There's a battle brewing along the ridges of Western Ohio. Several wind energy companies might build hundreds of giant turbines to generate electricity. There's support -- but a lot of opposition. Along the glacial ridge above the tiny community of Zanesfield in Logan County, Page Mays built a comfortable home in an idyllic setting. "We went ahead and bought this property and built this house, figuring that we were going to see pretty much what we were going to see," Mays says. "But that ridge over there is where they want to put the wind turbines now. We didn't bargain for that." Touted as the ultimate in clean energy, hundreds of wind turbines may be erected on these hills which are among the highest in the state of Ohio. But the Mayes worry about the effect on their property values, their way of life and their health.

At least two companies are interested in offshore wind development in New York's Great Lakes waters - BQ Energy, which developed Lackawanna's Steel Winds, and AWS Truewind. "I don't think it's inevitable, but I think it's very likely," said Bruce Bailey, AWS Truewind's president. There are significant obstacles and unknowns. ...Installing wind turbines in water can be at least twice as expensive because of the cost of mobilizing marine crews, the specialized nature of the installation equipment and the turbines and the need to move the power onshore, experts say. And that doesn't factor in what would be necessary to deal with the ice that often covers the eastern end of Lake Erie in winter.

Additional wind energy proposed for the Bowling Green area last year will at best be delayed and at worst not occur at all. "It's really at a standstill right now," said Kevin Maynard, director of utilities for Bowling Green. "At this point there does not appear to be anything active on the project, but we certainly are looking at additional wind energy whether it is here in Bowling Green or elsewhere."

Wind turbines proposed for a portion of the East Conneaut Industrial Park would occupy land that now contains wetlands, not property earmarked for commercial growth, interim City Manager Edward Somppi said Thursday. "We wouldn't involve the good, developable land," Somppi said. City officials continue to talk with representatives of SRG Sites Associates of Willoughby, which wants to buy at least 159 acres of the 286-acre park and market it to a company that would install wind turbine generators.

Wind turbine regulations, which are being proposed as more people look into alternative energy sources, are on their way to the Miami County commissioners. If approved by the commission, the regulations reviewed and recommended for approval last week by the county Planning Commission would be added to county zoning regulations. Those regulations are used in townships that don't have separate zoning codes. Jacob Hoover, county planning and zoning director, said current zoning has no rules for the wind turbine generators.

Negotiations are proceeding, but the matter is still very tenuous, members said. ...Last week, council met 90 minutes in executive session to discuss a proposal from SGR Site Associates of Willoughby, which wants to buy 159 acres in the East Conneaut Industrial Park for an undisclosed client. The client is interested in building wind turbine generators on the parcel. Two other landowners adjacent to the park have also been contacted about the project, officials have said. One talking point may be the length of the option granted the buyer. Interim City Manager Edward Somppi said the city is looking at a one-year option on the land.

Council met with interim city manager Edward Somppi to discuss an offer from SGR Site Associates, of Willoughby, which is interested in buying at least 159 acres of the East Conneaut Industrial Park to develop in a wind farm using turbine generators. The closed meeting also included State Rep. Deborah Newcomb of Conneaut and Joseph Mayernick, executive director of Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County. After the executive session ended, Somppi told Council President James Jones that council should set a public information meeting on the company's proposal. Before adjourning the special council meeting, Jones agreed to set the public meeting, but no date was announced.

A sharp drop in stock prices and investor confidence in the global giant Babcock & Brown could have worldwide impact for the business, but a company spokesman said Friday it should not affect plans to develop wind turbines in eastern Logan County. ...Roger Brown, a Bellefontaine resident who has signed a lease with Babcock & Brown to put wind turbines on his Jefferson Township property, said he was not aware of the broader company's financial picture and said he has not been contacted about any plans to slow down or end the local project.

For the first time since talk of wind turbine development began in West Central Ohio several years ago, residents of Logan and Champaign counties got to see a close visual representation of the controversial structures. The designs, which included a map showing 78 proposed turbine locations - 15 in Logan County and the remainder in Champaign - and several photos superimposed with scale wind turbines, gave the 100-plus residents who milled through Everpower Renewables' open house Tuesday at Triad High School a view of the proposed project. ...

EverPower Renewables Corp. is making progress on a proposal that would eventually dot Champaign County with wind turbines, but in the meantime, residents got a chance to ask questions about the project. On Tuesday, June 10, dozens of residents filed into Triad High School, seeking information on the proposal that, if approved, would place between 120 and 150 wind turbines along a ridge that runs along the east side of Champaign County. ...Jim Bartlett, also of Champaign County, said he is not opposed to wind energy in general, but had concerns about how close the turbines would be to his home. Howard Petricoff, legal counsel for the project, said several studies, including the impact on birds and bats in the area, are still being conducted. EverPower will likely submit their application to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio sometime this summer.

All the hand-wringing and fighting between area township officials and residents over wind turbine zoning, including a recent discussion about a moratorium, may well have been an exercise in futility if an amendment attached to the Legislature's annual spending bill gets expected approval in coming days. The amendment, which was introduced by Cincinnati area State Sen. Bill Seitz, would turn responsibility for guiding any wind farm development to the Ohio Power Siting Board, which currently only oversees developments that exceed 50 megawatt generation capacity. It would lower the minimum to 5 megawatts ...

