BOISE, Idaho -- The federal government on Friday released a map of proposed Western energy corridors where new electricity transmission lines and pipelines for natural gas, oil and hydrogen could one day ferry energy from wells or power plants to the region's cities.

Concerns are growing across the nation over the number of birds, particularly eagles, that are losing their lives. Now, as the number of wind energy projects grows, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing to issue “take” permits that will make it legal for wind energy companies to kill eagles with no consequences.

The council says it appears the Federal Government will not budge anytime soon and it is up to state governments to increase targets.

The Federal Government has been asked to provide an official statement of reasons for its decision to lift a veto on the Bald Hills wind farm. The company, Wind Power, has been granted approval to build 52 turbines 10 kilometres from the south Gippsland coast near Tarwin Lower. South Gippsland Shire has voted to ask new federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull to explain the Government’s decision. Mayor Jennie Deane says 1,500 people in the region opposed the project and it should not be allowed to proceed. “We’ve always supported the Tarwin Valley coastal guardians and the local community there which is very opposed to this wind farm, so at this stage we really need to find out as a first step why the decision has been reversed and then we’ll decide what further action to take, if any, to support the community,” she said.

A federal judge in Austin dismissed a lawsuit that sought to prevent further construction of two Kenedy County wind farm projects. The suit was filed in December by the Coastal Habitat Alliance, a nine-member environmental group that includes King Ranch, claiming the projects would cause irrevocable damage to the environment and birds. The alliance also filed a suit in state court that was dismissed earlier this year. The wind farm projects, by Australian-based Babcock and Brown Ltd. and Oregon-based Iberdrola Renewables, formerly PPM Energy, continued with site preparation and initial construction and erection of wind turbines

Electric utility managers say it's a federal clean energy program that has them poised to build a big wind farm near Healy. The program would repay more than two-thirds of construction costs for a $93 million Eva Creek farm, Golden Valley Electric Association president Brian Newton said Friday.

The 2005 energy act gave the Energy Department the right to designate national-interest electric transmission corridors, where the federal government can step in to permit transmission towers and wires that have been rejected or delayed by states. In these corridors, the federal government can condemn private land along a power-line route. Now the department has set up two corridors that cover huge swaths of territory. The western zone includes Southern California and western Arizona. The eastern zone cuts from New York to Virginia and inland across large sections of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Transmission of electricity is critically congested at the core of each zone, the Energy Department says. The new federal authority in the corridors is attracting interest from utilities.

A new federal proposal to help electricity flow more freely could help the energy-choked East Coast. But it could also infuriate landowners, who have traditionally gotten their way in fights against utilities in Delaware. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman last week named Delaware as part of his proposed eastern National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor. It would run from New York to Virginia, and west to Ohio. A second corridor would run through California, Arizona and Nevada.

Idaho's wind industry has won a major victory over Idaho Power in a ruling from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Associated Press reports. FERC ruled that federal law doesn't allow a utility company to unilaterally curtail electricity purchases during times of light load when it has long-term power purchase agreements in place, like those Idaho Power has with wind-energy producers.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Thursday afternoon the merger between Energy East Corporation and Spanish utility company Iberdrola, S.A. ...Because Iberdrola’s operational facilities are independent of New York and New England, where Energy East also has electric utility operations, FERC officials determined that the merger would not “harm competition”

Some conservationists who work with Black question his ability to extricate himself from matters concerning NextEra, given the broad nature of the administration's effort.

WASHINGTON-A key federal agency says it won't issue its report on a plan to build the nation's first offshore wind farm off Cape Cod until next year. The United States Minerals Management Service, the agency that will decide the project's fate, says its draft environmental report will be delayed due to a lengthy and complex review process. The agency had expected to issue its report by year's end.

If state regulators follow through with an administrative law judge's recommendation to reject the Sunrise Powerlink, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. still has other options to get the transmission line it seeks. The California Public Utilities Commission decision may be appealed to the courts, or SDG&E could ask the federal government to override state regulators and authorize the big line. A 2005 law allows utilities and other power-line builders to go to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission if they want to build a line rejected by state authorities in areas where federal officials believe there isn't enough electric transmission.

Goulburn Mulwaree Councillor, Geoff Peterson, is urging individuals, community groups and organisations to make submissions to a Federal Senate inquiry into the social and economic impact of wind farm installations. ..."It is simply not good enough for large energy corporations to climb into bed with Governments and plonk these monstrosities all over the countryside without meaningful dialogue with local residents."

The interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution doesn't permit a state to impose burdens on the interstate market for electricity, lawsuit backers argue. Wind energy, in particular, costs more than traditional fuels and creates more pollution because coal or natural gas is needed to generate electricity when the wind doesn't blow.

Patricia Muscarello has asked the federal courts to permanently stop the Ogle County Board from allowing power-generating windmills to go up and the power company from building them

A long-anticipated draft environmental report on the Cape Wind project from the Minerals Management Service will be released Monday, sources said yesterday. The report's contents should indicate whether the federal agency believes Nantucket Sound is an appropriate site for the 130-turbine wind farm. Minerals Management Service - a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior - is the lead federal agency responsible for review of the project Boston-based Cape Wind Associates LLC proposed in 2001.

The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisatons (NFFO) has voiced "disappointment and dismay" at the announcement by the Crown Estate on proposed sites under round three for offshore renewable energy development. The NFFO says it has repeatedly expressed concern to Government departments on the lack of consultation at the primary stages of site selection. Dialogue at an early stage could substantially reduce the cumulative effects on fishermen from loss of access to prime fishing grounds to other offshore activities. ..."Not all sea bed is highly productive fishing ground and therefore some local sensitivity in siting these new wind farms could have been avoided through closer consultation with fishing representative's and communities at the primary planning stages of round three.

In a move with direct significance for the Mid-Atlantic, the U.S. Interior Department today released its final proposal for regulating offshore wind turbines and other "alternative" energy projects in federally controlled waters. Although work on detailed regulations will continue into next year, the agency plans to take applications during the next 60 days for permits to conduct offshore research on wind or other unconventional energy around the nation's Outer Continental Shelf. ...Several large national environmental groups have supported the offshore proposals for wind. But the American Bird Conservancy, American Littoral Society and others took opposing stands, urging the Interior Department to limit the projects and study threats to birds and fish in greater detail.