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Massachusetts
02 Mar 2009
State report outlines potential wind power sites
WINDSOR, Mass. — The state has identified dozens of potential sites for wind turbines and other kinds of “green” energy production across the state, with many of them right here in Berkshire County.
In the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Potential at State-Owned Properties report, compiled by the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and released last Monday, sites in Windsor, Florida, Dalton, Savoy and numerous others were named as potential places for utility or subutility wind-turbine facilities.
The report ...
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Washington
02 Mar 2009
Bill would ease utilities' energy targets
The state Legislature is considering major changes to Initiative 937, a state initiative approved by voters in 2006 that forces large Washington utilities to buy more renewable power. Utilities and large industrial-power consumers are pressing for change, arguing it would protect them ...
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England
03 Mar 2009
Windfarm plans ditched
Campaigners are delighted that the developer behind a £7million windfarm has withdrawn his proposal just days before a decision was due.
The plan, earmarked for land next to Potash Lane at Wyverstone, near Stowmarket, would have seen two 130m turbines built, providing electricity to more than 3,600 homes.
The development has caused fierce debate for two years with Mid Suffolk District Council, whose councillors were due to meet tomorrow, receiving more than 520 objections and nine villages called for the scheme to ...
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Texas
03 Mar 2009
Mesa Power terminates many leases
What was once proposed as the world’s largest wind farm now seems to be scaling back.
This week 120 landowners around Pampa began receiving letters ...
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England
04 Mar 2009
Protests mount over Matlock Moor wind farm
The storm over plans to erect wind turbines on Matlock Moor intensified this week, with over 40 protesters meeting an MP at the site and the launch of a pro-windfarm group.
Wind For Matlock has been formed to support West Coast Energy’s scheme for five 126-metre tall windmills, which the firm claims will produce energy for 16,775 people.
A group statement said: “The debate over this application is the debate as to what kind of future we leave our children, and ...
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Letters, New Brunswick
04 Mar 2009
Turbines are horrific monsters
I am writing to express my strong opposition to the windmill monsters that are proposed for the Tantramar Marsh.
I believe there are a number of different reasons to rethink this type of energy in the vicinity of a town or residences.
I would like to clarify that opposition to the windmills is not just for aesthetic reasons although aesthetics alone should be a good enough reason to oppose development of the marsh. I would like to cite ecological, cultural, historical and ...
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West Virginia
04 Mar 2009
Citizens voice concerns over Mineral wind farm; State PSC to soon begin 300-day review of project
PIEDMONT, W. Va. — Opposition and proponents to the US Wind Force Pinnacle Project both admitted during a community meeting that they may never see eye to eye.
“I don’t think you all understand when someone is opposed to this,” Mike Wilson, Keyser area resident, said. “We are selling our mountains, we are selling our souls. Are they worth it? You’re not going to change their minds by having them talk to this person or that person. … It’s within our culture ...
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Wisconsin
04 Mar 2009
Fort council adopts wind turbine ordinance
An ordinance regulating potentially controversial wind turbine energy systems within Fort Atkinson was unanimously approved Tuesday night by the city council with little discussion.
The ordinance had been recommended for approval by the city’s ordinance committee during a Feb. 12 meeting, after a page-by-page analysis of the ordinance resulted in what the chairperson and other committee members felt was a better document.
“The ordinance committee suggested 15 changes to the draft that was proposed and those 15 changes have been incorporated into ...
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Letters, New Brunswick
04 Mar 2009
Time to get informed about wind turbines
There have been many letters in our local newspaper, a full page ad and still there are people who don’t understand just what all the fuss about Industrial Wind Turbines is all about. Well, perhaps that’s just what it’s all about. No one can tell us if there all good or all bad.
With all the research that’s been done by world medical heath associations by prominent medical doctor’s why would we not listen, to what they are telling us. ...
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Montana
04 Mar 2009
Renewable-energy standards on table
HELENA — Changes to the law regulating utilities’ renewable-energy portfolios are being proposed in a cluster of bills before lawmakers, generating cries of foul play ...
