In the last six months, I have devoted most of my time to wind energy because of all the recent development activity in the region. Part of my program entails delivering seminars and workshops on the topic. It always surprises me the false impressions or myths that some people have about wind energy and its potential.

It's understandable that wind power companies are confused about Wyoming's attitude toward wind energy development. In a period of less than two years, the state has gone from offering a tax incentive aimed at spurring construction of wind farms to eliminating that incentive and restricting where turbines can be built. The sudden shift in sentiment has come in reaction to a significant increase in the number of wind farms planned in Wyoming ...Quite frankly, the state has been caught unprepared to deal with the wind energy boom.

As a taxpayer in the town of Hammond I am very disturbed about how the issue of industrial wind turbines in our town will be decided. ...Councilman Ronald Tully II, Councilman James Langtry and Supervisor Janie G. Hollister have a potential conflict of interest here, as they all either directly own property, or have relatives who own parcels of land (or both), in the town that falls within Hammond's wind overlay zone that are large enough to erect many of these proposed turbines.

Meet the "renewables bubble", the successor to the dotcom and other bubbles that have popped in recent years, demolishing the dreams and job prospects of a large swathe of the world's population. At least, that is the term coined by a research team from Spain's Rey Juan Carlos University, which has produced the first in-depth study of the effects of government green-energy subsidies on employment.

Former Perry Supervisor, now Horizon salesperson, Anne Humphrey's ad in last week's Perry Shopper was just more of the same typical of Big Wind sales pitches. Bless her heart, Ms. Humphrey is only saying what she needs to say to keep her job. We found it particularly amusing that Ms. Humphrey said, "It's not all about the money," yet, that's ALL she talked about. She said "it's about what is right for the environment," yet didn't say a single word to substantiate how so.

This weekend I entertained people from Toronto at our property on Big Island in the Bay of Quinte. They were appalled to hear about the plans for an industrial wind farm that would cover a large area of Big Island and Sophiasburg in Prince Edward County. They could not believe at how undemocratically this wind farm is being forced on the local residents.

It has only been a few months since we first learned of the proposed industrial wind project being considered for the town of Ira and surrounding towns. At first, I really had no opinion about the project since I was totally unfamiliar about wind power. That is, until now.

The Lone Star state famously leads the U.S., itself the world leader, in wind power. But how much wind power-really-does Texas have? Less than one-tenth of its official tally of more than 8,000 megawatts, says Robert Bryce in the Energy Tribune. That's because wind power is a lot more fickle than other power sources, such as natural gas, coal, or nuclear power.

The following letter was posted on the Kansas Prairie blog by Peg Britton. It was sent to Ms. Britton from Dennis Farney, a retired writer for the Wall Street Journal who lives in Kansas City and has great love for Kansas. The material in his letter offers insight on how some environmental organizations view Kansas.

AWEA CEO Denise Bode seems mildly disappointed by the numbers. Citing a slowdown in manufacturing of turbine components, Bode described the industry as "swimming upstream." The contrary current may get even stronger if my recent visit to upstate New York is any indication. Arriving for a family visit, I found that I'd landed in the midst of an uproar over wind farms, both built and proposed.

Highland stands on the precipice of approving this state's first industrial wind utility. Special use permits have been issued. A checklist of conditions is being reviewed. The developer is pressuring our officials to give it the go-ahead for construction as early as next week. Citizens who fear the industrialization of one of Virginia's best natural resources feel exasperated because they think no one is listening and there's nothing they can do about it.

Let's be perfectly clear. The only way to "mitigate" problems associated with industrial wind turbines is to make sure the projects do not go up within residential areas in the first place. As reported in a recent Daily News letter ("Think big on wind energy" by David Bassett, May 20, 2009) , the U.S. Department of Energy admitted when these immense machines were being developed that they were intended for placement in the remote, unpopulated areas of the Midwest, and offshore -- not amongst rural/residential areas like that of WNY.

Petitions are being circulated in the town of Cape Vincent calling for a one-year town-wide moratorium on any wind farm development. The petition is calling on the Cape Vincent town officials to enact such a moratorium to thoroughly examine wind farm zoning regulations appropriate for the health, safety and welfare of all the residents of the community as well as the aesthetic impacts to the town and 1000 Islands region.

Wind energy might not leave a huge carbon footprint, but it is leaving a deep, industrial footprint on the Texas Hill Country. ...If the stakes were merely aesthetics, perhaps I could sit quietly and let the steel web of transmission lines be spun across the land. But the implications are so much bigger.

In May, the Lower Colorado River Authority sent notification packets to landowners in Tom Green, Irion, Schleicher, Menard, Sutton, Kimble, Kerr and Gillespie counties whose property it might cross with one of three different routes of the proposed Twin Buttes-McCamey Transmission Line project. These notices included vague maps of the proposed routes and fluffed information regarding the reasons for them and how it will affect the land they confiscate.

No one should feel guilty about questioning industrial wind. Regardless of how big the turbines get, the ability to produce meaningful energy for consumers is extremely limited. To understand the limits of industrial wind power there needs to be an understanding of how our grid works. Energy must be maintained at all times. Drops or increases in voltage can cause the grid to fail.

There is no question that between the number and size of the proposed wind towers in Ira that it does raise questions of aesthetics. Thirty-three industrialized wind turbines between 400 and 500 feet in height in such a small town are an abomination and absurdity. The town and its townspeople do have the right to make an argument of aesthetics. But it is not the primary argument.

In the local news, Tri-State Generation, an independent electricity generation company ...and Duke Energy, the third-largest coal consumer in the American electric utility business, have announced that they're going to put up 34 big wind turbines near Burlington in eastern Colorado. The governor's office said this would equal 55 megawatts (55,000,000 watts) of new, green power. ...Actual wind production is never more than about 30 percent of nameplate over an annual average, since the wind doesn't blow constantly, even in Burlington. So the news should have been that another 15 megawatts, on average over the year, has been added to the Front Range grid.