WIND FARM SWINDLE

The duping of Americans by the environmentalist movement continues, as wind farms use as much electricity from the fossil fuel grid as they produce. This article comes from reliable research derived for what I call the Wind Farm Swindle. The proof that it is a swindle, has been gathered from the very annals of the wind farm movement and from the companies involved in Turbine produced electricity itself.

If you've ever driven close to the huge wind turbine, I'm sure some of you have wondered how long it must take for the wind to start turning such large blades on some of these windmills and how they are stopped, when the wind gets too high for them to operate.

You won't hear anybody in the environmental movement or the renewable energy business tell you this, but as it turns out, all wind turbines use about the same amount of grid electricity as they produce. Large wind turbines require huge amounts of fossil fuel grid electricity to operate. Wind farms have to use electricity from the grid and of course, this large amount of grid electricity is never accounted for in relation to output figures.

Wind turbine functions that use fueled derived electricity are as follows:

•yaw mechanism (to keep the blade assembly perpendicular to the wind; also to untwist the electrical cables in the tower when necessary) -- the nacelle (turbine housing) and blades together, weigh 92 tons on a GE 1.5-MW turbine
•blade-pitch control (to keep the rotors spinning at a regular rate)
•lights, controllers, communication, sensors, metering, data collection, etc.
•heating the blades -- this may require 10%-20% of the turbine's nominal (rated) power
•heating and dehumidifying the nacelle -- according to Danish manufacturer Vestas, "power consumption for heating and dehumidification of the nacelle, must be expected during periods with increased humidity, low temperatures and low wind speeds"
•oil heater, pump, cooler, and filtering system in gearbox
•hydraulic brake (to lock the blades in very high wind)
•thyristors (to graduate the connection and disconnection between generator and grid) -- 1%-2% of the energy passing through is lost
•magnetizing the stator -- the induction generators used in most large grid-connected turbines require a "large" amount of continuous electricity from the grid to actively power the magnetic coils around the asynchronous "cage rotor" that encloses the generator shaft. At the rated wind speeds, it helps keep the rotor speed constant, and as the wind starts blowing it helps start the rotor turning (see next item); in the rated wind speeds, the stator may use power equal to 10% of the turbine's rated capacity in slower winds, possibly much more.
Using the generator as a motor (to help the blades start to turn when the wind speed is low or, as many suspect, to maintain the illusion that the facility is producing electricity when it is not, particularly during important site tours.) It surely seems possible that the grid-magnetized stator must work to help keep the 40-ton blade assembly spinning. Along with the gears which increase the blade rpm some 50 times for the generator, not just at cut-in (or for show in even less wind) but at least some of the way up towards the full rated wind speed; it may also be spinning the blades and rotor shaft to prevent warping when there is no wind.

What all this amounts to is, each wind turbine actually uses more than 60% of its rated capacity in its own operation. Thus, each wind farm as a whole, produces only less than 25% of its annual rated capacity. This means that wind farms use twice the amount of grid electricity for every amount of wind-generated electricity produced.

I'm sure this is news to most Americans, who thought and naturally assumed that wind turbines only produced electricity and it never occurred to a normal person that these devices would actually require Fossil Fueled electricity to operate. Since no records of electricity usage is ever kept at these wind farms, this alarming fact has never become public knowledge.

Since it is admitted by everyone that wind generated electricity only amounts to around 1% of our total produced electricity, these hidden facts bring that figure down to a negative percentage at best. Using more electricity than it produces, green electricity is the reason for Cap and Trade, since green credits can be bought and sold to the highest bidder.

Killing perhaps millions of endangered bird species per year, degrading human health in the same manner as is experienced with people living near high voltage power lines. Ruining many of the earth's most scenic spots, with these huge steel monstrosities and above all, doing nothing in alleviating any fossil fuel electricity usage is the reason these expensive and dangerous eyesores must go.

In today's economy, we cannot afford to spend billions of dollars on a Nigerian like fraud, such as the wind farm swindle.

Wind power's effects gauged

PROPERTY VALUES: Company says Cape will suffer 40 percent decrease with 2 miles

A Chicago-based appraiser has decided that wind turbines in the town will depress property values of homes within two miles of turbines by up to 40 percent.

McCann Appraisal LLC reviewed the town's wind economics committee's report, outside sources, company research and the noise impact assessment from Hessler Associates Inc., Haymarket, Va., from April 2010 for Acciona Wind Energy USA's St. Lawrence Wind Farm's final environmental impact statement.

"After completing my review of the subject location, it is clear that numerous homes in the Cape Vincent area will be adversely impacted, and the best available evidence indicates that value loss of 25 to 40 percent or more will occur to homes within approximately two miles of the turbines," principal Michael S. McCann wrote. "This impact is not expected to be uniform, and some losses may well be lower and others higher."

The committee asked Mr. McCann to review the report and other evidence. Town taxpayer money did not support the analysis; private citizens donated for the cause.

Read the entire article

POWER PROJECT BILL OK'D

New rules giving committees in Albany decision-making power on siting power projects at or above 25 megawatts passed overnight Tuesday night in the state Senate and Assembly.