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Letters, Ohio
05 Mar 2009
Wind power will not work in Ohio
Hundreds of families in Champaign and Logan counties were distressed, although not surprised, to see the Dayton media uncritically accept and print the wind industry’s unsupportable claims for Ohio. A coal-dependent state that ranks 36th out of 50 states in wind resources cannot address climate change with wind. A technology that, at best, produces only 25 percent of its rated capacity in Ohio (and dramatically less during summer peak demand) cannot affordably or reliably meet the needs of Ohio industry. ...
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Letters, Wisconsin
05 Mar 2009
Wind turbines are disturbing sleep
Another Sunday and I can’t sit in my living room and read the newspaper because of shadow flicker ...
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Letters, Ontario
06 Mar 2009
Wind farms are not 'farms'
There is an awfully big push these days to have farms turned into wind factories, to take agricultural land and turn it into an industrial wind turbine complex, complete with all the infrastructure of access roads, poles and wires. This is NOT farming. This is not even remotely similar to farming even though many still like to call a gaggle of 400-foot wind turbines a wind ‘farm’.
They are nothing more than an industrial use of agricultural landscape.
At first glance, wind ...
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England
06 Mar 2009
Marshland: Turbines are blown away
Developers behind plans for a 19-turbine windfarm in Marshland St James have withdrawn their planning application in the face of widespread hostility.
The controversial scheme has been a hot topic in the village and beyond for more than two years, attracting opposition ...
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New Hampshire
07 Mar 2009
State to hear plans for new wind farm in Coos County
On Monday New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee is going to begin evaluating a proposed renewable energy project for Coos county.
Granite Reliable Power wants to put up 33 wind turbines on nine miles of ridgeline across Millsfield, Dixville and Dummer.
The project would go a long way to increasing the state’s renewable energy portfolio.
But as NHPR Correspondent Chris Jensen reports, it has a great deal of opposition.
This project, proposed by Granite Reliable Power is huge.
Estimated to cost about 275 million ...
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Ontario, Opinions
07 Mar 2009
Gangreen energy act: Ontario’s new energy plan heavily subsidizes green energy projects at the expense of conservation
Ontario’s Green Energy Act should more accurately be called Ontario’s Gangreen Act.
No piece of legislation in memory will do more to simultaneously undermine Ontario’s economy and environment. This one act rolls back decades of environmental gains in the energy sphere and opens the door to a future of environmental outrages.
All forms of energy supply have environmental drawbacks, including the much touted renewables; hydro dams can damage river ecosystems, solar arrays can consume large amounts of land, wind farms kill birds ...
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New Jersey
07 Mar 2009
Legislation to permit wind and solar facilities in industrial zones has received final legislative approval
Legislation sponsored by Assembly members Pamela R. Lampitt, Upendra Chivukula, Connie Wagner, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Nellie Pou and Linda R. Greenstein to permit wind and solar facilities in industrial zones has received final legislative approval. The bill passed the Assembly 62-14-2 on Thursday. It was approved by the Senate in February, and now goes to the Governor, who can sign it, veto it or modify it with a conditional veto.
This bill would permit the location of certain renewable energy ...
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Arizona
07 Mar 2009
State wants to oversee renewable energy policy
A turf fight is brewing between state lawmakers and the Arizona Corporation Commission over who has the right to tell utilities how they have to generate electricity.
Rep. Lucy Mason, R-Prescott, has crafted a measure that says the Legislature has the “exclusive power, authority and jurisdiction” to decide state energy policy. And just in case there is any question, her proposal spells out that this includes the ability to set mandates and targets for the use and production of renewable energy.
Mason, ...
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Letters, Maryland
07 Mar 2009
Tell them how you feel about wind turbines
Do you really want 29 400-foot-plus wind turbines towering over one of our beautiful mountains ...
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Letters, New York
09 Mar 2009
'Winds of change'
There have been two major changes concerning the proposed industrial wind turbine project in the towns of Ripley and Westfield.
