Five members of Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy (MCRE) spoke in opposition to the installation of the 40-story giants on the ridges near Trout and Williamsbug. "To give you some perspective," Dave Buhrman offered, "a county commissioner would be smaller than a quarter photographed next to one of these towers." Buhrman stressed the potentially negative effects on the county's important tourist industry. "Mountain views millions of years in the making will be altered during one building season," he stressed. "When people can no longer get a sense that this area is wild, wonderful, and undisturbed, they will look elsewhere- we are putting Greenbrier County's future economic potential at risk by allowing the wind industry access to our loftiest vistas."

According to Terry Groves, director of building and zoning for the county, Navitas is likely considering about four farms in various locations around the county. The company may initially apply for zoning for a site on the northeast side of the county, Groves said

The groundbreaking took place at a Noble construction site on Atwater Road near Ubly.

Boise State will partner with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Idaho National Laboratory, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and other agencies on the Wind Energy Research Laboratory.

Riffle called it a "handshake agreement" and said that no documents exist detailing the settlement amount

As more private wind farm developers intensify efforts to find suitable sites for their projects, more communities are faced with the dilemma of what to do about them.

Cape Wind Associates, which has proposed the wind farm, redesigned the 130-turbine project this year to avoid the discovered area.

Another energy cooperative has opted out of Amendment 37, the year-old initiative that requires large Colorado power providers to increasingly use renewable sources for their juice.

... spending on efficiency measures costs about 3 cents per kilowatt-hour saved, while the wholesale cost of power has climbed above twice that... .