PRINCETON— Proponents of Princeton Municipal Light Department’s proposed windmills filled the meeting room to support the new turbines plan at a Department of Telecommunications and Energy hearing last night.

Cape Wind is "unaffordable, inappropriate and the wrong way to go," Baker said. "I don't think the project is a good idea, and I will use whatever means I have to continue my opposition to it." ...Cape Wind will only serve to further hurt small business owners who will see their electric rates rise.

If you see some balloons floating on the hill behind Graham Waste, don't think there is a sale on used cars. The balloons are part of the on-going Planning Board review process for two wind turbines with a proposed siting off Route 3A. Beginning today (Friday) and continuing throughout the weekend, balloons will be floated as the approximate height of the two proposed wind turbine locations to aid the Planning Board in visualizing the scale of the project.

A massive 450-foot vessel arrived at State Pier from China on Thursday, delivering, in sections, the tallest wind turbine in the state. The 2-megawatt turbine, which, when assembled, will measure 415 feet from its base to the tip of its highest blade, is getting transported to Phillips-Lightolier in the Industrial Park over the weekend.

The committee narrowly recommended the proposed regulations, 3-2, Wednesday after two hours of public testimony from more than a dozen people at the Assembly of Delegates chamber. ...Without the proposed rules, the Cape Cod Commission would be unable to impose any standards at all for wind energy projects.

In the face of fierce opposition, the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates has rejected standards for local wind energy projects, calling the proposed regulations too lenient. Instead, the county's legislative body may now consider a yearlong moratorium on all wind turbines across Cape Cod, potentially setting county officials at odds with state policies and wind energy proponents.

The Cape Cod Commission has proposed rules that will prohibit construction of any more large wind turbines on most of Cape Cod. The regulations, which are the subject of a public hearing that will continue on Feb. 3, would require a 3,000-foot buffer between a land-based wind turbine and the nearest residential lot.

The college believes students would have benefited from having a turbine on campus to study, Gross said. "At this point we're stymied," he said, adding that the broader implications for other turbine projects across the regional historic district are "most unfortunate."

The decision to reject the project follows several months of debate over whether the turbine on state-owned land required approval from the historic district committee at all. The state had moved forward with the project, including preparations of the site near the college's tennis courts, but halted that work after the historic committee insisted it had the right to approve or reject the project.

A dispute over transmission lines for the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm landed in court this week. ...Barnstable officials filed a complaint in Barnstable Superior Court Wednesday claiming the Cape Cod Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over the transmission cables that would link the turbines to the shoreline. In October, the commission rejected a plan to have the transmission cables make landfall in Barnstable, and Cape Wind appealed that decision to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board. In the complaint filed Wednesday, Barnstable officials contend the state Energy Facilities Siting Board does not have the authority to review the commission's denial of the transmission lines.

After taking testimony for more than three hours at the West Barnstable fire station March 2, the commissioners all agreed that the Barnstable committee had acted properly in denying the certificate and that it had considered the energy advantages of the project as required by the statute. The recourse remaining for the applicant is an appeal to Barnstable Superior Court.

At last week's town council meeting, close to a dozen people came forward to express concern or speak in favor of litigation currently being pursued by the town. "I'm here to tell you publicly this project poses significant financial risk to the town if it goes forward as proposed," said Assistant Town Attorney Charles McLaughlin. McLaughlin told councilors there are 450 miles of beaches within five miles of an incident that might occur at the offshore wind farm.

The court noted the record contained many contentions that the wind farm could pose a safety risk to pilots operating under visual flight rules noting local airport managers pointed out pilots, "would have a difficult time staying beneath the foggy and otherwise inclement weather that often plagues Nantucket Sound, while at the same time maintaining a safe distance from the wind turbines. During such times, there would be a ‘clear risk of collision with the wind turbine generators.'"

The town of Barnstable and the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound filed an administrative appeal yesterday requesting that the Federal Aviation Administration reverse its approval of the Cape Wind project.

Members of the Citizens Wind Watch, a group of residents who oppose the wind turbine project in town, said Barrington Town Council member Kate Weymouth was out of line at last Monday's meeting when she commented on the opposition. ...Ms. Weymouth read from a prepared statement at the meeting, just prior to making a motion to accept CREB's recommendation not to build the turbine at Legion Way. Some of the statement included important dates in the process, while other portions commented on the opposition.

Early Monday morning, a 20-foot-plus piece of one of the blades on Bartlett's Ocean View Farm's wind turbine snapped off and fell to the ground nearby. The wind turbine immediately shut down. There were no reported injuries when the blade struck the surrounding farmland, said John Bartlett.

A portion of one of the blades on the Bartlett's Ocean View Farm windmill broke off at some point Sunday night and plummeted to the ground below.

The Massachusetts National Guard took a giant leap toward generating its future electricity needs through wind this week with about half of its proposed turbines approved by the Federal Aviation Administration without restrictions. The FAA approved eight of 17 sites at the Upper Cape military base on Thursday, saying they pose no adverse effects to aviation.

Wind turbines will soon be spinning at the Massachusetts Military Reservation. And military leaders hope they will help clear the air. In the next two years, Air Force and Army leaders plan to install as many as seven wind turbines to power some of the base's electricity-hungry groundwater treatment plants.

OTIS AIR BASE - Plans to build a wind turbine at the base are on hold until officials figure out whether a turbine would interfere with the Air Force's PAVE PAWS radar station in Sagamore.