A Raleigh couple whose proposal to construct a windmill farm in Down East Carteret County has drawn recent controversy say the moratorium the county has now put in place for wind turbines and other towers was the first indication they had from the county of its concerns. The Carteret County Board of Commissioners approved a nine-month moratorium this week on the permitting of electricity-generating wind turbines, towers and other tall structures while the county staff devises regulations for their use in the county. ..."Maybe we would have (expressed concern) if we had any idea they were talking about structures nearly 500 feet in the middle of a residential community," Langdon said. And it's only been since the Pauls went to the Utilities Commission that the community has reviewed the plans and voiced its concerns.

The residents of Fairhaven are not naïve, gullible nor ignorant. The residents are connecting the dots and I believe they see that this project has been handled in a secretive, deceitful and underhanded manner. That the information from the developers is biased when the presenters receive monetary gain by the wind industry. ...With a monetary gain by so many involved in this project, I have to wonder what happens to honesty, integrity and caring to those poor residents living near the turbines.

[T]he Town Board on Monday unanimously passed a revised version on its second attempt. The Town Board had passed the proposal back to the Planning Board in June following a public hearing during which residents aired objections. Along with outdated technical language, windmill owner and Zoning Board of Appeals member Mark Thorn found the proposed tower height too low. He also said a setbacks of 1.5 times the height of a tower would make it hard to put windmills on smaller properties, thereby discouraging their use.

Less than two weeks after a Brace Road resident put up a 133-foot windmill, the Town Board held a hearing Monday on a proposed law that would have outlawed that same windmill. The windmill's owner, Mark Thorn, came armed with a Power-Point presentation to lobby against the proposed law's 100-foot height limit on windmills and other restrictions he felt would discourage wind energy. Afterward, Supervisor Dodie Huber allowed that, "we may want to give it (windmill zoning) back to the Planning Board." Planning Board Chairman Terry Wilkins added later, "We've heard from the public. We'll work as a team and make the necessary changes."

The planning and zoning commission created a "turbine zone" in the southern part of the county where wind farms will be allowed. "We decided on that so we could take some time to slow down and figure out how to allow these (turbines) without infringing on other people's rights."

E.ON is planning to build a large offshore wind farm in the North Sea. This was announced by the company today at the 5th Maritime Conference of the German Environment Ministry in Hamburg. The wind farm will be built roughly 40 kilometers (approx. 25 miles) to the northwest of the East Frisian island of Juist. To this end, E.ON has now taken over the Offshore Wind Park Delta North Sea project from the Enova Group. The sea area selected has already been designated as particularly suitable for this purpose by the Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH – German Federal Agency of Maritime Shipping and Hydrography).

E.ON UK is to appeal against a local government refusal to grant planning permission for a wind farm at Auchencorth Moss in Scotland, the German-owned utility said on Thursday. Midlothian Council rejected the plan to build a 45-megawatt onshore wind farm neat Penicuik in February, despite the project's potential to contribute towards Britain's already challenging renewable energy targets.

E.On UK said it intends to submit an application for planning permission to put the grid connection to the proposed Denshaw Moor Wind Farm underground. The move has been taken to ensure that the visual impact of the proposed wind farm is minimised, although the decision will cost E.On more money as it is more expensive to underground wires, the company said.

E.ON UK, the British arm of German power giant E.ON, has applied to Sedgefield Borough Council for permission to build its proposed GBP26 million Butterwick Moor wind farm.

...to traditional crofters, it would destroy the heart and soul of the island. "They don't want to see the land spoiled," says Catriona Campbell, chairman of Mointeach gun Mhuileann - Moorland without Turbines (MWT) - the crofters' group opposing the scheme. "It's just intrinsically connected with us as people."

What did Reunion Power executives say about the Town of Cherry Valley's revised proposed law to regulate wind-turbine development? "Nothing that's publishable," said Walter Buist, town planning board member. The proposed ordinance, adopted by the planning board Wednesday, Sept. 6, was due before the town board Thursday, Sept. 14, as this edition went to press, and it includes provisions that may make development of a 24-turbine wind farm on East Hill impossible. (For a report on that meeting, visit www.freemansjournal.com Friday morning, Sept. 15.)