”Babcock and Brown, the Australia-based company, announced Friday, Feb. 6 that it had agreed to a controlled breakup and liquidation of the company, which was once worth $12 billion, with outright collapse and bankruptcy still an imminent threat. The plan already leaves ”no value” for stockholders who once paid as much as $35 a share in mid-2007.” (As reported in ”National ...
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Arkansas, Oklahoma
09 Mar 2009
Wind turbine project gauges state prospects
JAY, Okla. — Gusts of wind pushed across Leon Whiteside’s property, creating a low-pitched whirring noise as it cut against taut guy-wires stabilizing a nearly 200-foot tower rising ...
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New Jersey
10 Mar 2009
DEP report won't affect wind farms
Wind farms occasionally kill birds and their construction disrupts marine life, a new broad survey shows.
But the results of the report will have no immediate effect on New Jersey’s massive offshore wind projects, state officials said Monday.
The 312-page report by the state Department of Environmental Protection offers few details on the overall impact of the almost 300 wind turbines slated to be built off the coast of Atlantic City. A final report due in December along with data collected ...
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Nova Scotia, Opinions
10 Mar 2009
The truth is blowing somewhere in the wind
Along the High Marsh Road and near Amherst, our marshes will soon be sprouting numbers of white columns as tall as the CBC towers, topped by whirling rotors as long as a 747.
Reactions to them will vary ...
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Massachusetts
12 Mar 2009
Town gets grant for wind project; $5,600 to study proposed sites
NORTHBORO — The town has received a $5,600 grant ...
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U.K.
14 Mar 2009
L’éolien offshore britannique trop cher
{UK offshore wind too expensive -- click here for English translation}
Selon Centrica, sans aide supplémentaire, l’objectif d’énergie renouvelable fixé pour 2020 sera difficile à atteindre.
C’est la plus grande centrale éolienne offshore au monde. Construites au large des côtes du Lincolnshire, dans le nord-est de l’Angleterre, ses 54 énormes hélices étaient censées être la clé de l’avenir énergétique britannique. Le pays, entouré par la mer et très venteux, a tout d’un paradis éolien, avec 40 % des « réserves de vent ...
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England
14 Mar 2009
Writer speaks out against 'enormous' wind turbines
A Derbyshire author has spoken out against plans to build five wind turbines on the edge of the Peak District.
Wendy Holden, whose best-selling novels include Filthy Rich and Fame Fatale, believes that approving the wind farm on Matlock Moor near Ashover would be disastrous for wildlife and the local tourism industry.
She and husband Jon McLeod live just over a mile ...
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New York
15 Mar 2009
Prattsburgh wind farm OK’d for now
Construction of the EcoGen wind farm has been cleared for now, despite the objection of some Prattsburgh town councilmen.
Prattsburgh Town Code Enforcement Officer Les Babcock sent a revised response Tuesday to EcoGen’s application for building permits stating “There are no town laws or ordinances which prevent EcoGen ...
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News
16 Mar 2009
Siemens new wind turbine for low wind speeds
Siemens has announced the availability of its SWT-2.3-101 wind turbine which has been designed for sites with low to medium wind speeds. With a rotor diameter of 101 m, the new machine is claimed to provide more power at lower wind speeds, significantly increasing the potential return on investment of wind farms. The turbine is available and ready for delivery.
This market segment is expected to grow substantially, the low-wind market alone being expected to represent one third of the total ...
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France
16 Mar 2009
À Dourlers et alentours, vent debout contre les éoliennes
{In Dourlers and surroundings, headwind against wind turbines -- click here for English translation}
Hier, à Dourlers, une centaine d’habitants de Dourlers, Saint-Aubin, Semousies, Bas-Lieu, Floursies et même Flaumont, dont une quinzaine d’élus de ces villages, ont répondu à l’invitation de l’Association intercommunale d’opposition aux projets d’installation d’éoliennes à Dourlers et environs. Objectif : informer sur des « monstres de 130 m de haut », proposer des alternatives.
