Labour Neath AM Gwenda Thomas today welcomed the decision by the Planning Inspectorate to uphold Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council's decision to refuse planning permission. The planning application, lodged by community group Awel Aman Tawe, was opposed by many residents in Tai'rgwaith and Rhiwfawr, including Gwenda Thomas on the basis of an overbearing visual impact on both communities and the fact that the wind farm would have been outside the TAN 8 strategic search area.

"The Tribe depends on Nantucket Sound for food, jobs, spiritual ceremonies, and cultural continuity, and the Sound is essential to the Tribe's religious ceremonies and traditional religious practices," the Wampanoag say in their federal complaint.

Energy firm InnoVent wants to build 10 turbines - each twice the height of Big Ben - on the site of the 1915 Battle of Loos, near Calais, where tens of thousands died. ...Local conservationist Bruno Schmit said InnoVent had taken no account of the site's historical importance.

Your view: Is carbon offsetting a con? Holidaymakers are being misled by companies who guarantee to repair the damage flights do to the atmosphere, according to the first independent study of a fast-growing market. The report claims it is not possible to state categorically that buying any "carbon offset" — as Tony Blair did grudgingly last week to counter the global warming potential of his family's New Year break in Miami Beach — will neutralise the damage that flying causes to the atmosphere.

UP TO 20 per cent of the Highlands would be visually blighted by wind farms if a draft renewables strategy for the region is approved, councillors were warned yesterday.

The construction of windfarms could trigger the release of more carbon dioxide than the technology was created to reduce, according to an investigation into proposals for hundreds of giant turbines on the Western Isles. The warning has been highlighted by the Views of Scotland (VoS) pressure group which argues that developers routinely inflate their predictions of carbon savings and underestimate the effect of "aggressive construction techniques" associated with building turbines, particularly on peatland. ...Basing its audit on developers' construction data, VoS believes the windfarms would cause the emission of 500,000 tonnes of CO2 a year more than they might save. VoS chairman David Bruce said: "This paper illustrates the implications for every wind-power site proposed on peat, of which there are many in Scotland.

The Campaign to Protect Rural England said the number of turbines over 30 metres high either already built, in construction or awaiting approval has soared to more 4,100 They are concerned parts of the country are being ruined because protected areas and National Parks are becoming ringed by the machines.

Representatives from Wasatch Wind discussed their proposed wind farm at an Open House held concurrently with the Monticello City Council meeting on April 23. According to Wasatch Wind representative Julie Mack, the purpose of the event was the help local residents visualize the impact of the wind farm on the Monticello area.

Windber Area Authority members voted to oppose a wind turbine project slated for the Shaffer Mountain area over concerns that the watershed will be negatively impacted. However, the move was largely ceremonial as the authority's legal right to restrict operations on the watershed land have already been enacted, solicitor James Cascio said during Wednesday's meeting. The authority, under a 1989 land use agreement with primary landowner Berwind Natural Resources Corp., of Philadelphia, has only the right to approve or approve with written conditions the terms of any use that would impact the watershed, he said. In January, the authority asked in writing for restrictions and specifications of the project regarding the watershed, and the developer, Gamesa Energy USA, has complied with that initial request, he said. At the time, the authority's main concern was the proximity of several turbines to authority wells.

Construction on Western Maryland's first wind farm could resume within days, despite some residents' protests, pending a green light from the Garrett Soil Conservation District and the Maryland Department of the Environment. ...MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus said construction was halted because of "sediment-laden water" flowing from the site.

Nearby wind turbines, declining water quality and decreasing water levels at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Wisconsin earned the popular birders' destination the dubious distinction of being ranked the third most imperiled refuge in the nation, according to a list compiled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. ...The uncertain impact of the wind turbines prompted another organization, the National Wildlife Refuge Association, to name Horicon one of the nation's most endangered refuges in a list released four years ago.

They believe that harnessing the power of the park's many rivers and burns will help Scotland meet its green energy targets while avoiding or restricting the construction of unsightly wind farms in the vicinity. Gordon Watson, the director of planning and rural development for the Park Authority, said: "If there is something that Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National park is not short of, it's water.

"The combined landscape impact, visual impact, biodiversity impact, cultural heritage impact, public rights of way impact, noise impact and highway impact of the proposed development is considered to outweigh the benefits of the renewable energy contribution of the proposed development."

The first glimpse of the turbines from state Route 6 presents a surreal image like something from a Road Warrior movie.

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a wind farm near Harrold have stirred up a storm of protest. BLOT, the Bozeat, Lavendon and Harrold Oppose the Turbines protest group, was formed in January with 100 members and the aim to oppose the controversial proposals. And last month energy giant npower, part of the German-owned RW Energy Group, submitted an official planning application to Bedford Borough Council for 16 wind turbines, measuring 125m in height and with blades 90m long, at a site bordered by the three villages.

Jacky Bonnemains, president of Robin des Bois (Robin Hood), a militant French ecological group, said: "I find it extraordinary no one in government grasps that this will change forever the character of a place of sacred memory. They just don't seem to care." In future, the seascape would be "desecrated" by rows of wind generators, he added.

Before members of council at Monday morning's council meeting in West Grey, Mike McMurray, along with a large group of residents from West Grey, filed into the council chambers to protest the proposed wind turbines. McMurray spoke on behalf of the group about the concerns about wind turbines, with a powerful message of not in my backyard. He said that, in this case, the not-in-my-backyard sentiment is appropriate when it comes to health and side effects of building them.

An expert says that a wind turbine at the town-owned forest behind Beech Grove Cemetery would generate as much electricity or more than a similar turbine in Portsmouth, R.I. that has netted that town $281,219 in cash after all costs in just one year. After hearing on March 20 that an investment in a 1.65 megawatt turbine may produce as good as or better results than Portsmouth's The Board of Selectmen unanimously agreed to place a question of whether the town will fund a $14,500 feasibility study on the Town Meeting.

As a microcosm of the wind plant controversy, the wetlands issue seems to be typical of the level of scrutiny applied to the plans for turbines on Allegheny Mountain. Highland New Wind's plans for a utility in the Laurel Fork watershed has garnered strong opposition from residents and landowners since 2002, and the current debate about wetlands on the project site is a tug of war ...Recently, three Highlanders submitted a letter to a number of state agencies and county officials, asserting there appears to be a wetlands area under which HNWD will bury a transmission line, and that HNWD has not applied for a federal permit to do that.

Wind generating companies competing to place turbines on mountain tops are also competing with wildlife seeking secure habitat. Along with construction traffic and noise, new access roads allowing recreational vehicles passage into previously untouched woodlands, rotor noise, and visual noise from the shadows of turbine blades could also have an impact. "It's a question that we don't have all the answers to," said Nette. "There is a big unknown there. I'm not sure we are giving it adequate consideration." Wildlife biologist Bob Bancroft is looking to answer that question by researching studies done in northern areas of the United States to learn about the impact wind turbines there are having on wildlife species, including moose.