"We've been really derelict," Specter said of Congress' response to the energy issue. "We're gonna have to go to alternate forms of energy, and I've been supporting that." Virginia Deeter from Somerset County told Specter her home of 30 years soon would sit between two wind turbine facilities: one 1,400 feet away from her back door and the other 1,800 feet away from her front door. "Our home is going to be worthless," she said she was told by real estate agents. "Where do we turn?"

Spanish wind turbine company Gamesa Inc. announced Friday that it is laying off 28 workers in its Falls tower production facility as it winds down its tower business, which will be handled by subcontractors in the future. Since it opened in 2006, Gamesa has produced towers, blades and turbines at three plants in the Keystone Industrial Port Complex in Falls. But it is negotiating with five potential subcontractors interested in taking over the tower production at the KIPC.

One week after moving in, Loudenslager found out that a swath of the farm where cows graze and alfalfa grows soon could be cleared to make way for a high-voltage power line. "It's like a punch to the gut," Loudenslager said. "This is where I've wanted to be my whole life." Loudenslager's farm north of Boonsboro sits on one of several routes that have been suggested for the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH), which would run from St. Albans, W.Va., through Bedington, W.Va., to Kemptown, Md., in Frederick County.

Virginia may have given a controversial power line an initial "yes," but Pennsylvania has given it an initial "no." In a ruling released late Thursday, regulatory judges in Pennsylvania recommended that the state's Public Utilities Commission deny applications from Allegheny Power and Dominion Virginia power to build the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line. A hearing examiner for the Virginia State Corporation Commission has recommended approval for the controversial power line, but only on the condition that West Virginia and Pennsylvania also sign off on the plan.

After reviewing thousands of pages of testimony and comments from numerous public hearings, Judges Mark A. Hoyer and Michael A. Nemec in a 364-page document said Allegheny Energy, through its transmission line subsidiary TrAILCo had "failed to carry the burden of truth" for the entire 240-mile project. "Based on our review of the entire record, we have concluded that little or no need for reinforcement in the Prexy service area presently exists," the judges wrote.

If someone were to tell Doug Tewksbury or Tom Baisley to go jump off a cliff, they'd probably seize the moment That is, of course, if they were at their favorite launch spot on the top of Mehoopany Mountain. The weekend warriors who can't seem to get paragliding out of their blood are part of a small yet growing group of individuals who are worried. They're worried that BPAlternative Energy's plan to put an 85-90 wind turbine park in the southern part of Wyoming County will not only spoil their fun, but also disrupt the peace and solitude that the sleepy Endless Mountains have enjoyed for centuries.

The push for alternative energy sources continues in Clearfield County. Although plans are only in the beginning stages, Iberdrola Renewables is looking to build a wind farm between the north Rockton and Luthersburg areas. Craig Poff, senior project developer, and Paul Copleman, communications manager for Iberdrola Renewables' King of Prussia offices, said the company, which originated in Spain, is best known for its wind energy.

A Vermont-based wind energy company is one step closer to building more than 30 electricity-generating wind turbines on a seven-mile section of the Laurel Hill ridge in northern Lycoming County. On Thursday, the county Planning Commission approved preliminary land development plans submitted by Laurel Hill Wind Energy LLC, whose parent company, Catamount Energy Corp., proposed the project about six years ago. ...

A company that plans to build a wind turbine facility in the southern part of Wyoming County says that it wants to be a good corporate citizen. While BP Alternative Energy sponsored two outdoor events this summer, some people are unhappy with the company, including Richard Ide, whose cabin in Mehoopany is near a stretch of land where transmission lines may be placed. "They (BP) have the resources to drive me into the ground, which is what they are trying to do," Ide, of Tunkhannock, said. "I have hired two attorneys."

The Tioga Preservation Group's land use appeal of the Tioga County Planning Commission's decision to grant conditional approval for a wind farm project has been denied, opening the door for the construction of 124 wind turbines in Tioga and Bradford counties. On Aug. 8, Tioga County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Robert E. Dalton Jr. issued an order denying the appeal of the group, and upheld the planning commission's preliminary conditional approval of the land-use application made by AES Armenia Mountain Wind LLC, according to court documents.

