Attorneys closely questioned an aviation consultant Tuesday, Nov. 10, in a hearing on a proposed wind turbine project in Champaign County. Thaddeus Brys, a consultant for Aviation Systems Inc., testified before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio in a hearing on the Buckeye Wind Project, which would build about 70 turbines throughout Champaign County. Gil Weithman, law director for Urbana, questioned Brys on news that the Federal Aviation Administration recently reduced the number of turbines it considered a presumed hazard.

With the exception of the shores of Lake Erie, the ridge just to the east of Urbana stretching northward to Bellefontaine, has some of the best potential for wind power generation in the state of Ohio. Which is why Everpower has selected Champaign County for the Buckeye Wind Project. ...Out of those 70 turbines 38 have been flagged by the Federal Aviation Administration as having a potentially negative impact on approaches to Grimes Field on the north and to Weller Airport on the east side of Urbana.

Grimes Field Manager Carol Hall said there is a concern that placing a "localizer" navigational aid at the municipal airport would put an existing navigational aid in jeopardy. "About 90 percent of pilots here aren't instrument-rated," said Hall, adding this means they are not certified to use the localizer navigational aid.

In addition to local residents, emergency first responders are considering how the proposal to site 70 wind turbines in Champaign County will impact them. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued notices of presumed hazard to navigable airspace for 38 of the proposed sites, noting their potential negative impact on Grimes Field, where a CareFlight hangar is located, and the privately-owned Weller Airport, which was used for a helicopter landing and takeoff to transport a crash victim on Oct. 6.

The Federal Aviation Administration recently informed Buckeye Wind, LLC. that its study found 38 of the 70 proposed turbine building sites in Champaign County exceed obstruction standards and could be a hazard to air navigation near Grimes Field. FAA guidelines generally restrict objects taller than 200 feet within five nautical miles, approximately 5.75 standard miles, of an airport that size.

Three wind turbines went up in February and are nearly ready to start moving. ...Three wind turbines went up in February right beside the power grid they'll feed. All seemed well. "For about two days (laughs). We had a blade failure about the second day the turbines were on. One of the blades actually deteriorated and came apart and they've been down ever since then," says Gunner.

When students pull into the Perkins High School parking lot today, they'll see three wind turbines in front of them, fully assembled for the first time since February. But the blades aren't turning yet, and Perkins Schools superintendent Jim Gunner said the school will proceed cautiously in getting the system back up to full capacity. The original 6-meter blades, some of which blew off during an especially windy day in February, are gone.

New blades will be installed on four turbines that were shut down temporarily at two locations in the area. A crew yesterday replaced the blades on the wind turbine at Turtle Plastics in Lorain. New blades also will be placed on three turbines at Perkins High School in Perkins Township. The four turbines were built by the same company and were shut down to ensure safety after the blades broke off a turbine at Perkins High School.

This news report was submitted to Windaction.org by Scott Jackson, a reseller of Redriven windmills. Mr. Jackson is seeking to get the Redriven turbine de-certified in the State of California for safety reasons.

One of the three 60-foot-tall wind turbines at the edge of the Perkins High School student parking lot lays on the ground. The pole was removed from the 4-foot deep, 60-ton concrete base. ..."We have no updates," he said. "The manufacturer is finalizing the investigation as to the malfunction of the blades."

Three wind turbines at Perkins High School crashed Saturday when the blades broke off one of them. No one was hurt when parts of the fiberglass blades came off the turbine as it spun, winging the blades up to 40 yards away from the silver monopole tower, near the high school at 3714 Campbell St. The remaining two turbines will not be used until they are inspected and officials figure out what caused the blades to break.

A wind turbine at Perkins High School fell apart Saturday. ...He looked next door, where the three wind turbines at Perkins High School were spinning in Saturday's high winds, to see part of a turbine blade fly off and land in the student parking lot.

A proposed wind turbine at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds faces one more hurdle before it can be approved by the city. After being approved unanimously by both the Board of Zoning Appeals and Planning Commission, the turbine is now before City Council.

High winds and ice Tuesday are partially to blame for knocking an approximately 20-foot section from the top of a 160-foot Monroe Township meteorological tower, raising concerns among area residents about what could happen to a wind turbine in the event of a more serious ice storm. “Wind Truth Alliance questions why a wind company would erect a structure that cannot withstand Ohio weather,” Linda Hughes of the organization wrote in a prepared statement. “If wind turbines are to be built in Logan County, what will protect residents from the impact of the recent ice storm and more severe ice storms, such as the one in 2005?”

As wildlife advocates demand more studies of avian mortality from wind turbines, the federal government has blocked plans for several wind farms in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest on the grounds that the giant turbines could interfere with military radar.