The La Porte County Board of Zoning Appeals approved the request of La Crosse Farms Wind Project LLC to install the second tower at a meeting Tuesday night. The towers will collect data over the next few years to see if the area would support a wind turbine farm.

Lawmakers will rally again for statewide regulations on wind farm development in the upcoming legislative session, and, if the standards pass, local regulation could be a thing of the past. "We will push for the (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin) to create uniform standards and regulation of wind energy for all projects," said Curt Pawlisch, an attorney with Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP, Madison. Pawlisch is revising wind farm standards that failed to get out of legislative committees last session. "I wouldn't say local regulations would be for naught," he said, "but the PSC would determine what works and what doesn't."

Heartland Wind LLC will lease land from the city and Glen Stalsberg on a 1,300-foot elevated ridge on the west edge of the city ...As part of the agreement, the city of Westby and the Stalsbergs will not be allowed to plant trees or construct buildings on the leased property because they could interfere with wind flow.

On November 13, the Union town board unanimously voted to adopt regulations governing noise limits and setbacks pertaining to industrial scale wind turbines. With this vote, the board brought to a close a controversial issue involving the safe placement of industrial turbines within the town of Union. The vote comes just months before the expected intense political wrangling by some members of the State legislature who seek to assign all wind siting authority to the Public Service Commission, leaving local governments out of the process.

Not long after the wind turbines began to spin in March near Gerry Meyer's home, his son Robert, 13, and wife, Cheryl, complained of headaches. They have trouble sleeping, and Cheryl Meyer, 55, sometimes feels a fluttering in her chest. Gerry is sometimes nauseated and hears crackling. The culprit, they say, is the whooshing sound from the five industrial wind turbines near the 6-acre spread where they have lived for 37 years.

Filling what it argues is a void in the state's vetting of wind-power projects, the town of Union is marking its turf with a proposed ordinance essentially outlawing such projects. "I think the state of Wisconsin has shown it's going to do what (wind-farm development) companies want," said Tom Alisankus, Union municipal judge and resident. "I think they look at these big wind-farm projects and just hope there won't be enough resistance at the local level to slow them down. "But I think they'll find there's fight in some of these places, and Union is one of them."

The Town of Union Plan Commission unanimously approved a recommendation for an ordinance regulating wind turbines Thursday. ...Plan commission member Doug Zweizig expects the board to take action on the ordinance after the hearing. The ordinance prohibits construction of turbines within a half mile of occupied structures, Zweizig said. The setback may be reduced to 1,000 feet with permission from property owners or neighbors, he said.

We Energies filed an application today with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) for authorization tobuild the Glacier Hills Wind Park. The proposed wind park would be located in the towns of Randolph and Scott in northeast Columbia County -- approximately 45 miles northeast of Madison. Current plans call for the project to consist of up to 90 wind turbines that would generate as much as 207 megawatts of electricity.

Invenergy, one of the large wind energy firms proposing to erect large windmills in the area, is bypassing the town and the ordinance it enacted to regulate wind farms. Morrison town zoning administrator Joy Koomen said Invenergy is seeking permits from the state rather than going through the town. ..."I am not happy," town chairman Todd Christensen said.

Attempts to attract wind farm developments to the Great Lakes could pit Wisconsin against Michigan. John Hummer, project manager for the Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development, an Ann Arbor Mich.-based group, said once a uniform set of rules for wind farms has been adopted by the Great Lakes states, competition for farms could kick into gear. While setting the regulatory framework for offshore wind generation is the task at hand, competing for wind isn't far off, some say.

Wind Capital Group, headquartered in St. Louis, wants to build about 60 towers -- 400-feet high from the base to the tip of blade -- in portions of three townships: Smelser, Paris and Hazel Green. The proposed White Oak Wind Farm would have a total capacity of 100 megawatts. Wind Capital Group is working on development of future projects totaling more than 1,400 megawatts in 10 states. ...Opinions clashed at a contentious Smelser town meeting in late September attended by more than 150 people. Township residents voted overwhelmingly, 78-21, in favor on a nine-month moratorium on the project.