On pouvait faire confiance à Auguste Georges, ancien principal de collège, pourfendeur il y a dix ans ...
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France
16 Mar 2009
Turbulences sur le projet éolien de la Banche
{Turbulence over la Banche wind project -- click here for English translation}
Le conseil de développement de Cap Atlantique a rendu son expertise sur les énergies nouvelles. Il encourage le photovoltaïque au détriment de l’éolien en mer. Un avis circonstancié.
Projet d’éoliennes. Cap Atlantique est confronté à une demande d’installation de douze éoliennes sur le plateau de la Banche. Le conseil de développement met en garde le risque « d’incidences sur le plan archéologique (épaves), sur la pêche professionnelle et la plaisance. »
L’aspect culturel ...
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Colorado
17 Mar 2009
Boulder County to discuss new wind-turbine regs
BOULDER, Colo. — On Wednesday, the Planning Commission will consider a new set of rules that would make it easier for residents in unincorporated Boulder County to put wind turbines on their land.
But for some wind activists, the proposed regulations are still too strict.
“For whatever reason, Boulder County wants to make things tough for people to put up a wind turbine,” said Dave Kreutzman, whose business, Next Generation Energy, sells residential wind turbines.
Now, wind turbines are allowed if they don’t ...
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U.K.
17 Mar 2009
Green lobby and nuclear groups clash over role of renewable energy
EDF and E. ON have warned the government they may be forced to drop plans to build a new generation of nuclear power plants unless the government scales back its targets for wind power.
The demands – contained in submissions to the government’s renewable energy consultation – reinforces the worries of wind developers that the two sectors cannot thrive simultaneously.
EDF of France and E. ON of Germany, two of the most high-profile nuclear supporters, said attempts to reach 35% of electricity generated by ...
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Australia, Opinions
17 Mar 2009
Nordic energy nonsense exposed
Energy consultant Keith Orchison has really nailed the ‘Nordic Myth’. That Denmark can show us the way to a clean, green energy future.
Yeah, right. Provided we can link up with someone, somewhere producing lots of reliable power ...
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England
17 Mar 2009
Wind farm gets go-ahead on appeal
A wind farm looks set to be built on a former Nottinghamshire colliery after permission was granted on appeal.
Plans for the five turbines at Stonish Hill, Bilsthorpe, were rejected by Newark and Sherwood District Council in March 2008 after local opposition.
But developers lodged an appeal and the Planning Inspector has now given the go-ahead.
The inspector said there would be a visual impact on the area but this was outweighed by environmental benefits.
Protests by residents against the 100m (330ft) turbines had ...
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Australia
17 Mar 2009
Turbines fire fear in Macedon Ranges
Tooborac residents fear a proposed wind farm will make their fire-prone village even more unsafe after a turbine caught fire in South Australia.
The turbine burnt scrub near Port Lincoln last month at the height of a prolonged heatwave.
Tooborac, about 20km ...
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Europe
18 Mar 2009
L’éolien demande des garanties bancaires
{Wind industry demands bank quarantees -- scroll down ...
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England
19 Mar 2009
Council hears views in Matlock Moor wind farm battle
Campaigners for and against a planned wind farm at Matlock Moor packed a council meeting.
Residents and green supporters spoke to Matlock Town Council about plans for five 126-metre high turbines, on Monday evening.
Fears about wildlife, noise and damage to the landscape were raised by members of Action Against Matlock Moor Wind Farm Proposal (AMP) while supporters ...
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Pennsylvania
20 Mar 2009
Giant windmills eyed on river; Pair of 370-foot, $8.25M wind turbines planned at Turkey Point
The breeze at Turkey Point along the Susquehanna River is strong enough to keep a planned $8.25 million wind turbine project there moving forward.
This morning the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority board approved an application for a $175,000 state grant to help pay for continued study of the wind-to-energy project it intends to build with PPL and Turkey Hill Dairy.
The application marks the beginning of a phase that will study the economics of situating two, 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, each ...
