In the ruling issued yesterday, the court justices wrote that those who circulated the petitions did not follow proper procedure when filing it. The petition was hand-delivered to the home of a township trustee, who later gave it to the elections board.

While state legislators have no real say in whether wind developers can come into the state, the three candidates for the 83rd House District seat offered their opinions Thursday on what should be done to help improve the situation. ..."The issue arises because of how township zoning works," said Mr. Burke, a pharmacy owner and former Marysville councilman. "That's its weakness and it's why a lot of big corporations pick townships rather than municipalities to do business with. I think the state needs to help townships fill in the gaps. "Working with large developers to design and review plans is not the forte of township officials," he said. "All across the state, it's costing money and headaches and the state needs to aid townships in those kinds of issues."

The Wind Truth Alliance Group hosted a "Meet the 83rd District Candidates" meeting at Tree Links Golf Course Thursday evening. Wind truth Alliance is a local citizen-founded organization established to promote the truth about wind turbines in Logan and Champaign Counties. ...The Wind Truth Alliance Group is working towards responsible regulations for the wind turbines. The group talked about the deficiencies in the current ammendment. There is nothing in the current ammendment to require that roads be restored to preconstruction conditions. The turbine parts are heavy and require heavy machinery to move and install them, which over time will cause damage to roadways.

The Ohio Supreme Court will have the final say on whether Jefferson Township voters get to decide if they want to keep the township's recently approved wind turbine amendment to the zoning ordinance. The amendment has survived a gauntlet of legal challenges since it was first approved by the township's zoning board in September. A decision in favor of the prowind property owners who filed the Supreme Court challenge on Wednesday would be the final stroke in making the zoning amendment official. The opposite ruling by the state's high court would leave the decision up to township voters who go to the polls for the March 4 primary election.

Lake Erie winds are the strongest recorded anywhere in Ohio, good news for city leaders exploring whether Cleveland could be an international hub for offshore wind power. ...The GEO report "lays the foundation" for the 13-month feasibility study that is to begin shortly, Oyaski said. The study was recommended by the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, composed of city, county, corporate and nonprofit leaders who believe Cleveland has the wind and manufacturing capacity to be a leading player in the fledgling market for offshore wind energy. There are few wind turbines operating on the world's waters, and none in fresh water, officials say.

Cuyahoga County commissioners on Tuesday approved a $1 million contract to study whether winds off of Lake Erie can provide Northeast Ohio with power and jobs. The project will help determine the cost-effectiveness, funding sources and benefits of building up to 10 wind turbines off the shore of downtown Cleveland. The goal is to generate up to 20 megawatts of power for the city and county. That's enough power for 6,000 homes.

Jefferson Township voters may not get to decide whether they like the new wind turbine zoning ordinance after a group of pro-wind landowners challenged a petition to place the issue on the March ballot. Lawyers on Wednesday filed a ninepage motion asking the Logan County Board of Elections to nullify a petition containing the names of hundreds of voters because of errors in how it was submitted. Residents circulated the petition following the township trustees' failure on Sept. 19 to override a zoning resolution proposed by the wind proponents. Susan Reames, who lives on County Road 5 and helped circulate the petitions, said she believes there needs to be more community input into the final ordinance.

A regional advisory board recommended officials wait for more information before amending zoning restrictions to allow for wind turbines to be built in this Champaign County township. The Logan-Union-Champaign Regional Planning Commission, a West Liberty-based advisory panel, recommended the Union Township Zoning Commission reject two zoning amendments it submitted - one from the commission itself and one from Union Neighbors United, a group of township residents concerned about wind turbine development.

Bowling Green's former utilities director, Daryl Stockberger, has been lauded by numerous groups and public officials for getting Ohio's first four commercial-sized wind turbines built just west of the city. ...So what happened Oct. 1 when push came to shove - when Bowling Green City Council felt the city needed to lock itself into a long-term contract for its largest source of power? It aligned itself with coal. ...AMP-Ohio is pursuing a new coal-fired power plant because it is legally obligated to provide a reliable stream of what's known as "baseload" electricity, Mr. Carson said. That's power that can be pulled off the grid 24 hours a day. Wind and solar power are supplemental sources..."Until you find renewable fuels you can use to make baseload [electricity], an energy-consumptive society like ours is going to have to do the best it can," Mr. Scherer said.

