A company that wants to build a floating wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard has received a boost from the state's congressional delegation. In a letter dated June 26, the entire Massachusetts delegation asked the U.S. Minerals Management Service to review an application by Blue H USA LLC for a lease to test floating platform technology and collect data at the site for the proposed wind farm. The company announced the congressional support for its application at its U.S. headquarters in Boston yesterday.

Protesters picketed a power company promoting its plan to build six wind turbines at Sempringham Fen this week. Members of AGAST (Action Group Against Sempringham Turbines) outlined their opposition to a wind farm outside Billingborough and Pointon village halls where Scottish Power Renewables held information days on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Wells lifeboat rescued a yacht with engine failure which was drifting dangerously close to a new wind farm off Skegness. ...Wells lifeboat press officer John Mitchell said it was too early to say whether the wind farm, which is still being constructed, was likely to present more problems for sailors and result in more calls to the coastguard but it was something they were monitoring.

A row broke out last week over how to proceed with a proposal to build a wind turbine at the transfer station. Some selectmen were surprised to find out the recycling and renewable energy committee had applied to the Federal Aviation Administration and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission for input on putting a 250-foot turbine at the transfer station. ...board of selectmen chair Michele Couture was concerned that the recycling committee was getting ahead of the town in its interest in generating its own electricity. The committee should have asked selectmen for permission to contact the FAA and MAC, she said. "When it comes to siting a structure in town, the selectmen need to be involved in this. We're responsible for town property," she said, adding, "It was disconcerting to hear [Leger] talk like their committee was this independent entity."

A Texas-based wind energy company is making plans for the construction of a new wind farm in eastern Carbon County. Project manager Nate Sandvig of Horizon Wind Energy presented plans for the project this week to the Carbon County Commission and the Carbon County Planning Commission. ...The new wind farm would be located in the Simpson Ridge area south of Medicine Bow, near PacifiCorp's Arlington wind farm. Energy produced at the site would be shipped to California and other parts of the Pacific Coast, Sandvig said.

Researchers studying birds killed by power lines are encouraged by recent findings from a study in the Dakotas that could hold implications throughout the Central Flyway, the major migration route that stretches from Canada to Texas. Wildlife deaths from power lines, wind turbines and other structures are a growing concern across the country, said Al Manville, a senior wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. More transmission lines and wind turbines are planned in coming years, which could put several bird species at risk, Manville said. ...Research is important, partly because "birds play a key role in the ecosystem," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society.

A small but determined group of Tsawwassen residents continued their fight to prevent high-voltage power line construction Thursday by blocking access to their neighbourhood with parked cars. "The trucks came and tried to get in and we wouldn't move our cars," said resident Tina Ryan, who took part in the morning action on 13A Street. A handful of cars were parked along the narrow roadway, apparently not violating parking laws but making access for large trucks impossible.

Alberta farmers who hope to halt construction of a major power transmission line proposed between Great Falls and Lethbridge were granted permission Thursday to appeal the $150 million project to the Alberta Court of Appeals. "The only way we're ever going to stop this line is to win an appeal and get the decision overturned," said Scott Stenbeck, an attorney representing 16 farmers who live in the Lethbridge and Warner areas. Marc Clark, president of the line's developer, Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc., said the ruling may delay the project, but it won't stop the proposed line.

Residents will get their chance to speak up about a proposed power line route through Springfield at three public hearings this month hosted by the Public Utility Commission. The supervisors have taken a stand against PPL's plans for the "cross-country route" and substation. They say the route will negatively affect environmentally sensitive areas and should be moved closer to Route 309 or the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority railroad corridor. The proposed line crosses woodlands, wetlands, flood plains and agricultural land through rural parts of Springfield and Richland.

The average residential Delmarva Power customer could end up paying just 70 cents a month more over the next 25 years for Bluewater Wind's power than they would have paid for fossil-fuel generated electricity, a team of state consultants said Thursday. The projection is significantly lower than the $6.46 a month "wind power premium" the consultants projected in a December analysis of the previous proposed contract between Bluewater and Delmarva, which would have had Delmarva buy twice as much wind power. ...Under the new, smaller contract, Sheingold estimates the average monthly additional cost on a residential customer, averaged over 25 years, will be 70 cents. In the early years, those additional costs will be an estimated $1.79 a month over market, and over time, will turn into a savings as fossil fuels get more expensive.

