"Our study data suggest that $20 million was spent in this area during the months of April and May, and, in addition to concerns about large-scale mortality of birds and bats, the potential loss of significant birding-based tourism dollars must be considered as well." The Black Swamp Bird Observatory is calling for a three-year moratorium on any additional wind turbines within three miles of the Lake Erie shore.

Birders said Tuesday they are seeking people from all walks of life who share their concerns about the proper siting of wind turbines in the ecologically fragile western Lake Erie region. ...the group will be stepping up its campaign for a three-mile buffer zone along the shoreline in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Erie counties.

The Black Swamp Bird Observatory is seeking a three-year moratorium on additional wind turbines within three miles of the Lake Erie Shores in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Erie counties until research, including radar studies, on how the turbines affect the lives of nocturnal migrants can be completed.

This was the second time in two years the school district had a wind turbine fail due to a problem with blades. The turbine that failed this week was not the one that had earlier problems, officials said. "At this point we're going to take a step back, find out what happened and make decisions from there," Perkins school Superintendent Jim Gunner said.

Lightning struck the turbine shortly after midnight, pelting trucks parked below the machine with debris, according to various reports. Wastewater plant personnel successfully shut down the turbine a few hours later, safety personnel said. ...The 400-kilowatt turbine is the second of two erected by NexGen, which became operational in early 2010.

Gorny said BLM officials delayed the release of the document in order to address comments received during the internal administrative review process, as well as to clarify management objectives related to sage grouse and visual and other public resources.

The United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have pushed back the date for a joint draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) Project. ...A 90-day comment period will follow the release of the draft EIS.

A bill currently moving through the Ohio state legislature is a key factor in whether a wind farm proposed for construction in Paulding and Van Wert counties moves forward. Senate Bill 232 would designate annual payments in lieu of taxes of up to $7,000 per megawatt for energy developed through wind and solar projects. Currently, wind and solar facilities are taxed in Ohio as tangible personal property at rates as high as $40,000 per megawatt, according to industry sources.

Bowling Green, which led Ohio's foray into wind power in the fall of 2003, is in line for as many as six more commercial-sized turbines to generate electricity from area breezes. Under a plan being considered tonight by Bowling Green's Board of Public Utilities, AMP-Ohio would install six more wind turbines in Wood County. That, in addition to the four that have been in operation at the county landfill.

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.

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.

A new transmission line proposed to run between two Eastern Washington substations will help carry locally generated energy, including wind power, to the grid. The Bonneville Power Administration is proposing to build a 40-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line between its existing Lower Monumental Substation south of Kahlotus in Walla Walla County to its planned Central Ferry Substation in Garfield County.

Although the agency is attempting to limit the environmental impact, no matter where the line is built somebody will be unhappy about what it will do to the scenery. "This will sure ruin the place," Fletcher said.

Roseanna Cherrington became nervous when she received a letter from the Bonneville Power Administration asking permission to dig holes in her land. The federal BPA, the Pacific Northwest's largest power marketer, is exploring a plan to build a 500-kilovolt transmission line running about 70 miles from Castle Rock to Troutdale, Ore., to meet growing power demand in the area. The BPA is looking to string the line between a series of steel towers, each about 80 to 150 feet tall.

In the three-way horse race to erect a wind turbine farm in the Conneaut area, BQ Energy may be leading at the turn. City Council members who attended a Thursday afternoon presentation by the wind energy company were blown away by what they heard. There's a good chance the firm will be invited to prepare a formal proposal, Council President James Jones said Friday. "We may be talking to them about a proposal," he said.

Among the "firsts" being attempted by the Atlantic Wind Connection,the venture seeking to build an electric transmission line from southern Virginia to northern New Jersey, is negotiating the regulatory system. The problem is that the cable, which would be buried under the seabed, is what grid officials call a "multidriver project," or a project that is undertaken for more than one reason.

Rupert Soames, the chief executive of Aggreko, the FTSE 250 emergency power generator, says the UK must prepare seriously for the danger of being hit by similar blackouts within the next decade. "It has happened before in developed countries and we should not kid ourselves that it cannot happen here," he said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "The UK has an unacceptably high risk of interrupted power supply." ...sceptics worry that a so-called "intelligent grid" could also be used to ration consumers in the event of insufficient capacity.

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."

"Vestas has concluded that the root cause of the failure of the initial blade was due to a wrinkle in the carbon fiber of the spar (the support structure of the blade)," the report reads. "This wrinkle caused damage to propagate to the point of failure after the blade experienced high loads for a low number of cycles."