Up to 35 electricity-generating wind turbines are to be built along seven miles of the Laurel Hill ridge in Jackson and McIntyre townships in northern Lycoming County, under the plans of Vermont-based Laurel Hill Wind Energy. On Tuesday, the commission reviewed the plan in detail. "The work session was held to delve into the plan and make sure all our questions are answered," said Kurt Hausammann Jr., commission executive director. "A plan of this scale warranted a separate meeting."

Proposed development of a utility-scale wind turbine at Blue Mountain Ski Area in Carbon County is shaping up as a classic battle between economics and the environment. ...Dan Kunkle, executive director of the 750-acre Lehigh Gap Nature Center near Slatington, said a wind turbine at Blue Mountain would pose a significant threat to hundreds of thousands of raptors and songbirds that follow the 250-mile Kittatinny Ridge through Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York on their annual migrations. ...Kunkle's concerns were echoed by Donald S. Heintzelman of Zionsville, a nationally renowned ornithologist

A community organization's land use appeal in Tioga County regarding a wind farm project on Armenia Mountain has been denied. ...On Jan. 17, Tioga Preservation Group filed a land-use appeal asking the court to reverse the granting of preliminary approval by the planning commission to the preliminary land development plan of AES.

Residents and supervisors are trying to find a wind turbine ordinance that both protects neighbors from unreasonable development and also minimizes township expense. During the Monday meeting, after discussion between supervisors, township solicitor James Yelovich and the board left open the timetable for enactment. However, the board was in agreement that something more than the current county regulations should be in place before serious township turbine development begins.

A company that plans to build a wind turbine facility in southern Wyoming County says it wants to be a good corporate citizen. While BP Alternative Energy sponsored two outdoor events this summer, some people are unhappy with the company, including Richard Ide, whose cabin in Mehoopany is near a stretch of land where transmission lines may be placed. "They (BP) have the resources to drive me into the ground, which is what they are trying to do," said Ide of Tunkhannock. "I have hired two attorneys."

It's not clear how many municipalities have approved ordinances or taken other steps to govern windmills. It doesn't appear to be many. But the reality is that there could be a windmill -- or windmill farm of 20 or more towering wind machines -- coming to a field near you in the not-too-distant future. Thus, at least the possibility of such should be on the radar screen of every municipal governing body in the state.

Shade Township supervisors are revising an ordinance regulating wind turbines that they adopted last year. Supervisors on Thursday authorized township Solicitor Scott Bittner to start the process of claiming that the one-time, $2,500 application fee does not cover the cost of processing, which includes engineering and legal expenses. "It doesn't come close," Shade Supervisor Chairman John Topka said.

Pennsylvania's mountain ridges are on track to teem with industrial wind turbines -- enough that, if placed on the 359-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike, they would stretch seven per mile. The turbines will require clearing a combined 10,000 acres of mountaintops. Each turbine would reach heights that rival Pittsburgh's skyscrapers. They could make their owners more than $300 million in federal subsidies and power more than 1 million homes. But they wouldn't remove a single coal-fired power plant from service.

Two years ago, PPM commissioned a study to learn how many bats could be affected by its proposed wind farm. Biologists hung nets for two nights in 10 locations and caught 138 bats. Cale calculates that if 24 nets -- that's one for each turbine -- were left up through the 14 combined weeks of seasonal bat migration, more than 16,000 bats would be caught. Each net covered an area of about 1,000 square feet. That compares to 66,000 square feet carved out by a turbine's rotating blades. "It's going to be a slaughterhouse," Cale said.

Attorneys on different sides of a windmill dispute in Fayette County can agree on at least one aspect of the 262-foot-tall turbines: the hulking structures can't be camouflaged. "A wind turbine can be seen. You can't hide it," said Dan Rullo, attorney for Iberdrola Resources, formerly PPM Energy. ...The project has been on hold since March 11, when the zoning hearing board denied the company's request for a special exception and variances for 24 of the turbines. The matter went before a judge Thursday after Iberdrola filed a civil suit appealing the board's denial.