The first of the 28 towers are going up in the second stage of the Te Rere Hau wind farm in the hills above Palmerston North, NZ Windfarms says. ...NZ Windfarms has a 50 percent stake in Te Rere Hau, with the other 50 percent owned by NP Power and Babcock and Brown Wind Power. The project has resource consent for 97 turbines and is due to be finished in mid-2009.

Iberdrola SA says that if the Public Service Commission does not approve its $4.5 billion acquisition of Energy East Corp., it will look elsewhere to make the $2 billion in wind-farm investments it plans for New York. "Then Iberdrola would not view New York as a state with an attractive regulatory environment in which to target future investment," the company said in filing Thursday with the PSC. "In that event, Iberdrola would seek to redirect its resources from New York to other locations." Iberdrola's remarks are the latest -- and perhaps the last -- that it will make officially...

After three years of planning, Medford's first wind turbine will be constructed at the McGlynn School sometime this fall. The City Council recently approved a $600,000 loan order for the city to start construction of the turbine. The turbine will stand 131 feet tall with 33-foot blades that will spin around 12 miles per hour. ...The turbine will be located behind the McGlynn School, about 150 feet from the playground and 200 feet from the river.

By a 3-0 vote, the Magnolia Town Board added an ordinance regulating the construction of wind turbines to the books. The vote came on the heels of a heated public hearing at the same meeting, where nearly a dozen Magnolia residents voiced their support or concern for the ordinance. The ordinance prohibits building wind turbines within a half-mile of a building or 1,000 feet of a property line. A provision allows homeowners to add a turbine as an easement to the property if they want a turbine within the half-mile.

About 175 citizens attended the sixth of the long hearings on Tuesday evening. It took 2 1/2 hours, but everyone who had not spoken in the past was given opportunity to speak for the record. Those in favor spoke mostly of the economic benefits to the area. There was also some mention that it would meet our society's need for electricity as a nonpolluting, renewable resource. Those opposed were mostly concerned about land values, visual and sound intrusion that would alter the quality of life, and possible health effects. About 40 citizens were present for the closing hearing and decision on Wednesday evening. Thompson said, "We're here to look at the wind farm application and how it does or does not meet conditional use guidelines, and the specifics of the zoning ordinance as it applies to the wind tower/wind farm."

The issue of whether a wind farm should be built in Livingston County will come back to a county committee on July 15, after members have digested the information they received Wednesday night. The board's agriculture and zoning committee took up the question of whether Iberdrola Renewables should get a special-use permit to build Cayuga Ridge South Wind Farm, a 155-turbine project scattered across 15,000 acres between Odell and Emington. The committee on Wednesday reviewed the Zoning Board of Appeals findings...

A proposal to regulate certain types of windmills has hit a nerve in one Onondaga County town. A week from Thursday, Spafford will hold a public hearing on the law aimed at private windmills, but it's ignited a much larger debate. It's easy to see how you could get swept up with the idea of harnessing the wind in Spafford; it's a pretty steady part of living in many areas of the town. ...The town has nothing on the books to deal with wind mills of any kind. The law under consideration is aimed more at smaller wind mills; with three applications for them in the last two months, the supervisor says they have to start somewhere to regulate wind mills.

Two wind power projects are blowing through Fillmore County. EcoEnergy of Elgin, Ill., has released plans for an $850 million wind farm in Bristol Township, a rural farming community near the Iowa border in southern Fillmore County. The company has scheduled construction for 2009, assuming the project moves forward as planned ...Others are also following suit. Fillmore Wind owner Larry Tammel has filed for a test turbine on his land.

The request, for a restraining order and a writ of mandamus -- seeking to force the county to do its duty under zoning regulations -- had been made by Rod Bittel, who lives about a mile from where the wind farm would be located. Even though he denied the requests from Bittel and his attorney, Patrick Hughes, Wichita, Toepfer left open the door for additional action. "If either party is ultimately aggrieved by what the county commission does with regard to this application, then an appeal can be taken to the district court to determine if the action was not supported by the evidence or is otherwise arbitrary or capricious," the judge said in summing up his ruling.

Several years ago the Aspen Skiing Co. examined its four ski mountains and concluded that winds on top are just too gusty for wind turbines. Wind is best for producing electricity when it's strong but steady. But turbines are now strong enough to withstand blasts of 120 mph. If gusts that are even stronger arrive, new designs allow blades to fold. And so a 165-foot tower with a propeller is soon to be erected atop Snowmass, to better measure the wind potential there.