to re-examine the ordinance and possibly make changes after neighbors in the Back Bay neighborhood voiced their opposition to the 292-foot turbine put up by business owner Mark Richey on his woodworking facility site in the industrial park.

The Renewable Energy Wind Power Committee presented its final report to selectmen Wednesday, recommending that the town consider building a single, municipally operated 600 kilowatt wind turbine in the Orleans Watershed, at Site 1, near the old swamp.

Newburyport's wind turbine bugs some neighbors.Lifelong Newburyport resident Patty Spalding is trying to get the attention of the Massachusetts legislature as it considers an amendment to the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. Currently in committee, Senate bill No. 1504 (House bill 3065), would among other things establish a full-time position to provide technical assistance to communities on the siting of wind energy facilities.

On the heels of a highly controversial wind turbine project application-the first under the wind energy conversion facility bylaw-a group of residents feel the bylaw needs revision. In order to revise the bylaw properly, the proponents are proposing a "moratorium" be placed on the bylaw and all its provisions to prevent new applications from being grandfathered in under the current bylaw.

The influential Cape Cod Commission is appealing a state board's recent decision to grant the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm a suite of local permits, warning that the move could mean little local say in future energy projects across the state. The appeal, to the state's highest court, was one of three announced yesterday - the town of Barnstable and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound filed others - over the consolidation last month by the Energy Facilities Siting Board of nine local permits for the 130-turbine project into one "superpermit.''

Last night's hearing was the first of two public meetings being held to take comments on a study that identified up to 947 megawatts of potential wind power on state land. The second session is scheduled for next week in the Berkshires.

Following on the heels of the Cape Cod Commission, which began an appeal process last week, the town of Barnstable has filed paperwork with the Supreme Judicial Court to challenge the Cape Wind proceedings. In a release issued Monday, the Cape Cod Commission confirmed its plans to appeal the comprehensive permit granted to Cape Wind Associates last month.

As the state moves forward with proposed legislation for siting wind turbines, planning board officials in some hilltowns want a public hearing in western Massachusetts, where the mountains, open space and vast areas of state-owned land could be prime locations for commercial windmills. Last month, the Rowe, Heath and Hawley planning boards all sent letters to legislative co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications expressing concerns that the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act would 'significantly restrict Massachusetts communities' home rule authority.