Does anyone in Orangeville believe the Town Board is working for them? On Sept. 23 at the Town Hall it was obvious that we are being represented by a lawyer, not the Town Board. The wind turbine law that was voted on specifies that 450-foot turbines can be built 700 feet from your property line and 1,320 feet from your residence. Approximately 200 residents filed petitions objecting to these setbacks for health and safety reasons.

Is it right for the Town Council of New Shoreham to change the terms of a gift of land to the town, 31 years after the gift was made? This is the thrust of the public hearing on October 5, in reference to the windmill project proposed for the Transfer Station site. ...Numerous groups have bonded together to preserve more that 40 percent of this island. For those of you who enjoy these preserved areas, please realize that this kind of "spot zoning" sets a precedent that can put all of these, now public, areas in great danger. For those of you who may be thinking of donating land or are working toward the preservation and conservation of an area for a specific use - think hard - your dreams are in danger!

I am writing to express my desire to carefully review the wind turbine proposal for Winnebago County. As a resident, I want to see several things in our decision process. I would like to assure that we are taking into account that human development and environmental sustainability are both considered. A connected plan will best serve the long-term interests in our county. Let us use the direction of experts such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the available research.

What seems to be happening here is that power developers moved covertly into our neighborhoods to solicit some landowners, with the result of bitterly dividing the community. If we are to move forward with a plan that aims to harness the wind and pump life into our economy, then we should do it in a way that makes us a strong community. You can be assured that the power companies have a business plan. So should the town of Hammond.

Black Fork Wind LLC, the project name of the wind farm planned for the Crestline/Shelby area, has filed for waivers to Ohio Administrative Codes to allow them to cut corners in the development of this industry in Richland and Crawford counties. ...This issue concerns me very much and I hope everyone (both in and out of the proposed site) will do their research.

I am a north country native and have lived on the riverside of Route 12 in Hammond for 18 years. I am opposed to this Wind Energy Facilities Law in its present form. ...The revisions in this law were made by the attorney and are basically cosmetic. There have been no significant changes to any area, particularly the important health and safety issues like setbacks and noise levels.

Boone Pickens, Nacel Energy and Vestas Iberia have been issuing statements and placing print, radio and television ads, extolling the virtues of wind as an affordable, sustainable energy resource. Renewable energy reality is slowly taking hold, however.

In 2006, the town's Planning Board passed a resolution they did not need a wind law and Supervisor Thomas Rienbeck and the town board quickly followed by killing the wind law initiative. This ill-advised action exposed river and lake districts to unregulated commercial wind development for the past three years. The idea of a moratorium is nothing new either. Since 2006 the town board ignored numerous requests to institute a moratorium on wind development. So, what has changed?

In Mr. Waltz's opinion, the task of writing a meaningful noise ordinance that would, in fact, adequately protect Prattsburgh residents is difficult. Mr. Waltz made a number of extremely provocative comments. One, ...wind turbines produce no constant tonality, no universal signature, making the creation of a noise standard challenging. Two, the most critical issue isn't audible noise; ...Three, because the DEC Noise Guidelines measure DBA without any consideration of low frequency noise, those guidelines are not an appropriate standard for a Prattsburgh Noise Ordinance.

To meet our peak demand of 56 gigawatts of electricity would require 112,000 turbines covering 11,000 square miles, or an eighth of Britain's entire land area, says Christopher Booker. ...Most alarming of all, however, in the desperation to reach EU "renewables" target, is the setting up of a new Infrastructure Planning Commission to force through thousands of these absurd objects over the wishes of local people and councils, who are now to be robbed of any right of appeal.

Does anyone else hear an echo of the ethanol boom from three summers ago? ...All of this makes the effort to erect two giant wind farms in Boone County, the state's second-windiest locale, worth watching. Putting in the 300-foot turbines is one thing in sparsely populated Benton County, but as Boone County's executive director of the area plan commission, Steve Niblick, said: "We are different than other counties with wind farms."

Somewhere behind the universal belief that wind will someday help provide some of the energy we need lurk some intriguing questions, many of them never before answered in quite the way the New Windsor Planning Board could find useful. ...Until we and New Windsor know a bit more about the impact these turbines will have in the back and other yards, it would be better to wait.

In Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president's cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy. ...Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America's economy.

As opponents of the proposed backyard wind turbine at 70 Iona St., we can assure readers that it was not "fear of the unknown" that led to our opposition to the installation. It was concern about the known. The Ontario Municipal Board decision focused on planning issues and the applicant as a result failed on all four required tests for the minor variance Graham Findlay sought.

The Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC) has pushed for wind-power siting criteria to ensure that all projects meet high standards for environmental review, production efficiency, and long-term economic sustainability. The proposed Act calls for the creation of standards, but only requires that they be met to the "maximum practicable extent." To grant ad-hoc exemption from standards compromises the objective of siting facilities in appropriate locations.

Now that the Cape Cod Commission is appealing the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board's approval of the proposed wind farm on Nantucket Sound to the state's highest court, it's important to consider the stakes involved. This is not about the merits or demerits of the project. The appeal is about the ability of a state board, made up of nine gubernatorial appointees, to overrule a regional authority simply because the project developer submitted an application to the Cape Cod Commission.

Some might suggest council erred on the side of caution Monday night, by deferring wind turbine projects until provincial legislation is updated. But when council takes action to potentially protect the health of Chatham-Kent citizens, while also waiting to ensure future wind projects are up to provincial snuff, it is a wise move indeed.

The call for the Special Town Meeting was prompted by what many in town view as an opportunity to improve the existing wind turbine bylaw based on the lessons learned from the review of the Cohasset Heights Wind Turbine project. Everyone can agree that we know a lot more about wind power today than when the bylaw was originally crafted.

Having been an intervenor in the original Synergics hearing before the Public Service Commission (PSC) several years ago, I am deeply troubled that this issue is back before us again. ...Thanks to the work of Wayne Rogers, Cas Taylor, and Senate President Mike Miller, the PSC was all but written out of the permitting process. So now the PSC is holding yet another meaningless hearing on a resubmitted Synergics wind proposal.

Zoning violations - big or small - tend to get people upset. And the fact remains that, at 10 metres tall, Findlay's turbine would be twice the height permitted for city backyards, not to mention the feeling among some neighbours that the structure is too close to their homes. Hence the city's committee of adjustment rejected Findlay's proposal to harness wind power right on his own property.