The Pennsylvania Game Commission today signed cooperative, voluntary agreements with 12 companies to avoid, minimize and potentially mitigate any adverse impacts the development of wind energy may have on the state's wildlife resources.

With a company ready to buy its wind power for the next two decades, PPM Energy LLC on Monday announced plans to begin construction on a 23-turbine wind development in the summer. About a third of the proposed 1.5-megawatt wind turbines in the Casselman Wind Power Project are to be built on reclaimed surface-mining areas. The project encompasses nearly 2,000 acres near Rockwood and Meyersdale – though the “footprint” of used land should be less than 40 acres.

Fayette County's zoning hearing board on Monday issued a split decision on an Oregon company's request for special exceptions for 22 wind turbines, granting 14 of the requests while rejecting eight others. ...The board then denied setback variances and special exceptions that had been requested for eight of the towers, meaning 14 of the towers have all of the required approvals for construction. The company will have to ensure those 14 comply with a number of conditions imposed by the board, including a measure that could shut them down temporarily if the blades kill too many bats.

High atop Armenia Mountain, near this Bradford County borough and close to the Tioga County line, the first of nearly 70 giant wind turbines is rising into the sky. According to Matt Riel, general manager of operations and maintenance with AES Armenia Mt. Wind, as of Tuesday three turbines had been erected and four others have been partially built.

During the agenda meeting, Commissioners Vincent Zapotosky and Vincent A. Vicites voted to place a motion on Thursday's agenda to approve an agreement between PPM Atlantic Renewable Energy Corp./Iberdrola Renewables, the county and property owners that petitioned the court to be included in the case. Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink voted against the action, saying she doesn't believe the commissioners have the authority to approve changes to the proposed project. Zapotosky said the agreement eliminates one of the proposed sites and also does not include any mention of a scholarship fund funded by PPM and administered by the county that was part of a prior agreement.

Three Pennsylvania men have filed a federal lawsuit against a Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, saying that they were illegally replaced by younger workers. The three also claim the company gave Spanish workers preferential treatment. ...Their federal lawsuit filed in Johnstown says the men were all replaced by younger employees and that two of the three replacements were also Spaniards.

International power company Iberdrola Renewable Energies and Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy EPC are building the windmills on a mountaintop off Route 42. Seven of the turbines will be in Conyngham Township, said supervisor Chairman James Tarlecki. The rest, as he understands it, are to extend about 10 miles east and connect to the area where 13 turbines were built on 1,038 acres of land north of Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, last year. That project is called Locust Ridge Wind Farm, and, fittingly, the new project will be called Locust Ridge II.

The galvanizing force behind several community development projects stemmed from the process of creating the first comprehensive plan in 40 years, county commissioners said. The commissioners adopted a comprehensive plan Monday immediately after a final public hearing that drew little public comment..... Some of the early accomplishments generated by the plan include Somerset County wind farm regulations, the Hotel Tax Tourism Grant Program, the Somerset County Leadership Program, an education workforce initiative, the Somerset County Job Fair, the Somerset Lake Park Feasibility Study, the Quemahoning Water Supply Project and the Laurel Highlands Business Park, said Commissioner James Marker.

About 30 wind turbines will be coming to the hills over Dunlo after Adams Township supervisors approved the Krayn Wind Corp.'s request for the Highland Wind Farm. The approval Tuesday at the supervisors' regular meeting followed a final public hearing on Krayn's conditional use application under the township's zoning ordinance. ...The quiet meeting was in contrast to the first Sept. 17 hearing - when a line of residents spoke of their concerns about the wind farm. Most expressed concerns about reduced values for their property near the proposed turbines, but Barbin noted the supervisors only can apply the existing regulations on the project.

McIntyre Township supervisor Albert E. Boyer Wednesday told the county zoning hearing board that he supports the proposed construction by Vermont-based Catamount Energy Corp. of 47 wind turbines in northern Lycoming County.

The state Fish & Boat Commission has been responsible for ensuring that wind energy development does not harm water or aquatic life since corporations began erecting turbines in Pennsylvania. But with the wind energy industry growing quickly - and showing no signs of letting up - Fish and Boat commissioners have decided to put the agency's regulatory policy in writing. The commissioners made the decision at their most recent meeting. They are accepting comments about the policy from the public. ..."Anytime there's encroachment on a ridgeline, you're dealing with headwater issues," Lichvar said. "If you have a problem where it begins, then you have a problem where it ends."

