But biologists at the Natural Resources Agency were not convinced. They worry that turning blades on the 328-foot-high turbines will kill migrating birds and bats. The wind developers failed to do studies that would allow the agency to conclude the project will not have an undue harmful impact on wildlife, the agency said.

..a two-year bird study showed that the wind-farm site would be under the flight route of migrating Greenland white-fronted geese and greylag geese which roost in the area. SSE decided that a wind farm would pose a significant risk of collision for the birds and dropped the proposals.

MANCHESTER — Wildlife experts will be advising the Planning Commission about the implications of proposed wind turbines for the region's bat population, which includes two endangered species.

More than 700 Greenbrier County residents have sent letters to the state Public Service Commission, opposing a plan to build one of the largest wind-power projects east of the Mississippi River. The residents say the wind turbines will spoil mountain views, decrease property values, kill bats and birds, hurt tourism and ruin hunting and fishing in the area. They predict the wind turbines will catch fire during lightning strikes. And they say the turbines will interfere with emergency radio communications.

Ottaway News Service

HARRISBURG -- The Kittatinny Ridge, a 185-mile forested highland linking the Delaware Water Gap, Susquehanna Water Gap and the Mason-Dixon line, is the focus of a new conservation effort.

A campaign by Pennsylvania Audubon seeks to place Kittatinny Ridge, also known as Blue Mountain, in the public consciousness as the largest uninterrupted forest area in eastern and central Pennsylvania. Kittatinny Ridge faces multiple threats from ill-planned development as well as an overabundance of deer, insect pests and illegal dumping by humans, the environmental group says.

Calling it "our baby," the panel overseeing the Department of Water and Power moved forward Tuesday with the Pine Tree Wind Project, approving a pair of environmental and construction deals related to the $278 million initiative.p The venture has been held up as an example of both the promise and peril associated with the growing use of "green power," which is one of the top priorities of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's new Board of Water and Power Commissioners.

THOMAS, W.Va. — Towering up to 228 feet above the Appalachian Mountain ridge — far above the treeline — are windmills lined up like marching aliens from War of the Worlds.

Up close, they emit a high-pitched hum. From a few hundred yards away, their blades — extending 115 feet from center — cause a steady whooshing sound as they cut through the air at up to 140 mph at the tips.

The 5,000 windmills that dot the slopes of Northern California's Altamont Pass are drawing fire from environmental groups who say pollution-free power isn't worth the price of killing thousands of birds.

Offshore wind parks planned by Scandinavian, Polish and German companies in the Baltic Sea may disrupt ecologically vital currents of salty water, German scientists warned Saturday

Some of the turbines of the 200- megawatt project could be within two miles of the border of the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, a refuge that was named by the National Wildlife Refuge Association as one of the nation's six most threatened refuges.

A windfarm is being blamed for the deaths of scores of baby seals.

The head of a famous clan and his supermodel sister have joined a campaign to prevent electricity pylons from damaging a tiny wood that is home to four of Britain's most endangered birds of prey.

"These North American birds can withstand a lot of insult without going extinct," Butcher says. "So if we change our ways we have a chance to save them and allow the populations to rebound."

The 2003 study, aimed as much at birds as bats, unexpectedly found that the Mountaineer wind turbines on Backbone Mountain killed an estimated 2,092 bats. Tuttle, not involved in that study, called the 2003 bat kill “by far the largest bat mortality event I know of worldwide and, as far as I know, the biggest mortality event of any animal.” The 2004 bat kill could be even worse.

"WALES has some of the most breathtaking riding country in Britain, but it has sometimes been slow to capitalise on its tourism potential. This is starting to change, and in North Wales plans for horse holidays with grant backing are well underway."

Ann West relates:

"But when they were ridden along a bridlepath towards the windmills, the horses became upset by the noise and the big moving shadows of the blades on the ground. I was worried for the riders' safety so we turned back after passing just two windmills."

They introduced the world to "environmentally friendly" energy, but now some of Europe's "greenest" countries are under pressure to backtrack on wind farms as public anger grows over their impact on the countryside.

FLEURIEU EAGLES THREATENED - IS ORIGIN ENERGY SERIOUS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT? ENVIRONMENTAL LOSS IN THE NAME OF ENVIRONMENTAL GAIN