DOC's job is to safeguard the conservation estate. Even after the former administration announced its whole-of-government support for Project Hayes, DOC might still have continued to press its concerns within government ranks. The suspicion is that, instead, it took the chance to extract $175,000 from Meridian. Fuelling this suspicion is the secrecy of the deal. Although Meridian says it was made public in mid-2007, it is curious that some environmentalists, such as Green co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, have only just learned of it.

We think the Waldo County Commissioners should convene a high-level forum on wind energy and invite people from all over the area. That way, Freedom residents who have experience with turbines and those from other communities that may well decide to welcome them can confer with both experts and each other. The goal could be a countywide approach to wind energy, though that might be getting ahead of ourselves. After the talk is over, at least we'd all be on the same page.

Make no mistake, Mr. Lensenhuber, we are not against wind energy that produces large amounts of electricity and does not drive nearby residents out of their homes with annoying noise and shadow flicker. We want any wind farm in Orangeville to be sited at adequate distances from residents, as the wind laws proposed by the citizens preservation groups ...The health, safety and welfare of the people of Orangeville must come before financial agendas! First do no harm!

I am writing to express grave concern about the new Windmill law that will stop municipalities from controlling their own futures. This is particularly important to Prince Edward County. ...Lower property values and dropping tourism are things that we cannot afford and should not have to put up with. Why should the people of Prince Edward County have to sacrifice our new economy, our jobs, our lifestyle, for a provincial initiative that could place these turbines anywhere else in this huge province? The suggestion that this is "NIMBYism" is offensive.

What were the problems with Reunion Power's 24 windmills proposed for Cherry Valley's East Hill? Foremost, they presented an industrial use in a rural setting. Would a steel mill be appropriate on the rise above Route 20? Or a coal mine? Beyond that, there were concerns about noise, possible impacts on the health of people living in the vicinity, occasional transformer fires, interference with TV signals and degradation of property values.

The protracted Cape Wind saga is attributable to its advance-absent rules that Congress directed Minerals Management Service to promulgate by 2006. Emotion has instead driven the Cape Wind review and debate. The world's largest, United States-precedent, developer-sited, offshore wind project is undergoing an ad hoc review due to MMS' failure to comply with a congressional mandate.

Federal approval could come early this year, after a seven-year fight with opponents, including environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who might see the towers on the horizon five miles offshore from their vacation homes. Will we have the same battles here, or will Marin accept the installation of renewable energy producing facilities "in our backyard"? Enthusiastic support for the abstract concept of renewable energy sources now meets the reality of what's on the ground.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to determine which way the wind is blowing in the continuing debate over who should oversee wind farm developments in Wisconsin. ...We believe local governments are quite capable of deciding what is best for the people that live within them. If the state wants to have a role in local wind farm decisions, we feel it should be advisory only.

The process has been a long one, and there have been many misleading and false statements made by the applicant and those representing them, so it's no surprise that proponents of the project continue to mislead and spread false information. In the interest of truth, I would like to share some facts that are being overlooked, and in some cases suppressed.

Here in Huron County we have municipalities struggling with how to regulate proposed wind farms. Those opposed to the turbines point to the potential of the health risks some have claimed are possible by living close to turbines. Others don't like the noise from the turbines. Others just don't like what they look like. Whatever the reason, it's clear the issue of wind farms is a controversy that won't go away soon.

After listening to all the comments presented and after reading articles and editorials on the internet, I have come to the conclusion that this process is moving way too fast. ...Please deny this request and force Dan's Mountain Windforce LLC to full, open hearings on the merits of its proposal. If their proposal is viable and safe, then it will withstand "... the interests of the people" and their full inspection of it.

What happened in Roxbury, though contentious, needed to happen. Community-changing projects cannot be built without debate, scrutiny or emotional outburst - it comes with the territory ...What should resonate from Roxbury into the ears of public officials and wind developers across Maine is this: Residents affected by wind projects care deeply about their communities and will fight doggedly to ensure their interests are heard and their demands met.

It took legislators decades to establish agencies and laws to protect the environment, and Gov. O'Malley one legislative session to strip Allegany and Garrett counties of these protections. The 2008 Fast-Track legislation denies review and restrictions for wind turbine development by the Department of Environment, Maryland Department of Planning, the Maryland Energy Administration and the Department of Natural Resources, and of obtaining a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the Public Service Commission (PSC). All other counties in Maryland have these agencies protecting them.

The attractions of wind power as a renewable energy source are easily understood. Wind turbines do not use fuel. The do not produce harmful emissions, nor do they generate chemical or radioactive waste. Yet, wind turbines and wind farms are not without concerns. At the January La Salle County Board meeting a number of issues were raised by opponents to Horizon Wind Energy's Top Crop Wind Farm, the first portion of which is planned for Allen Township.

I encourage voters to vote "no" to these changes. By voting "no," voters will say "yes" to keeping these majestic mountains intact, placed there by Mother Nature, God, or whomever people believe had a hand in the Western mountains' design. Nothing is free. There are conditions to the free electricity offer. It is not nice to play with Mother Nature. Disrupting the mountains will plague lives forever.

Now we're being asked to give a blank check to the DWP and City Hall to spend billions of dollars on the nation's largest solar energy initiative ever -- a proposal that has no planning, no financial analysis, no engineering study. Approval of Measure B on the March 3 ballot would be a costly mistake. It will cost ratepayers dearly, set back hopes for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and provide the special interests and politicians with a license to steal.

What do you plan to do with the commissioners' request for [wind turbine] setback authority? ...Today's land-use challenges cannot be met by silence, ignorance, and obfuscation. Accountability and leadership are needed at the state level. With the passage of SB566, this is no longer a matter of local concern, and you know it. You have a historic responsibility to provide leadership where none now exists.

Next week, Bath County planners are likely to discuss and review what may be one of the most important new ordinances our county has considered in decades - one to guide them on how applications for industrializing their mountaintops with wind energy turbine towers will be handled. If officials here succeed in passing it, Bath will be the first locality in Virginia to have an ordinance in place addressing commercial wind utilities. And it won't come a minute too soon. ...

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.