Making electricity from wind turbines in the middle of Lake Michigan is technologically feasible but would cost up to twice as much as land-based wind farms, a state study released Friday says. The study found there are "significant technological challenges" that would have to be overcome to build wind-power projects in deeper sections of the lake, where wind speeds are greater and more power could be generated. But more research is needed, particularly to get better data on wind speeds in the middle of Lake Michigan and also to track bird migration patterns over the lake.

KTVO has discovered a conflict of interest in the Sullivan County wind project. Commissioner James Howard is on the list of landowners that stand to profit financially from having a wind mill on their property. Plus, KTVO has obtained an eight-pages of document show that Howard and his wife Linda signed a lease option agreement on the Shuteye Creek Wind Project. Howard confirmed that he has an interest in the project.

As Wisconsin harnesses more energy from wind, American Transmission Co. LLC admits it still doesn't know how to spread out that power. ...The question then becomes whether local municipalities, some of which are reluctant to allow wind farms, will approve a project that not only brings turbines, but also new power lines. "I think that will be addressed with landowners before it would be with a town," said David Olsen, a supervisor for the town of Magnolia, which recently passed an ordinance with half-mile setback rules for wind farms. "But if it's something that adds onto the cost of the project, and that cost is then passed on to the consumer, it could make these projects very expensive," Olsen said.

Officials in Sullivan County agree a wind farm would be a positive addition, but they don't agree on how much they should do to accommodate the company that would bring it there. The county commission wants to create an enhanced enterprise zone to give Tradewind Energy the tax incentives they say they need. County Clerk Mike Hepler and Assessor Karen LaFever say the enhanced enterprise zone would leave the county short changed. "To sell out too cheap is not representing the public interest, it's representing the private interest. I was elected to represent the public interest," Hepler says.

Despite local opposition and a moratorium on wind farm development, the town of Union might approve construction of a wind-measurement tower. "It doesn't make any sense to me," said Lynda Barry-Kawula, who lives near Magnolia in Spring Valley. She is against wind farm development in Rock County. "The point of a moratorium is to stop development," she said, "and it's not like this tower could lead to anything else." The town's Plan Commission on Thursday night was scheduled to discuss approving Elgin, Ill.-based EcoEnergy Engineering LLC's application to build the almost 200-foot tower.

Manitowoc County planners voted 6-1 Monday to support changes in the county's small wind turbine ordinance, which some property owners say is unnecessarily strict. The Planning and Park Commission vote would eliminate a 1,000-foot setback requirement and designate areas where the turbines would be allowed. The proposed revisions now go to the Manitowoc County Board at a yet-to-be-determined date for discussion and a possible vote, said Mike Demske, Planning and Park Commission director.

EcoEnergy wants to erect a wind measurement tower in Union Township despite a town ordinance in the works that would eliminate nearly all suitable locations for wind turbines. "We're very interested in putting up this wind measure to evaluate wind resources in that area," said Curt Bjurlin, EcoEnergy project developer. EcoEnergy has proposed building three turbines in the township with Wisconsin Public Power Inc. to supply power to Evansville Water and Light customers.

Lynda Kawula never expected she'd end up with a second job as a wind farm researcher, publishing a Web site opposing wind farm plans in Rock County. She's now expanding her site, "Better Plan, Rock County," at www.betterplan.squarespace.com, to include video interviews with residents who live among Wisconsin's newest wind farms in the Fond du Lac area. ..."It's turbines all the time in our house," she jokes.

Today Governor Jim Doyle and four other Midwest Governors announced the creation of a regional transmission planning effort that will promote regional electric transmission investment and cost sharing. The Upper Midwest Transmission Development Initiative will identify wind generation resources, transmission projects and infrastructure needed to support those resources in a cost-effective manner.