Eastern superintendent Tracy Caddell indicated filing for the variance doesn’t change anything. “As stated ... the school corporation will abandon the project if the opposition obtains enough signatures to trigger the petition-remonstrance process,” Caddell said. “The filing of the variance is a non-issue.”

A group in southeastern Idaho has requested a judicial review of the Bingham County commissioners' approval of two wind farms. Natural Guardian Limited Partnership of Idaho Falls requested the review late last month because it said the production of energy is not in compliance with a county ordinance. The group also said there were inconsistencies within the county's planning and zoning decisions when it came to approving the wind farms.

Campaigners trying to protect the Lammermuirs were this week in shock following a decision to allow a windfarm in a national beauty spot. The approval for 16 giant turbines on the Aikengall Ridge took protestors by surprise when it was granted by East Lothian District Council last Tuesday. Widespread outrage erupted after councillors went against the recommendations of their own planners and voted in favour of the 125m turbines. There was further anger when it emerged that only five of the 12 councillors at the meeting had actually visited the site which is on a prominent ridge on the eastern edge of the Lammermuirs. Six councillors voted in favour with six against and the deadlock was broken by chairman Norman Hampshire using his casting vote in favour of the farm. East Lothian's first windfarm would, he said, be good for the "global environment".

LEE - Residents spoke for and against a $100 million wind farm being proposed for far eastern Maine when the Land Use Regulation Commission held its first public hearing on the project Tuesday. Evergreen Wind Power is seeking a zoning change to build 38 wind turbines on Stetson Mountain, a ridge line that runs about six miles along the border between northern Washington County and Penobscot County between Danforth and Springfield.

The selectmen voted yesterday to remove their commercial wind turbine bylaw from the May 5 town meeting warrant. "There were too many holes (in the bylaw)," chairwoman Linda Burt said yesterday. Some members of the board were not happy with last-minute revisions to the commercial turbine bylaw made by Selectman Martin McDonald because they did not have time to discuss or vote on them. ...For selectmen, one major problem with their proposed bylaw was that it required so much land, 33 acres per 400-foot-tall turbine, that the town could never have built one on municipal property. Ironically, the board had been critical of a rival petitioned commercial bylaw proposal that would have mandated 132 acres for the same-sized turbine.

EASTHAM -- Eastham is poised to become the first Lower Cape town to sail boldly toward land-based wind power. The town’s Energy Committee in January will issue Requests for Proposals from private developers to install up to four, 400-foot-tall wind turbines on two parcels of town-owned property in North Eastham. At a community meeting in town hall Saturday, committee members explained the process and the reasons behind the project as more than 80 townspeople listened intently.

EASTHAM - Homeowners opposed to a proposed wind turbine project in town peppered the energy committee with data, anecdotes from other areas of the country, and vitriol yesterday. ''My property values are going to go through the basement,'' Lori Hovenstine told the committee during a meeting at Eastham Town Hall to air concerns about the town's plans to build four 400-foot-tall wind turbines in North Eastham. About 60 people cheered speakers and mumbled under their breath at committee chairman Brian Eastman's attempts to clarify some of their claims. People, most of them abutters to the proposed site off Nauset Road, said they were worried about view obstruction, noise, environmental damage and the durability of the turbines' enormous blades. ''These wind turbines are gargantuan monstrosities,'' Robert Misterka said. ''To put a heavy industrial development in the midst of a peaceful neighborhood is irresponsible.'' He said the 400-foot structures would dwarf the 220-foot-tall Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown.

When it comes to getting major municipal projects approved at town meeting, Eastham looks a lot more like struggling Julio Lugo than Red Sox batting leader Kevin Youkilis. Three major municipal projects - a four-turbine wind farm, a 250-space parking lot and oceanside beach, and a $75 million municipal water system - are all in holding patterns through a combination of negative town meeting votes, pending litigation, and/or determined opposition. Major projects often require a two-thirds vote at town meeting, and that can be the choke point for a project, particularly in the face of a determined opposition.

The township has received an application for a conditional use permit from a company that wants to build a wind turbine facility. BP Alternative Energy plans to build a facility with as many as 89 turbines in the southern part of Wyoming County, within the boundaries of Noxen, Eaton, Forkston and Mehoopany townships. On Tuesday, Supervisor Randy Ehrenzeller said the application permit calls for 17 turbines.