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New Hampshire
20 Mar 2009
Coos wind farm would cover ridge
Interveners against a wind farm in Coos County and the company representatives proposing it gave closing arguments on the project that, if given the green light, would stretch across more than 15 miles of ridge ...
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New York
21 Mar 2009
Town readies draft of wind turbine law; Moratorium in second 6-month stint
The Town of Hunter is putting the finishing touches on a proposal to regulate wind turbines in the town.
A draft law has been under development during a moratorium, now in its second six-month stint, that officially put potential turbine projects in the town on hold.
The Hunter Town Planning Board has been crafting the document, and Planning Board Chairman Mark Hyer told town board members Tuesday night that only a few matters remain to be resolved, adding that one of them ...
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U.K.
21 Mar 2009
Warning over renewables as economic crisis leaves funding gap; Scant aid, too much hype and unrealistic targets threaten climate-change pledges
Green power companies are heading for “crisis” and Britain should no longer rely on them to meet its energy security and climate change obligations, some industry experts are warning.
The difficulties — triggered by the credit crunch, recession and a collapse in the carbon price — have led to new demands this weekend to ministers ...
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New Zealand
23 Mar 2009
Wind farm near Bluff possibility; Site significant to Maori
Meridian Energy is investigating building a wind farm on a site of historic importance to Maori, near Bluff.
Invercargill City Council resource management officer Judith Christie said the council had recently granted Meridian resource consent to erect a wind monitoring mast on Flat Hill, about 5km northwest of Bluff.
Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw confirmed it was looking at the Greenpoint site for a wind farm but its investigations were still in the early stages. The company needed more data before making any ...
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New York
23 Mar 2009
Con Edison, Long Island to seek wind farm proposals
Consolidated Edison Inc., owner of New York’s electric utility, and the state-owned Long Island Power Authority will solicit proposals by year-end for an offshore wind farm capable of powering 250,000 homes.
Upgrading high-voltage power lines and transformers to accommodate the 350-megawatt projects is feasible and would cost about $415 million, according to a study made public today by the two power companies. They will request proposals this year ...
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Maine
24 Mar 2009
York selectmen approve wind power ordinance
YORK, Maine — Selectmen Monday night approved putting 10 proposed ordinances on the May warrant, including a town wind power ordinance and significant changes to the town’s growth ordinance.
Few residents spoke at the second and final public hearing on the proposals, and most who did spoke about the wind ordinance.
The ordinance will allow small wind turbines in all base zones in town, except in historic district or wetlands areas. Power output will be 20 kilowatts maximum, except for those on ...
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New York
24 Mar 2009
Joint LIPA-ConEd wind farm won't be cheap, study says
Connecting the nation’s largest proposed offshore wind farm to the Long Island and New York City power grids is “feasible” but won’t come cheap, according to a joint study by the Long Island Power Authority and Con Edison, which projected that land-based upgrades alone would eventually top $800 million.
That price tag for the project off the coast of the Rockaways matches the cost of the entire offshore wind-farm off Jones Beach that LIPA scrapped in 2007.
But the joint project, still ...
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Montana
24 Mar 2009
Firm eyes wind farm by Geyser, Stanford
Prompted by interest ...
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Massachusetts, U.S., Washington
26 Mar 2009
Wind turbines represent potential hazard to pilots
Wind turbines have the potential to be a hazard to air navigation, according to two new letters AOPA issued recently. While AOPA recognizes the role wind turbines play in green power generation, it is concerned that their tall construction could lead to potential collisions with aircraft and impact the reliability of radar.
AOPA made the comments in opposition to a bill in the Washington State legislature and on a request for comments to a wind farm proposed in Nantucket Sound off ...
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Maine
26 Mar 2009
Tax plan for Beaver Ridge wind-turbine project aired
FREEDOM — An official ...
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Ohio, U.S.