A group with varied opinions on wind energy development in Champaign County expressed their interests and concerns about wind turbines during the first Wind Turbine Study Group meeting Tuesday. The five-member group was created by the Champaign County Prosecutor's Office, with Prosecutor Nick Selvaggio serving as a mediator. Group member Julie Johnson, of Union Neighbors United, read a list of concerns she has with wind turbines being built in Union Twp.

The prosecutor's office will facilitate a weekly meeting to provide open discussion about the effects wind energy development could have on Champaign County. ... "Our approach is comprehensive and we're trying to make sure we understand the impact of these propositions," Shokouhi said.

Tour group members took turns being photographed standing in different spots near the blade, trying to get shots in an angle that might adequately show the immensity of the rotor. Once in place, it will span 263 feet in diameter while spinning.

No wind turbines are proposed for Clark County, but they could be, Planning Director Shane Farnsworth told the local rural zoning commission on Wednesday. "There's a lot of complexity to this issue," he said.

A second wind energy company vying for space in Champaign County will continue its pursuit in spite of grant money awarded to a competitor last week. Invenergy, a Chicago-based developer of wind energy products, is one of two companies that has begun the process of measuring wind speed in Union Township and plans to progress toward wind energy development in the area, said Eric Miller, the company's senior development manager. "Our plans have not changed. We're still moving ahead," he said.

"I'm willing to accept whatever concerns may be associated with nuclear power because of what I consider to be the greatest, most immediate threat to the environment and humankind, which is global warming," he [Strickland] said. He stressed that no utility at the table has indicated plans to build a new nuclear power plant...Inclusion of nuclear power as an advanced technology, however, might make it easier for a utility like FirstEnergy Corp., Akron parent of Toledo Edison, to meet whatever benchmarks the governor proposes.

The four giant windmills just outside of Bowling Green might be in for some company. In conjunction with JW Great Lakes Wind and American Municipal Power-Ohio, a joint-action group for municipal utilities, the city is investigating the idea of adding onto the state's only utility-size wind farm.

Cuyahoga Coounty commissioners say a German company with lots of experience in wind-energy development is the best candidate to do a year-long feasibility study of erecting wind turbines on Lake Erie and building an affiliated wind-research center. Commissioners selected a team led by Juwi International from among three proposals to do the $800,000 study. An energy-development task force appointed by the commission has proposed building five to ten turbines on the lake, the first such freshwater wind development in the world. More importantly, a research and development center, to be run by Case Western Reserve University, could be the centerpiece of a wind-industry cluster that would generate jobs for the region. Case would run the research center as part of its newly formed Great Lakes Institute for Energy Innovation.

Bowling Green already has four wind turbines generating electricity - and has had them since 2003. Dozens more may be on the way, reports News 11's Dick Berry. The tall, twirling turbines are easy to spot along US 6 near the Wood County landfill. If everything falls into place, rows and rows of wind turbines could be in place by 2009. And Bowling Green could become "Blowing Green." Bowling Green and the company responsible for building the original four turbines are looking at adding another 33.

Case Western Reserve University wants to head up research for the proposed wind-energy center, which would feature wind turbines on Lake Erie. As part of its proposal to run the research center, the university has offered $200,000 toward an $800,000 study of a local task force's bold vision - up to 10 wind turbines in the lake and a world-class research center. Although Case was late in entering the project, it is likely to have a "leading role" if the research center is built, said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, chairman of the Cuyahoga Regional Energy Development Task Force.

Two northwest Ohio higher-education institutions may receive federal money from three bills the House Appropriations Committee passed recently without opposition....... Money was included for Bowling Green State University for two separate projects, each in a different bill The Energy and Water Appropriations Act includes $100,000 for BGSU's Coastal Wind Ohio partnership with the city of Huron, Ohio. The funding would allow BGSU to buy and install two wind turbines and wind-power experimentation stations for the Huron area.