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, and Assemblyman Kenneth D. Blankenbush, R-Black River, voted against the measure in a 117-13 vote. State Sens. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, and Joseph A. Griffo, R-Rome, voted against the bill in a 59-3 Senate tally.

"While there are many provisions in this law I support, I could not vote for a law that would take control away from local communities," Mrs. Ritchie said in a news release. "The provisions that would allow projects as small as 25 megawatts to avoid local control left me no choice but to vote against this measure."

Mrs. Russell explained her opposition Tuesday night, saying that it usurped local control on siting projects in communities.

Read the entire article

New York State Senator George Maziarz blows off visiting citizens

State Senator George D. Maziarz (R), Chairman of the New York State Energy and Telecommunications Committee was visited in Albany today by several Cape Vincent citizens. Their mision was to ask the Senator to consider increasing the Article X language concerning megawatt qualifications for Article X siting rules from 25 megawatts to 80 megawatts.

As one of the visitors described their Maziarz experience over the phone to JLL, the Senator treated them with less than dignity and "blew them off". "He did not even listen to us," claimed one person who traveled all the way to Albany to talk to the Senator.

Maziarz is Republican and represents New York District 62 in Western New York.

The Senator's Phone number is (518) 455-2024.

NY Assembly Bill Would Create Wind Project Siting Task Force

The siting of wind facilities in New York is by and large a local affair. Unlike some states, New York does not have in place a comprehensive statewide framework for wind energy facility siting. Enter the state legislature.

Assembly Bill A04793 would establish a New York state task force on wind generating facilities siting to study the need to implement a uniform statewide policy regarding the siting and permitting of wind energy production facilities. The bill, referred to the Energy Committee, has no Senate “same as” as of 3/14/2011.

The Senate does have pending a somewhat related bill pending, however. Senate Bill S01086 would authorize and direct NYSERDA to conduct a comprehensive study of the potential siting processes required to establish wind energy production facilities. The Senate bill has been referred to the Energy and Telecommunications Committee.

With the legislative session set to end in a few months, at this juncture passage of either bill seems somewhat remote.

Howard officials dig right in

Howard, NY — Shovels dug into the ground Friday in Howard, kicking off construction for a renewable energy project seven years in the making.

Everpower Wind Holdings and Howard officials broke ground on the $100 million Howard Wind Project where 25 wind turbines will be built and possibly two more in the future.

“This is a great project for the town and a great project for landowners. I think when we’re done, everyone will be happy,” said Kevin Sheen, of Everpower.

Along with creating renewable energy, the project is a revenue windfall for the community. Howard, Steuben County, and the Canisteo-Greenwood and Hornell City School Districts will split $8.5 million over 20 years paid by Everpower.

Howard will receive the lion’s share – 51.5 percent.

“This is a rural community. We don’t have coming in and helping us with taxes,” Howard Supervisor Don Evia said Friday. “We’ve never seen something like this that can help offset land taxes. This will bring us some relief for 20 years, and hopefully into the future after that.”

The project wasn’t without a mix of controversy and misfortune.

Residents opposing the wind farm brought a lawsuit against the town, which was dismissed several years ago. And while work started on the project in December 2004, the economic recession slowed completion.

Now construction begins on building electricity-generating turbines that stand 375 feet high.

Components will be received on-site by the end of June, with construction scheduled for completion by the end of August or early September, said Everpower Construction Manager Joe Pariano.

The turbines are expected to tie into the grid in mid-October, with an anticipated starting date of mid-December.

Two additional wind turbines might be constructed on 39 acres of private land south of Spencer Hill and South Woods roads, bringing the total number to 27.

The turbines will be constructed on 5,000 acres of farm land leased from private landowners.

Article X, Green Jobs To Be Part Of End-Of-Session Deal

Almost a decade after it expired, Article X – the state’s power plant siting law – is set to be renewed as part of the Legislature’s omnibus, end-of-session deal.

Renewing Article X would be a huge win for the Cuomo administration. The state has been without a power plant siting law since 2003. Legislators and advocates argue the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which provides up to 30 percent of the power used in New York City and Westchester County, cannot be closed unless the siting law is enacted. Renewing Article X would clear a huge hurdle for Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his quest to shut down Indian Point.

Late Tuesday, Cuomo was optimistic that a deal could be reached.

“We are also trying to get Article X done, which is of tremendous importance of the state. It’s been years and years that we haven’t had Article X,” Cuomo said. “I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll actually get that done.”

Key legislators were less cautious, more optimistic.

“We are literally one, relatively minor detail apart right now. We’re working those details out,” said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, an Ulster County Democrat who chairs the Energy Committee. “We pretty much came to an agreement.”

His Senate counterpart, George Maziarz, agreed, adding one sticking point remains: whether to include a sunset provision in the bill.

“It sunset, and the sun’s never come up since,” Maziarz said. “That was a big thing that we wanted on the Senate side. Now again, I’m not so sure the Assembly’s going to agree to that. We do not want the sunset. They probably will.”

