Residents filled the auditorium of Washington High School on Monday evening in hopes that their voices would be heard and a change would be made to the proposed route for a high-voltage power line slated for construction in the area. Nearly 150 people turned out for a public hearing about P.A.T.H., which stands for Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, and is a joint venture of Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power that was announced last year.

A former tourism official with the provincial government says P.E.I. is not doing enough to protect its scenic vistas. Carol Horne, who now works for the Canadian Tourist Commission, said over the past two decades, only two areas of the island have been designated scenic zones - New London and Borden-Carleton.

RALEIGH - A nonprofit environmental advocacy group, which staunchly believes global warming must be reduced through reductions in human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, controls another nonprofit organization that advises a climate action panel started by the N.C. Division of Air Quality. The DAQ-created group, in turn, makes recommendations on carbon-dioxide reductions to the Legislative Commission on Global Climate Change. The advisory organization, the Center for Climate Strategies, is Pennsylvania-based and helped establish the study commission through a proposal to DAQ. But there is question whether the study panel, called the Climate Action Plan Advisory Group (CAPAG), is authorized under N.C. law.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who has been outspoken on the need to limit emissions of global warming gases, has not delivered on a promise to come up with his own strategy for Pennsylvania. Administration spokesmen would give no reason for the delay, other than to say a plan is still being worked on.

Smith told the crowd about how the Vermont Public Service review process works, including the PSB's ability to include or exclude groups that would normally have party status under Act 250, Vermont's land use review law. Smith provided maps showing where wind projects in Vermont are approved, under review and/or proposed and also detailed how local communities would be impacted.

No one should bank on it, but the Lee County Zoning Board of Appeals might finally dig its teeth into the biggest issue related to wind energy regulations. That would be the required distance between wind turbines and homes. On Dec. 15, the panel spent the last 10 minutes of its 2-hour meeting looking at the setback issue.

Rural life often has a bucolic image of neat farm fields and undulating hills, especially when contrasted with the crowded housing and traffic jams of urban living. People flee the degradation of cities for the countryside, but when they get there, they find anything but clean, green open spaces. From sewage-spreading to wind farms and gravel pits to garbage dumps, many people in rural areas are finding themselves involved in environmental issues that almost never afflict urban dwellers.

'Surprise' has been expressed by the chairman of St Eval Parish Council after it wasn't consulted on plans for a new wind farm on its doorstep. Cornwall Light and Power announced in November its intention to erect wind turbines at land on Denzell Downs, between St Mawgan and St Eval. The turbines would sit in front of the existing 16-turbine Bear's Down wind farm - the South West's most powerful, generating 9.6mw.

A national park authority is appealing against a wind farm in Derbyshire after a government inspector gave the green light to four turbines overlooking a scenic reservoir. The Peak District National Park Authority will take its appeal to the High Court.

"The towers are half the height of the hills. The proposal is massively out-of-scale with the surrounding environment and totally contradicts the amenities which surround it. They are marketing this as an environmentally friendly thing but it is not."

A National Park Service official has warned the Bureau of Land Management that approving dozens of solar power plants in southern Nevada could dramatically impact water supplies across the arid region. An estimated 63 large-scale solar projects are proposed for BLM lands in the region, and the plants are expected to use a large amount of groundwater to cool and wash solar panels.

Nevada Wind won a small battle with the Washoe County Planning Commission on Feb. 4 when the panel unanimously voted to approve a special-use permit for the project slated for development in the Palomino Valley, approximately 30 miles north of Sparks. ...Then the project hit a snag Tuesday when nearby landowner Dan Herman filed an appeal. "Well, the only thing I appealed is the one condition that allowed the two windmills on the property at the end of Quaking Aspen that directly affects the surrounding neighbors," Herman said.

Residents of the desolate Palomino Valley have attended citizen’s advisory board meetings, planning commission meetings and will soon face another round of meetings because of an appeal filed by area resident Dan Herman. Herman said he filed the appeal not in opposition to the Virginia Peak Wind Project as a whole, but in opposition to the project’s two closest turbines to residents’ homes and property. As part of the special-use permit, approved by the Washoe County Planning Commission on Feb. 4, no wind turbines can be installed within one mile of existing homes.

What is your main concern right now with a wind farm on Ice Mountain? My main concern would be the noise levels of the wind mills, based on the noise problem at the Allegheny Ridge project right now. Gamesa doesn't say there's not a problem, they admit there is a problem and they're working on it, but until they get that problem fixed, I'm pretty much a "no" until I hear that. If Gamesa fixes that problem, and the opponents up there that told me they don't like the noise are happy, and the noise is not there anymore, I can't think of anything standing in my way of a wind farm, in just my vote, coming here.

Do you think wind mill development can effect property values? For anyone to say that property values aren’t hurt by this is wrong. I went to a house where six of these wind mills were facing down on me. The house is 2,000 feet away and you can plainly see them in front of you as if it’s right there, that’s how close they feel. They are gigantic devices and I have to say I am amazed by them, but would I want to look at them that close to me? No I wouldn’t. The people in Tyrone that will be affected by our proposed wind farm are the people who live on top of Decker Hollow Road, by the old apple orchard. Those people will see and hear the wind mills. I’m going Saturday on top of Decker Hollow Road and look to see the mountain they will be on and try to imagine what it will be like.

The St. Lawrence River is too precious to be marred by poorly-conceived wind power projects, Governor David Paterson said Sunday. The Governor fielded questions from a packed house at the Northside Improvement League as part of his budget tour of the state. Asked by a Hammond resident about his views on wind power development, Paterson indicated he thinks the industry is moving too quickly.

Controversial plans for a wind turbine on a dramatic Peak District hilltop have been refused permission by the National Park Authority. The National Trust wanted to erect the 12 metre structure to generate electricity for White Edge Lodge holiday cottage on the Longshaw Estate, on the hillside above Grindleford. The National Park's planning committee had recommended an exception be made to its policy of protecting special landscapes from visual intrusion, because of its environmental benefits. But the full authority did not agree, and neither did objectors including the Ramblers Association and Grindleford Parish Council.

THE COMPANY behind plans to build a massive windfarm in Shetland intends to wait until next summer before submitting a planning application to allow a second study of the islands' peatlands. Viking Energy had initially hoped to have already submitted its planning documents, but the huge number of responses to a public consultation scuppered the company's timetable. ...During the initial consultation in spring this year, many local residents were concerned about the amount of peat which would have to be cleared to erect up to 192 turbines, each measuring up to 145 metres in height. There were also worries that disturbing the sensitive peat habitat could pollute burns and inshore waters.

The head of one of the country’s largest windfarm developers has claimed the public’s perception of towering turbines is changing - he says many people now like seeing them on the landscape.Bruce Woodman, chief executive of Cornwall Light and Power, said more people were coming round to the sight of wind turbines, leading to a fall in objections........ But windfarm opponents disagreed with his comments. Gary Watson, from Buckland-tout-Saints residents’ association, which is planning to fight proposals for the three 90m turbines near Goveton, said the turbines were “an industrialisation of the landscape”.

Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, announced yesterday that planning rules would be changed to make it easier for 6,000 onshore wind turbines to be built. Britain's "default position" would be to accept new onshore turbines, he said. The expansion in wind farms was included in the Government's Renewable Energy Strategy, which aims to cut energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, and reduce Britain's dependence on fossil fuels.