27 Mar 2009
Confessions of Energy Legends: Wind Power Technically, Economically Inefficient – Can’t Really Replace Natural Gas in Electricity Sector
A sharp-dressed Oil Billionaire breezed through Columbus, Ohio, yesterday as part of a US tour asking citizens and civic leaders to pressure lawmakers for a “new deal” scale transmission grid expansion “
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Italy
28 Mar 2009
Windfarms have devastating effects, Italia Nostra says
Wind farms have a devasting impact on Italy`s landscape, its environment and tourist industry and are not the answer to the country`s energy problem, national heritage association Italia Nostra said on Friday.
Addressing a conference in Palermo organised by the Sicilian region and environmental associations, Italia Nostra councillor Mariarita Signorini said the 3,000 wind stations which dot the countryside in southern Italy generate only as much energy as a medium-sized hydro-electric plant.
Wind farms are responsible for a “series of ...
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Massachusetts
28 Mar 2009
Undersea cables unlikely to snare turbines
A new federal study on the effects of submarine electric cables on marine wildlife should not delay a decision on the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm, according to an e-mail statement ...
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U.S.
30 Mar 2009
Wobbly wind sector sets sights on stimulus
Wind power developers have long relied on complex tax-equity financing to bring most of their projects to market, but that system, once hailed as innovative, has collapsed over the last year, leaving the wind sector flailing for the cash it needs to make generation projects a reality.
This is how it worked: Large financial institutions like AIG, Wachovia, J. P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, Lehman Brothers and others would buy federal tax benefits from renewable energy startups that did not have enough ...
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Nova Scotia
30 Mar 2009
Noise makes Mount Pleasant a little less pleasant; Couple concerned developments devalue property
Muriel Ritchie says at one time she thought she and her husband, Malcolm, would have to move from their Mount Pleasant home because of the noise from the nearby windmill.
“There’s a vibration, a humming, and at first it bothered me terribly. I couldn’t get to sleep at night. Then I bought a CD player and now I go to bed every night with music playing. The noise doesn’t bother Malcolm so much because of his deafness.”
The couple attended the ...
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Nova Scotia
30 Mar 2009
Accusations fly at wind roundtable; Developer pledges to improve communication with community
Evelyn Hayden has already lost a lot of sleep over the Digby Neck Wind Farm—and she expects to lose some more. Hayden, whose home is just 600 metres from the proposed location of one of the 20 turbines that will be built this year, was the first speaker at a March 24 roundtable that focused on the wind park.
The meeting, attended by 40 people, was hosted by the Municipality of Digby at the request of a number of Digby ...
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New Hampshire
30 Mar 2009
Clash reveals rift over Coos development
Divvying up the money from the huge federal stimulus package is creating a political pig scramble across the state, with government, political and community leaders competing for dollars for their pet projects. Nowhere has the struggle been more divisive, or more desperately needed, than in Coos County, the state’s least populated, poorest and most northern county, where a clash among officials is threatening the very existence of the county’s economic development arm.
The Coos County commissioners voted last month to slash ...
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Letters, Wisconsin
31 Mar 2009
Why won't WSJ cover story of wind energy's victims?
Re: Wisconsin State Journal editorial cartoon and editorial supporting the pending turbine siting reform bill
What it looks like from the other side:
Dear Editor,
For the residents of the wind farms in Fond du Lac and Dodge County who are now suffering from turbine noise and shadow flicker problems, whose kids can’t sleep at night, and whose homes can find no buyers, the cartoon you featured of the man screaming the word “NIMBY” added to their hopelessness of ever having their story ...
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New Hampshire
31 Mar 2009
More questions for wind farm developer
With more than $2 million in mechanic’s liens filed in New York against its parent company, a company interested in developing a wind park in Coos County has state officials asking more questions.
Peter Roth, in his role as an advocate for the public’s interest, has asked to recall for questioning Granite Reliable Power’s chief financial officer, Christopher Lowe, for additional cross-examination.
Lowe also works for Noble Environmental Power, the parent company to GRP, which is party to disputes in New York.
The ...
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Ontario
31 Mar 2009
Green Act usurps local powers, politicians say
Innisfil’s two top politicians lashed out at the province’s new Green Act for usurping municipal powers.
