Gov. Tim Pawlenty is proposing $85 million in tax breaks to create jobs in solar energy, methane gas, and wind energy. According to the governor, we're going to have a whole new manufacturing sector building solar power plants and wind turbines, and his tax breaks will bring those new jobs to Minnesota. Isn't that a good idea? No. It's a bad idea.

But when quizzed by a shareholder about why they were selling off such good assets - selling the things investors had bought into BBW to own - BBW came up with entirely new reasons. Now BBW says the Spanish wind farm operation is a dog - a low-yielding asset that didn't produce and economic return. That's a little at odds with the glowing picture painted in previous reports. I'm not sure it was the smartest thing to say when the sale hasn't settled yet.

The Green Mountain National Forest released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Deerfield Wind Project in September and we will accept public comment until Friday. ...I look forward to more feedback on our DEIS. As the final information and opinions flow in, I know this is an important decision and it will weigh heavily on my mind.

What the Scarborough fiasco showed is the lie behind environmentalist and media claims that opinion polling shows the public virtually unanimous in support of "green" energy. ...And if environmentalists think they can win those battles simply by flooding the zone, as they did in Scarborough this week, rather than through reasoned debate, they're sadly mistaken.

If you live on or near North Cape Coastal Drive (Rte 14) or in Milo or Kildare or surrounding communities, there is a good chance you will fall victim to wind turbines and high voltage power lines hovering over your home. Keep in mind that under current regulations, a wind turbine can be placed as close as 1,200 ft. from your home.

Now these out-of-state wind energy corporations have discovered that our mountains hold an equally unique and valuable wind resource. These people describe how the Allegheny Front above Keyser is so perfectly suited for their industrial wind farm. ...There are power lines in the immediate vicinity to connect the turbines to the grid. The area is thinly settled so they don't have to worry about people living next to the turbines, and land is relatively cheap. Most local people were probably not aware of this (myself included) and now we are getting little offers of money to let this project go on.

These [wind] companies stand to make huge amounts of money from the "gold rush" of construction of wind turbines and a great deal of that money is coming from your pocket in the form of government subsidies. Whose interests are they looking out for? It sure isn't yours. ...If you live in rural Ontario you need to educate yourself and you need to do it quickly in order to keep your home and community as a safe place to live in.

The wind industry holds a lot of promise in New York because of the landscape. That doesn't mean it should be a scatter-shot, helter-skelter process to get wind laws drafted and projects up and running. While the intervention by officials is welcomed, we still can't help but wish it came earlier in the process - at least for Enfield's sake.

This morning BBW and BNB announced they were selling their 50/50 Portuguese wind farm joint venture to a Portuguese private equiteer Magnum Capital for $2.23 billion. A year after BBW bought its half from parent BNB, BBW is recording a loss of $11.7 million while BNB is claiming a small but undisclosed surplus over book value. But that's not really the point of this transaction. Everyone knows why BNB is selling - it rather desperately needs money to pay down debt.

The decision to build the Tranquillon Ridge Wind Farm by county planners was made much too quickly and with the near exclusion of input from Lompoc. Mark these concerns: ...

When the turbines started up near her home, in Shelburne, Ont., Helen Fraser suffered severe health effects. ...The latest ad from Sky-Power [a developer of renewable energy projects], states: "In over 25 years and with more than 68,000 turbines installed around the world, no member of the public has ever been harmed by wind turbines." ...So who is telling the truth?

Over the last couple of years, concerned citizens all around Jefferson County have sponsored informational sessions on wind turbine issues. These sessions have brought out the facts and the health hazards of placing wind turbines where people live. ...The facts are there and the facts are being stepped over to pick up money our Congress has made available for renewable energy. This is your money, and this is just another giveaway program for an inefficient source of energy. We need to channel our tax dollars into the development of real fuel-cell technology for cars and trucks.

In January 2007, Deerfield Wind and Iberdrola Renewables (formerly PPM Energy, a subsidiary of the Spanish energy company Iberdrola) applied for a Certificate of Public Good from the Vermont Public Service Board in order to construct a 34 megawatt (MW) wind turbine project in the Green Mountain National Forest in Readsboro and Searsburg. ...Wilmington voted at a town meeting in December 2007 to oppose the project based on concerns about wildlife habitat, aesthetics and lack of public benefit including the areas of property values and the impact on tourism.

As we stood on Telegraph Road in the Town of Eagle, looking at a landscape of turbines erected by Noble Environmental ... one turbine in particular almost seemed to whistle. The rest of them raised a steady whoosh, whoosh, woosh. Maybe it was just one errant whistling turbine, and a field of them may be scenic, but what if New York fulfills its alternative energy goal, and there are thousands of these 400 foot towers in the upstate countryside? Would you live next to one?

Anyone who was paying attention this summer knows how unreliable windmills are, because 90 percent of the time, they just sat there motionless. ...Local media always have a lot of coverage when windmills are triumphantly approved after the usual protests by affected residents. But they never say a word about how often, or what percentage of actual time they are completely and worthlessly still. According to local windmill developers, they power thousands of homes. This summer they didn't.

I am writing this to make clear my vehement opposition to the wind turbine proposed by Mark Richey Woodworking. It will be constructed in the Newburyport Industrial area at 40 Parker St. I do support renewable energy but I feel that the location for this turbine is a highly unsuitable one. I do not believe that the Newburyport Zoning board (ZBA) thoroughly investigated the impact that these projects would have before approving them. This turbine will have a direct and very negative impact on the neighborhoods that surround them.

I am extremely opposed to the location of the 300-foot, high wind turbine at the Mark Richey property, 49 Parker St. I am not opposed to alternative energy but, just as the discovery of X-rays had everyone getting new "pictures" taken, to later discover the ramifications of incorrect use of this technology, we cannot build enormous hazardous turbines in such close vicinity to habitable structures industrial and residential.

Will wind power ever make up 100 percent of our electrical needs? Not by a long shot. The wind isn’t reliable enough and you can’t just put up a 400 foot tall wind turbine anywhere. The location must be, well, windy. ...I took a detour and decided to ask a few residents who lived near the “wind mills” what they thought of them. I found out that they are controversial, and no one I talked to wanted their names printed.

The long-awaited full report on the Horse Creek Wind Farm noise study will go public in a week, the town announced Wednesday. But the availability of the report was not enough to satisfy upset residents who stormed into the council meeting demanding that the town start formulating a local law to limit noise levels of wind turbines and establish setbacks. "We need to start clearing the air," said Patricia Booras-Miller, vice president of Environmentally Concerned Citizens Organization of Jefferson County.