We congratulate all involved — county commissioners and the county Planning Department — for the county’s tall structure ordinance, which commissioners unanimously approved Monday night. As Lori Wynn says today in a front-page story, it took nine months of public hearings, multiple drafts and countless e-mails, but Carteret County finally has an ordinance regulating wind turbines and communication towers. ...While Progress Energy would have bought the power, that would not have mitigated any electricity to customers because wind is unpredictable and energy generated from industrial wind power can’t be stored so conventional energy sources would still be necessary.

Yass Valley Council has reiterated its stance on wind farm projects, including its conviction that a national code should be established for the provision of all wind farms constructed in Australia. ...Councillors reiterated this stance at last Wednesday night's meeting. "There needs to be some clarity. We are not saying no to wind farms, we are just saying that conditions need to be put in place," Councillor David Needham said.

The Clayton zoning law allows noise levels up to 50 dBa with setbacks of 1,250 feet from off-site residences, hospitals, churches and public libraries, irrespective of boundaries. Given our very quiet residual ambient, which is typically in the range of 20-35 dBa, our 50 dBa represents untenable noise inside residences and other public locations. The law also allows wind generators to be built within 500 feet of property lines and existing public roadways. ...A start in the right direction was announced at the Nov. 12 town council meeting that a citizens wind committee will be formed very soon.

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: ...

The road to a cleaner, greener energy future is fraught with strife on Wolfe Island. The disruption and dust caused by the construction of 86 massive windmills has forced at least one couple to pack up and leave their island home of 17 years. ...If wind farms are the way of the future, and are to be promoted by the provincial government, then the province is obliged to study and learn from the mistakes of the Wolfe Island project and the negative effects it has produced.

When you think of the care that France lavishes on its landscape, it's surprising that so little has been done to control the proliferation of ugly wind farms. Rather belatedly, a small revolt is now brewing against what the opponents see as a state-subsidised racket in the name of sustainable development. ...They [the turbines] may not look too bad in the semi-urban countryside that prevails in the low countries and other parts of northern Europe. But it's sad to see them becoming a menace to the spacious countryside of France. Lets hope that they can put more off shore or develop other renewable sources such as tide and wave power.

Wind farms of sprouting up all over the country like 65-story mushrooms. The North American Reliability Council estimates we will have 175,000 megawatts of new capacity by 2017 (that's the equivalent of 175 major coal or nuclear plants). Unfortunately, it admits, "only approximately 23,000 MW…is projected to be available on peak." That means these windmills will be idle most of the time. Coal plants operate at 65 percent capacity, nuclear rims at 90 percent. But at best windmills produce only 30 percent of their "nameplate capacity" and they are almost useless on torpid summer days. California has found its windmills running at only 3 percent capacity on hot summer days. Never mind, we are forging ahead anyway.

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.

One of the most bizarre aspects of the debate over "wind farms" in West Virginia and surrounding states is the unquestioning acceptance by many environmentalists of wind energy as a credible and environmentally friendly energy source. I have read many articles and letters written by dedicated environmentalists touting the benefits and discounting or completely ignoring the adverse consequences of wind energy. The prevailing belief of these individuals is that we must embrace wind energy as at least a partial solution to the increased burning of fossil fuels and global warming. ...So, I ask all environmentalists who "believe in wind" to please do some research and become informed of the realities of industrial wind energy in the eastern highlands. Be skeptical of the claims of those who have financial incentives to promote this scam.

State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has taken the lead at the state level to bring some oversight to the proliferating proposals for wind power developments across the state. Mr. Cuomo has drafted what is now a voluntary set of ethical guidelines for wind power companies and municipal officials in the wake of a corruption investigation in Franklin County, where wind companies are alleged to have improperly influenced local officials to get permission to build wind towers.

This is a letter of concern requesting commissionerʼs in both counties to enact a moratorium on Wind Turbines until more environmental, safety, and wildlife studies can be concluded. There are many issues regarding turbines that have not been adequately addressed. ...There are legitimate noise and health issues caused by wind turbines. This should be researched more before construction. We question why you are so urgent to bring Wind Energy Farms to our mountaintops before sufficient research and planning is concluded.

Instead of messing with farms, let's put solar and wind energy facilities where they belong. ...This legislation tries to satisfy one societal need - clean energy - by compromising another - preserved farmland. Perhaps it's easier to place clean power generation facilities on open land than retrofit other sites, but this tendency to look to greenfields to satisfy new development needs is precisely the kind of practice that has brought so much sprawl to New Jersey.

I am for "property rights" as much as anyone else, but unless I have been living on a different planet than Commissioner Holliday, I do not believe that I can do whatever I want with my property. If that were the case, our natural landscape and environment would be in a very sorry state today. ...Let us face the facts: The real issue here is not "property rights," wind turbines, or anything else that makes any logical sense. All the logical arguments have been presented to no avail. The commissioners have the power now to regulate industrial wind, but choose not to.

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.

That predatory wind operatives, who provide no meaningful product or service, would sacrifice these mountains for their narrow self-interest is outrageous. ...Synergics Wind LLC has clear-cut and bulldozed hundreds of acres around Roth Rock, without securing grading permits beforehand and in areas well-known for harboring state-endangered species. Synergics has not applied for or received any construction permit from the Maryland Public Service Commission, as required.

Wind energy could supply up to 20 percent of the nation's power supply but the two variables few talk about are reliability and transmission. The places where the wind blows the most -- like western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle -- also have few residents or businesses that need the power. To achieve the kind of wind power percentage that some states are mandating will require between 12,000 and 19,000 miles of new power lines criss-crossing the country. That kind of power line construction will cost up to $6.4 billion.

Imagine the brouhaha if an oil company built a series of 300-foot-high oil derricks along the foot of Mt. Timpanogas. Or if an advertising firm erected billboards as tall as the Statue of Liberty in front of Y Mountain. The fur would fly. But see how different it is with the Spanish Fork wind farm. State and local dignitaries line up to praise the turbines that are a visual blight at that end of Utah Valley.

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.