Mayor Brian Jackson and Deputy Mayor Gord Wauchope fear Bill 140 will take away local planning powers as it regulates alternative energy projects such as wind farms.
Both Premier Dalton McGuinty and Energy Minister George Smitherman have said the province will cut red tape to speed approvals for new projects.
“It’s great of Mr. Smitherman to say he will take the heat off municipalities, but they are ...
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Bulgaria
31 Mar 2009
German Enertrag plans 660 MW wind farms in Bulgaria
Germany’s Enertrag plans to invest one billion euros ($1.32 billion) to build three wind energy parks in Bulgaria, its Bulgarian unit said on Monday.
The new wind farms, with a planned total capacity of 660 megawatts (MW), will be set up near the town of Dobrich, some 510 km east of Sofia and near the Black Sea coast, Denitsa Nozharova, manager of Enertrag Balkan, told Reuters.
‘The three farms are expected to become fully operational by 2017,’ Nozharova said.
The German ...
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Editorials, Massachusetts
31 Mar 2009
Feet of clay
Last week, Ian Bowles, state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, urged Congress to carefully plan and manage the development of offshore renewable energy projects.
He was talking out of both sides of his mouth.
In testifying before a Congressional committee, Bowles said the federal government should develop comprehensive ground rules for developing offshore resources, identify appropriate places to build offshore renewable energy projects, set high standards for the protection of renewable energy zones, and preserve and protect the public trust.
In short, ...
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Washington
31 Mar 2009
Vantage wind farm work may start April-May
KITTITAS COUNTY — A revised outlook for the Vantage Wind Energy Project estimates work may start on the $200 million to $300 million wind farm in late April or the first half of May because of a call for new bids.
Mike Logsdon, director of development for Chicago-based Invenergy Wind North America LLC, on Friday said the company called for a second round of bids a few weeks ago when it appeared prospective general contractors didn’t get enough bids from local ...
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Oregon
31 Mar 2009
Message to PUC: Keep power line out of Baker County
By the time he gaveled Friday’s Oregon Public Utility Commission hearing to a close, administrative law judge Allan J. Arlow had heard from 23 residents stretching from Malheur to Morrow counties — virtually all of them opposed Idaho Power’s plan to run a 500-kilovolt transmission line through Baker County.
Friday’s hearing — and the extent of the PUC’s role in the matter — was to help the regulatory commission determine whether the region’s power grid requires the capacity the new line ...
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Letters, Virginia
31 Mar 2009
Wind farms do cause problems for wildlife
Below I offer clarification for Lars Hagen’s March 20 letter, (”For some, wind farms in Virginia will never be OK”):
n At least 4,000 bats were killed during six weeks of 2004 monitoring at the Tucker County facility. Since then, Florida Power and Light has barred research to determine effective mitigation.
n Radar studies at the proposed Highland County site show exceptionally high bird and bat migration, giving experts reason to believe that wind turbines there would result in massive kills.
n The ...
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England, Letters
31 Mar 2009
Let us stop the blight of wind farms
Local authorities are trying desperately to attract and keep new tourists.
But it is ironic that there is so little protest about the proliferation of wind turbines turning our beautiful county into a vast power station.
Now, there is also a National Grid project to put a line of enormous electricity pylons across the Lincolnshire Wolds. The wide skies promoted by county tourism chiefs are gradually being filled with gigantic plastic propellers.
While we should help counter global warming, it is unfair that ...
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Pennsylvania
31 Mar 2009
Wind project blows near
BEDFORD — Wind turbines could be part of the landscape in Bedford County soon.
A proposed wind energy project, in development since 2005, could place two dozen 405-foot-tall turbines on top of Dunning Mountain in the next couple of years — if approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection and supervisors in the four municipalities.
Portland, Ore.-based Iberdrola Renewables spokesman Paul Copleman said the project will provide 48 megawatts of wind power. One megawatt can power 250 to 300 homes for ...