Wind turbines will generate more than electricity in Morrow County if efforts to win the business of alternative energy companies succeed as local officials hope they will. Responding to interest expressed by companies in erecting wind turbines in northern Morrow County, the county board of commissioners recently added zoning regulations for the machines, which typically sit atop 200-to-300-foot-plus towers, said Pat Davies, the county's director of operations. ...Of primary concern for the commissioners was making sure setback regulations from public roads and occupied dwellings protected the county's residents and infrastructure, he said.

The debate continues on the U.S. side of Lake Erie over what the new energy mix should look like. In Canada, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's administration has shown a strong preference for hydroelectric power and wind power. ...But Gail Krantzberg, a former Canadian chair of the International Joint Commission who's now director of McMaster University's Center for Engineering and Public Policy, said the McGuinty administration may have to buy dirty energy produced by coal-fired power plants in the Ohio Valley if it can't find enough viable ways to make up the difference. Wind, by its nature, can only be a supplemental source of power because it takes steady breezes to spin the turbine blades.

On May first, 2008 Governor Strickland signed a new energy and utility bill into law. Among other things, the bill established the long-awaited Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard - legislation requiring that by the year 2025, 12.5 percent of the state's power come from renewable technologies like wind or solar. But the bill's language is murky, and as ideastream's Gretchen Cuda explains, not everyone thinks it's a victory for green energy. ...An amendment to the bill says that if the cost of renewable energy increases overall rates by 3 percent or more, companies are off the hook for meeting the 12.5 percent renewable requirement. Ken Silliman is chief of Chief of Staff to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. He says that could become a major setback.

After nearly eight months of meetings and discussion, the Champaign County Wind Turbine Study Group issued a report Wednesday outlining the results of the group's research and analysis of 14 issues related to the potential for wind power development locally. ..."There's a great deal of information in the report and new information is becoming available every day," she said. "It's very comprehensive." The study group was able to make recommendations to assist government agencies, but had no authority to tackle topics such as zoning, which is the domain of the townships.

But the scope of wind energy development in Ohio is far from certain, Shanahan said. What developers say and do are sometimes two different things, and a lot of details still need to be hashed out. For one, projects exceeding 50 megawatts will have to be approved by the Ohio Siting Board, which has experience with a single power plant, but not with 70 to 100 turbines spread over a wide geographic area. Turbines must be well-spaced to ensure, among other things, that they don't steal wind from each other. And the electrical cables from each turbine must be tied into a nearby transmission line. ...There are also local zoning issues.

A group of Jefferson Township residents have filed an appeal against the township zoning appeals board's decision to allow a meteorological tower on the property of Ralph and Rick Amerine. The board of zoning appeals decided the issue April 30, but cited no clear reason why they believed Mr. Amerine and his representative, Roger Brown, should be allowed to construct the wind measurement towers.

At the conclusion of a somewhat heated 90- minute hearing, the Jefferson Township Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved a variance request by Ralph and Rick Amerine to install a 200-foot tower that collects wind data along Township Road 127. The towers are a preliminary step before siting of wind turbines can occur in the township. A similar request by State Route 540 property owner Roger Brown was postponed for two weeks so BZA members can talk with the Logan County Prosecutor's Office to decide if they need to notify property owners whose land does not touch the parcel in question but abuts other parcels owned by Mr. Brown. ...Their decision came after several residents cited concerns, specifically that some residents around the two properties had not received notification; the proponents had not adequately demonstrated a need to install towers; applications were incomplete and existing court rulings state approving such variances is beyond a zoning appeals board's authority.

''Ohio definitely has a lot of potential,'' said aycox, ''especially along the lake.'' According to Jaycox, Cuyahoga County is evaluating the possibility of installing turbines in the lake, as California has in the ocean. ''The only issue with the Great Lakes is that they do freeze,'' said Richard Stuebi of the Cleveland Foundation. Stuebi, however, didn't think the obstacle was insurmountable, as he stated, ''We're pretty confident that designs and technology can accommodate the icing.'' The lake, despite the ice, does have some advantages over oceanic sites. When compared to the ocean, Lake Erie has no waves or salinity. Stuebi also pointed out that the lake is considerably shallow compared to an ocean. Local officials are also excited about the considerable potential of the winds coming inland off the lake.

A report released by the Ohio Department of Health this week does not go far enough in investigating and analyzing the potential health impacts of wind turbines on nearby residents, according to some local residents and an acoustical consultant familiar with the local effort to develop wind turbines. ...Residents who believe more study needs to be done before construction begins on wind turbines cite the research of several people - including Nina Pierpont, a medical doctor who is conducting scientific noise and health studies, and acoustical consultants like Rick James of Okemos, Mich., who have done studies at several existing wind farms and proposed sites. "The report is merely a report on the readily available information," Monroe Township resident Mary Ann Hartzler said. "The studies reported were not performed by medical doctors. ...Mr. [Richard] James said he sees the report as an attempt to make residents feel better about a foregone conclusion that wind turbines will be better in the state. "They (state officials) wanted wind farms and they were going to put out documents to support it," he said. "I don't see any real effort on the part of the people to put together an authoritative report."