HINESBURG — Vermont could get half its electric power from renewable sources within 10 years, including 20 percent from wind, if it gets busy developing the resources now, says a new report. The report by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, issued Thursday in the front yard of a company that makes testing equipment for potential wind power sites, comes against the backdrop of a debate over energy policy that has grown increasingly heated and increasingly political this election season.

Voters overwhelmingly opposed the wind tower proposal slated for neighboring Sheffield and Sutton on Tuesday evening. The unanimous opposition provided the town selectmen with precisely the overwhelming sense of direction they lacked last fall. “I think it was clear,” Selectman Robert Croteau said. “It’s not like we only had 25 or 30 people or even 60 or 70.” An estimated 120 voters turned out to make their position, and that of their town, unmistakably clear. That clarity, however, may have little effect on the Public Service Board (PSB), which must decide whether to issue a certificate of public good for the 16 towers UPC Vermont Wind wants to build.

(East Haven, VT - AP) - The state Public Service Board travels this week to the tiny northeastern Vermont town of East Haven to look at the site of a proposed wind power project. At the center of the debate over the proposed East Haven Wind Farm is how pristine the surrounding forest is and whether it would be spoiled by the project.

RUTLAND, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2006--Catamount Energy Corporation (Catamount) and Marubeni Power International, Inc. (Marubeni) announced today that they are ending development of the Glebe Mountain Wind Energy Project in Vermont.

Letter to the Editor

"The noise monitoring plan is entirely under the control of First Wind, who chose the firm to design the plan and conduct the monitoring. This is a perfect example of 'the fox guarding the henhouse,' " Smith said Thursday. "The PSB's order further illustrates the near-impossibility of neighbors being able to participate in protecting their interests before the PSB."

New England Energy Alliance Survey Finds Consumer Concern about Future Electricity Supplies, Desire to Choose Electricity Supplier and Support for Addressing Global Warming

If New England's nuclear energy plants had to be replaced by other non-emitting sources of electricity to meet the RGGI goals, the region would be looking at large-scale wind projects, with weather-dependent output, spread over some 650,000 acres of land or water at a cost of more than $10 billion.

Two dozen energy experts and observers have been meeting quietly since September to forge a long-term plan for the state, but critics say the little-known process excludes citizen and environmental concerns, and once again marginalizes those who live where most of the state’s power is produced.

According to counsel for the SEC, Mike Iacapino, the committee made its decision based on the fact that the towns of New Ipswich and Temple have ordinances in place that deal with the pertinent issues, and the committee wasn't inclined to assert jurisdiction under those circumstances, among other considerations.

The town's Select Board plans to file documents with the state Public Service Board opposing a wind farm proposal to be located in Clarendon, Ira and neighboring towns. Board members voted Monday to oppose Vermont Community Wind Farm's plan to develop an 80-megawatt wind facility and to erect a 197-foot temporary wind measurement tower on Susie's Peak in Clarendon.

Those supporting the moratorium heavily outnumbered those opposed to the bill. Many traveled from northern parts of the state to explain why they think the wind turbines aren't a good fit for their communities. "When does a private company in search of profit have more rights than the private citizen who owns property in the state of New Hampshire?"

The Select Board voted Monday night to delay the decision whether to accept a $40,000 compensation from Antrim Wind Energy until after the state committee that turned down the project in February releases its final order. ..."It does look like you're taking a bribe," said Kat Affholter.

MONTPELIER — A House committee is proposing a major expansion of a state program that allows homeowners and farmers to produce their own electricity and sell it back to utilities to reduce their own bills.

Five wind turbines proposed for Georgia Mountain are either a way to save the planet from dependence on fossil fuels or an environment-wrecking boondoggle, according to public comments at Tuesday evening's Vermont Public Service Board hearing. The board is considering whether to allow the Harrison family, which owns a concrete and construction business, to erect five 400-foot tall wind turbines on the mountain, which straddles Milton and Georgia.

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- More than 100 candidates for federal, state and local offices in Vermont have signed onto a plan by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group to reduce dependence on foreign oil and emphasize renewable sources of electricity. VPIRG asked 329 political candidates across the state to sign their pledge and 111 signed the document while 27 candidates provided position papers, which support similar goals.

Following numerous and heated public hearings, the zoning board approved a height variance for a meteorological tower on Tuttle Hill after just more than an hour of deliberation. Chairman John Kendall was the sole negative vote on the variance, which approved the construction of a 196-foot met tower on ridgetop property owned by resident Michael Ott. The decision will be effective at the end of the 30-day appeals period, but resident Richard Block has no intention of letting that happen. "It will be appealed, on a number of levels," said Block after the meeting.

Vermont utility regulators are giving the go-ahead to a plan by the state's two largest electric utilities to buy wind power produced in northern New Hampshire. ...CVPS plans to buy 30.3 percent of the Granite Reliable's output and GMP will purchase 25 percent of the output for 20 years.

Rep. Fred King, a Colebrook Republican and a member of the county planning board, which oversees land use in the unincorporated areas, said the county delegation and commissioners have endorsed the wind project. But, he said, he has made it his "mission in life" to see the transmission line upgraded so biomass plants, which would create more long-term jobs and sustain the region's history of logging, can be built, too. "It's safe to say, if we did get to vote on it and we had the two to pick from (biomass and wind), my guess is we'd probably vote for the biomass plant," he said.

In a unanimous vote, the five-member Select Board resolved to oppose the Reunion Power wind project. The decision was met by a round of applause from residents who overflowed the meeting room ...Pittsford is the third town to take a stand against the ridgeline project that spans four towns.