In its headlong rush to appear to have "green" policies, the McGuinty government has jumped on the green power bandwagon and has rejected science and engineering as well as economic, social and environmental considerations when it comes to implementing the so-called "green energy" plan.

Hundreds of industrial wind turbines could be built in the Berkshires under a bill being fast-tracked through the state legislature. The Wind Energy Siting Reform Act establishes an unprecedented process for opening public and private land in the Berkshires to industrial wind development. It allows the state's Energy Facilities Siting Board -- which has never rejected a power plant application -- to override decisions by local zoning boards about the permitting of wind facilities.

Successive generations of children growing up in Eastern Oregon may never know we were once surrounded by an expansive and majestic landscape devoid of wind turbines. Already the foothills that display a beauty all their own are becoming something of an anomaly. Wind turbines - and the necessity of high-voltage power lines to access the energy they produce - are the most recent threat to our Blue Mountains.

McEvoy Ranch spent nearly three years winning county approvals and installing a windmill that should generate enough power to run the olive ranch off Petaluma-Point Reyes Road. To win approval from the county Planning Commission, the McEvoys had to move the windmill away from the road and reduce its height by more than half to minimize its visual impact.

The town supervisor talks of how the record shows, where there is municipal water service, the building of homes will follow. What he fails to mention is that where there is the possibility of an industrial wind park that the "for sale" signs start to show up in the area as one can plainly see when driving through the village of Cape Vincent, including the one on Mr. Rienbeck's house which has been for sale for well over a year.

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.

It's a sad day when Ontario's Environment Minister trivializes the preservation of landscapes by declaring that renewable energy development won't slow down "just to preserve scenic views"

People from across Ontario who welcomed wind turbines into their community are now coming forward with questions and concerns about disturbed living conditions and health concerns and don't know where to turn. Some have been driven from their homes. Some can't afford to leave and just try to cope. Many of these people are re-victimized by the denial of any adverse health effects from wind companies.

The winds of dissent are blowing across southern Ontario, buffeting the dreams of entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on elevated support for renewable energy. "There's a lot of controversy about it coming out now," said Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture president Dave Riddell in a recent edition of the Alliston Herald newspaper, when asked to comment about prospective wind energy projects.

We, the people who love Orangeville do not choose to have our homes and recreational areas turned into an industrial zone for any amount of money! We do not choose to suffer from effects of high unbearable amounts of noise and turn our quiet countryside into an unsuitable place to raise our families as a result of now, introducing an industrial park that will intrude into our midst. ...It would seem that no stone should be left unturned in comprehensively examining the likely adverse impacts of large-scale wind facilities. Industrial-scale projects must be safely sited.

What I remembered most was the quiet solitude, listening to the gentle breezes brush though the grass against my tent. When I arrived at the trailhead I was appalled to see windmills as far as the eye could see to the north and west. Being sadly disappointed, I headed further east in search of more Chalk Bluffs that could afford some good photography. I drove all the way to Sterling and could not find one bit of the plateau without windmills.

Property owners in Eagle, Bengal and Dallas townships of Clinton County have been approached by developers to install industrial wind power plant farms. Are they coming to your township too? These wind turbines affect the surrounding area, maybe even for miles within the view-shed. Evidence about the effects to our health, safety and declining property values are surfacing throughout this country, due to these 400' monsters.

The state of Massachusetts through the Green Communities Act is about to set standards for responsible development of land-based commercial wind turbines. The current standards for setbacks are the least protective in the world. Many of the communities south of Boston have seen concerned citizens' groups spring up in protest of the placement of commercial wind turbines too close to residential property.

This series of letters appearing in the Wisconsin State Journal provide important insights into how Wisconsin residents feel wind energy facilities in their communities and the State's efforts to assume authority over all siting of wind farms.

I didn't ask to have wind turbine complexes placed near me and my neighbours. I've lived here for 20 years and some neighbours, for a lifetime. We do not deserve to have our families and homes exposed to this for ANY reason. The fact that these wind turbines are so ineffective is only insult to injury, literally. The government needs to decommission the turbines that are causing such problems instead of adding more to the problem.

Our work has shown that people in Mars Hill living within 3,500 feet of turbines there are truly suffering, in a real medical sense. Clearly, any regulation that results in placement of turbines, anywhere in Maine, at less than a 3,500-foot setback is courting a bad human outcome, regardless of sound modeling used by the industry to show there will be no ill effects in that range. As clearly demonstrated by post-construction measurements at Mars Hill, the model used by the wind industry for that project was seriously flawed.

Does the Town of Orangeville have the right to permit an industrial site that could harm a neighboring municipality? Who will defend the rights of Attica residents to clean water and an unpolluted reservoir? We all can appreciate the need for clean energy. However, we do not have the right to expose our neighboring municipalities to the drainage, runoff pollution and threat to water tables that will accompany Orangeville's industrial wind farm.

The first complaints were of the visual impact of wind farms on their landscapes and waterscapes. Now a new concern is emerging. People who live near wind turbines are complaining of health problems such as sleep disorders, migraines, tinnitus, equilibrium problems, depression and anxiety attacks, and in children, learning disabilities. A 2008 California study and a 2007 British study have dubbed the "wind turbine syndrome," an effect on the inner ear by low energy noise from the turbines. There may also be an effect from air pressure changes from the turning turbines.

US Wind Force has been planning this development since at least as early as 2004. Why is it that when a developer starts planning, the county cannot make any changes to local zoning regulations for fear of lawsuit? ...The county commission has the right (and the duty) to make changes to ordinances, when necessary, to protect the well-being of the citizens of Allegany County, regardless of who is planning what project.