A federal court judge said Tuesday he needs time to sort through a complicated legal challenge brought by the King Ranch and several environmental groups that want to stop a massive wind farm near the South Texas Gulf Coast. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel will have to decide if a mid-1990s federal Coastal Zone Management Act requires the state to conduct public hearings before a wind farm can be approved - if it affects private property and if the environmental groups have a right to sue. ...Lawyers for the wind farm developers said wind farms are not like electric utilities, which are subject to regulation.

Proposals to build 85 wind turbines in East Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway have been rejected on safety grounds. The Scottish Government said the Kyle wind farm would have had detrimental effects on safety at Prestwick Airport and the surrounding landscape.

It is "far too soon" to make final judgments on which of the export-orientated windfarm projects now being mooted will be approved and under what terms. "There is no fait accompli at this stage. None of this has reassured objectors, who are concerned about the noise and visual impact of onshore turbines and also see the export of wind energy to Britain as equivalent to "selling the family silver".

The chief executive of the Shannon Region Fisheries Board said yesterday there were no fish remaining in the spawning grounds affected by the landslide in the Stacks Mountains in north Kerry last weekend. ...However, the full effects of the landslide on the Smearlagh and Feale rivers may not be felt for five to 10 years, because of the migratory pattern of the life-cycle of the fish. ...Residents have called for a change in the county council development plan which has designated the Stacks area for wind farm development.

The First Minister's apparent conversion was revealed by Cameron McNeish, a well-known hiker, and a prominent SNP supporter. He said he had recently discussed the new policy idea with Mr Salmond. "The First Minister is not averse to the idea of setting up turbine-free areas," said Mr McNeish. "He has come round to the idea that Scotland has areas well worth protecting."

The district was offered 5,000 kronor ($695) per annum per turbine - a total of 5.5 million per annum, on completion of the project, but has demanded a significantly higher sum, local newspaper Piteå-Tidningen reports. "We say no. The money is not in parity with the problems that this causes and the threat against our reindeer herding," Anders Ruth at the district told the newspaper.

San Diego County Supervisors are being sued over their May 15th approval of the technically and legally flawed Wind Energy Ordinance & Plan Amendment-that benefits wealthy industrial wind and solar developers, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sempra, and absentee land-owners at the expense of rural east county residents and valued resources.

The EPA's Region 6 office, based in Dallas, said the rule issued under the Clean Air Act would reduce the number of days that San Juan visibly impairs views by 80 percent. The proposed rule was prompted in part by concerns about haze at Mesa Verde National Park in Southwest Colorado, designated a "Class 1" area that receives special protection according to the Clean Air Act.

The regulatory agency has told a Santa Cruz County couple that a wind turbine planned for their new home in the Pleasure Point neighborhood is too tall. Suggesting it would add to the area's "visual clutter," the commission recommends the residents lower their proposed 35-foot-high, electricity-generating windmill, an idea the home's architect says is simply unworkable.

Debate over putting wind turbines on Rattlesnake Mountain appears to be maturing faster than plans for the project itself. ...Guettner said Rattlesnake Mountain may be an ideal spot for wind turbines, but not one the public is likely to accept. "I feel like there's a supermajority of people who feel the way I do," he said. "I think it's time we marshal these people." ...Rick Leaumont, Audubon's conservation committee chairman, said about 238 bird species have been documented in the area. He said they are regularly coming and going to and from the monument, often crossing the mountain. "Any location on the mountain would be a problem," he said. "It's like an airport."

The council, which has 11,000 members, called for action ahead of Highland Council considering an application for the 31-turbine Allt Duine wind farm on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park on Tuesday. RWE-npower Renewables wants to build the wind farm near Kincraig, 440 yards from the park's western boundary.

The preserve itself has grown to 39,100 acres. But that's only a fraction of the 3.8-million-acre region known as the Flint Hills, straddling the Oklahoma-Kansas state line with the largest remaining patch of tallgrass prairie on the continent. ...While wind power generates clean energy, the vast networks of turbines, roads and power grids can disturb a natural ecosystem just as much as any other industrialization, Hamilton says.

Florida Power & Light Co. -- with 1,600 wind turbines the largest wind-power generator in Texas -- is considering putting power transmission lines through the heart of the prairie to bring environmentally friendly wind-generated power to Fort Worth and Dallas. Doing so would supply 2,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity -- enough to power 500,000 homes -- reducing the amount of electricity needed from coal-fired plants and thus cutting emissions that contribute to ozone pollution and global warming. The possibility of 130-foot-high transmission lines cutting through the prairie, however, complicates local efforts to purchase and preserve it. The state's General Land Office, which bought the property as an investment for $21 million in 2005 and is considering whether to sell it to a private developer, has given local leaders time to raise the money to purchase the property.

The proposed Gathercauld windfarm has been reduced in size from 13 turbines to five. Developer EnergieKontor made the announcement at its exhibition about the project at Craigrothie Hall last Thursday. Project manager Mick McLoughlin said the change came after consultation about the impact on the area's landscape, heritage and possible effects on radar at R.A.F. Leuchars.

The battle for Fallago Rig is escalating as North British Windpower, who want to build a 48 turbine wind farm on the site, clash with those opposed to the development. ...Mark Rowley, spokesman for the Say No To Fallago group, explained why they oppose the development: "Fallago Rig is the straw that will break the camel's back. It will decimate the last remaining unspoiled section of the Lammermuir Hills - if it goes ahead, the Scottish Government might as well convert the hills into a wind factory.

A mountain ridge in Highland County has been cleared for the state's first commercial wind farm. While site preparation began last summer, official clearance came recently from the State Corporation Commission, which dismissed a complaint that the project will ruin the view from a nearby Civil War battlefield.

State regulators will consider the impact that a planned Highland County wind farm will have on a nearby Civil War battlefield, despite objections from the project's developer. A State Corporation Commission hearing examiner ruled Wednesday that a state agency could present evidence of the visual impacts the 400-foot-tall towers would have on Camp Allegheny, a historic battlefield just across the state line in West Virginia. A hearing has been set for Oct. 13.

FREDERICKSBURG - Residents of this scenic Hill Country community are split over a California company's interest in building a field of wind turbines north of town to generate electricity.

In its reconsideration petition, which the EFSEC declined last month, WRE says the scaled-down project - with 15 turbines eliminated - would probably not be economically viable, partly because there is no room for larger turbines that could return the wind farm to its proposed capacity.

SEI, the school for renewable energy and sustainable housing technology, won approval June 4 from the Board of County Commissioners for its bid to erect a 106-foot-high tower on its year-old Paonia campus. The tower will support an electricity generating turbine with blades spanning 12 feet to be used for class instruction and to produce power for the school's use. The BoCC, sitting with commission chair Jan McCracken absent, voted 2-0 in favor of the schools proposal after hearing comments from neighbors both in support and opposition of the plan.