Airtricity Inc., a renewable energy company, is planning a 52.5-MW wind farm in Somerset County, Pa., with an in-service date of second quarter 2009. The company is working on getting permits, addressing geotechnical issues, and monitoring wind flow in developing the Stonycreek Wind Farm, said Doug Colbeck, Airtricity's vice president for Northeast development. The wind facility will use General Electric Co. SLE 1.5-MW turbines with a hub height of 80 meters and a rotor diameter of 77 meters, Colbeck said. "We've met with all the townships and agencies" that will be giving permission to build the wind farm, "and we'll continue to work with them to avoid permitting problems," Colbeck said. The wind farm will be located across three townships - Shade, Stonycreek and Allegheny - each with different zoning ordinances for siting such facilities. Airtricity has not yet filed zoning applications with the townships.

Four windmills may line a portion of the horizon near the Allegheny and Stonycreek townships border by the end of 2009. At their meeting on Monday, township supervisors said that Airtricity Inc., of Connecticut, plans to construct a farm of between 20 and 30 windmills in Allegheny, Stonycreek and Shade townships. During the meeting, the supervisors reviewed a sketch plan of part of the farm drawn by Musser Engineering Inc., of Central City. The four windmills planned in Allegheny Township are to be built on property owned by the New Baltimore Sportsman's Club.

The plaintiffs said that the township, in violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, passed an ordinance in December 2007 that seeks to ban mining in the township. "The Anti-Mining Ordinance has a substantial impact on interstate commerce because it has the effect of curbing the supply of coal, which is an important natural resource, at a time when demand for coal is growing substantially," said the plaintiffs. The lawsuit also said the ordinance violates the contracts and equal protection clauses, due process rights and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is also an illegal taking without adequate compensation, the plaintiffs contend.

Renewable energy projects including wind and biomass are springing up in Schuylkill County, and state utilities will be required to increase their purchase of power generated by these and similar sources over the next 13 years. Although reports suggest customers should not experience much increase in cost and, in some cases, could see savings as these new sources become more prevalent, experts say other factors must also be considered. "There is no magic bullet as far as getting us off fossil fuels right now," said Joel Morrison, a research associate at Penn State University and fund manager for the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund.

Electricity-generating wind farms could soon be coming to northern Lycoming County if an amendment to the county's zoning ordinance is approved. A draft of the proposed amendment was presented Thursday to the county Planning Commission. Commission Executive Director Jerry S. Walls said the amendment was the result of a need to "clarify" the existing ordinance which currently allows wind farms in agricultural and countryside zones and in so-called resource protection zones if the county zoning hearing board approves a special exception permit.

LILLY - Portage and Washington townships - home to a growing number of wind turbines - want to amend their ordinances to regulate "personal" wind power. As drafted, the plan focuses on smaller, backyard turbines, ones that a property owner might use to power a home, rather than generate income. The concept is becoming common in some areas, Washington Township solicitor Thomas Swope III said.

Cominsky has been an ardent foe of the Gamesa project and has traveled to scores of meetings talking about his environmental concerns with the proposed development. The public proselytizing has been so effective that in the last several months, a number of local groups and municipalities have come forward to oppose the 30-turbine wind farm, which is projected to extend through parts of Shade and Ogle townships in Somerset County and Napier Township in Bedford County. However, the glossy mailer might have been going a bit too far for the authority. While Cominsky maintained only that concerned citizens were behind the pamphlet, he would not give the board a phone number for people to contact if they had issues with the mailing.

After a vote of 2-1, supervisors have approved their first ever wind turbine ordinance.

Both the Bradford and Tioga county commissioners have granted preliminary approval to the project. Now A.E.S. just has to secure a few more permits and submit a final design to the counties, which they hope to have complete by May. Construction could begin this summer. “We've had a little opposition on this project. Its really boiled down to probably eight or ten people,” says White. “They say they're not noisy, but I don't know,” says Harris. ...A group of about forty people called the Tioga Preservation Group is trying to stop the project. A spokesman says they'll file papers on Thursday in Tioga County Court seeking to appeal the project's preliminary approval.