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Australia
31 Mar 2009
Turbines spike farmers' interest
More than 60 residents and interested parties attended an information day on the proposed Boco Rock Wind Farm in Nimmitabel last Thursday.
The community remains divided over the proposal, with some residents concerned about the noise, land values and visual impacts the turbines could have on the landscape.
International company Wind Prospect has proposed to build 127 turbines to the west of Nimmitabel, an increase on the 73 originally proposed.
Wind Prospect development director Ed Mounsey said the increase in the number of ...
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Indiana
31 Mar 2009
Meeting set to discuss wind power
Kosciusko County Farm Bureau and Indiana Agricultural Law Foundation will host an informational meeting on commercial wind energy development for landowners, local officials and other interested citizens April 15.
Speakers at the meeting will include Jimmy Bricker, Purdue Extension educator and director, Benton County; and Justin Schneider, staff attorney with Indiana Farm Bureau.
Benton County is home to Indiana’s only currently operational wind farm. Since 2004, the county, along the Illinois border, has been the site of several major wind energy development ...
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New Zealand
31 Mar 2009
Genesis eyes wind farm in northern Wairarapa
A major Genesis Energy wind farm could be built in northern Wairarapa if the numbers stack up.
Genesis public affairs manager Richard Gordon said yesterday resource consents have been granted for the first of several mobile wind masts to be erected east of Eketahuna, involving up to 27 farming properties.
Further resource consents are now being lodged that will allow up to six masts, which will gather wind data over the next 10 months for what could become “a substantial wind farm” ...
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Letters, New York
31 Mar 2009
Edsall out of order with conflicts of interest
A recent Cape Vincent Planning Board meeting on wind issues became a bit heated. A Cape resident spoke up at the meeting. Chairman Richard Edsall in a very aggressive manner completely out of proportion to the incident, told the citizen to sit down and that he was out of order and he was calling the cops. It almost appeared Edsall was lying in ambush for someone.
Edsall was within his rights under Open Meetings Law to deny the citizen to speak. ...
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Ontario
31 Mar 2009
Wind turbines a concern
Cheryl Gallant, MP Renfrew- Nipissing-Pembroke, recently announced that Carmen Krogh, a local resident, will be meeting with senior officials of the minister of health Leona Aglukkaq’s office to share health concerns regarding the size, number and location of wind turbines that are being proposed for rural Renfrew County and Nipissing district.
“The presentation in my office, by Cormac resident Carmen Krogh, on the adverse health effects while exposed to a wind turbine complex, convinced me that her health claims should be ...
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Minnesota
31 Mar 2009
Residents continue to speak out at CapX meetings
MARSHALL — Another series of public meetings on the proposed CapX 2020 power line project began Monday in Marshall. However, in addition to the property and health concerns voiced at the meeting, some area residents said their voices weren’t being heard.
The CapX project, proposed by Great River Energy and Xcel Energy, would build 345-kilovolt transmission lines running from a substation near Brookings, S. D., to Hampton, south of the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Department of Commerce Office of Energy Security is ...
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Pennsylvania
31 Mar 2009
Judge upholds most of suit against Gamesa
One of a number of claims made by a Portage area couple against Gamesa USA, developers of Allegheny Ridge Wind Farm, has been dismissed, but the bulk of the lawsuit remains intact and is proceeding toward trial.
Blair County Judge Daniel Milliron in a 20-page ruling dismissed claims of negligence and conspiracy made by Jill and Todd Stull against Gamesa, producers of the windmills and developers of phase one of the windmill farm at the Cambria-Blair County line.
Six other objections filed ...
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Maine
31 Mar 2009
Fort Kent a vote shy of wind farm moratorium
FORT KENT, Maine — Townspeople came within a single vote last week of joining the small but growing number of communities statewide that want no wind power developments within their borders for 180 days, Town Manager Donald Guimond said Monday.
The article banning wind farm applications or wind farms in town for six months failed in a 45-45 vote by secret ballot during a town meeting on March 23, Guimond said Monday. The vote, which came after an hour of occasionally ...
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