Cahill said that on the contrary, the Assembly has agreed to make Article X permanent.

“Always on everyone’s shortlist is Article X,” he said. “This year it looks like we’re going to be able to get it through. And not only get it through, but get through a fantastic bill that is going to be made permanent.”

Cahill said the deal, which may be voted on as early as today, will provide siting oversight for power plants in excess of 25 megawatts of energy. Plants would be required to comply with federal homeland security regulations, air quality rules, environmental justice and public health provisions, as well as the state’s statutory energy plan.

The deal may also require the state to set up a “utility intervenor fund” of somewhere between $200,000 and $800,000, depending on the size of the plant, which would be provided by the power plant applicant to pay for legal fees.

The deal should also satisfy any lingering environmental justice concerns, Cahill said. For years, the Assembly blocked the law’s renewal based mainly on concerns that new power plants would be sited disproportionately in low-income, minority communities.

“We’ve stood for a long time in not agreeing until we were happy with the environmental justice provision,” Cahill said.

The deal will also include a companion piece to authorize “on bill” financing for the Green Jobs/Green New York program, which allows homeowners to pay for energy retrofits through loan payments. That program was first enacted in summer 2009.

There were almost no serious discussions on renewing Article X – which has become something of a perennial issue for Albany – until this month, when advocates say everything suddenly started to coalesce.

“After a lot of lobbying around energy issues this session, the governor’s office brought together both houses and parties a couple of weeks back,” said Dan Hendrick, a spokesman for the New York League of Conservation Voters, in an email. “Green jobs was a priority for the Assembly, Article X for the Senate. Everyone had something they could work with and negotiate for.”

Hendricks said the deal presents a significant improvement over the previous law. If a community is “environmentally overburdened,” he said, power plant applicants will have to commit to local offset programs before applications can be improved.

“We are very excited about both, Article X in particular, which has been one of our goals for years,” he said.

Kathy Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, said that renewing Article X is essential to rebuilding the state’s economy.

“New York continues to need energy,” she said. “We’re trying to conserve, but the fact is that economic growth, particularly in technology-intensive industries, requires additional energy generation. Otherwise we’re stuck with a 20th Century electrical system.”

Maziarz credited Cuomo for making the deal happen.

“For years we’ve been talking Article X, passing different bills on Article X,” he said. “And you know, the governor really kind of drove it home.”

ARTICLE X: Legislation could be approved today - Wind farm siting may fall to Albany

If proposed state legislation is approved today, the siting of wind power projects in the north country will be decided by a committee in Albany, not local planning boards.

State and local wind power proponents have supported Article X in the past, saying that it limits to one year how long the siting approval and permitting process can take. Under local review, projects have lagged for three, four or more years.

Wind power opponents tend to oppose Article X out of suspicion of Albany's renewable energy policies and its push to build wind-power projects.

The Article X provisions will be part of a larger energy policy bill after a three-way agreement among the governor and legislature leaders, making passage likely.

Read the entire article

Great Lakes May Beat Atlantic To Offshore Wind

States along the Atlantic Coast are racing to be first in the country to put wind turbines offshore. But a group in Ohio says the first offshore wind farm in America isn't likely to be in the Atlantic, but in the fresh waters of Lake Erie about seven miles off the Cleveland coast.

A dull gray salvage boat chugs out of the Port of Cleveland on a calm spring morning; it's part of the early stages of what some hope will become a major industry in Ohio. But today, the prospect of dozens of massive wind turbines sprouting from the lake floor seems remote.

Right now, there's only one structure on the water — a century-old, iron-clad water intake "crib" that juts 30 feet out of the water. A helmeted diver tethered to a nearby boat sinks into the murky water. His job is to recover an ice sensor sitting 50 feet down on the lake bottom.

Meanwhile three engineers climb the metal steps to the crib's roof where storm-battered instruments are gathering wind data. One of them, Aaron Godwin, says the numbers demonstrate the lake's energy potential.

"Actually this would be a good example of a day where we would be generating some pretty decent power," Godwin says. "You'll see that the instruments are spinning faster as you go up in elevation; again, one of the reasons you come out here is because it's unobstructed; it's clean wind."

Lakes May Beat Atlantic to Offshore Wind

Promoters of clean wind say, in the next decade, hundreds of turbines in Lake Erie could produce 1,000 megawatts of power — enough for 200,000 homes.

The plan is to start next year with a five-turbine pilot project within sight of downtown Cleveland. Its $100 million cost would be raised from investors and loans.

Chris Wissemann, the project's developer, says that with turbine supplier General Electric, engineering giant Bechtel, and Texas-based Cavallo Energy on board, his company, Freshwater Wind, will likely win the nation's offshore wind race.

"The Great Lakes will really be home to offshore wind long before we see it in the Atlantic," Wissemann says.

Expensive Start-Up

But first engineers need to solve a problem that most ocean wind farms don't have — massive floes of shifting ice each winter.

Data from the ice sensor recovered from the lake bottom will help engineers like Dave Mattheisen design foundations that can withstand those icy pressures, without "over-engineering" them. Each turbine will cost more than $20 million — so much money that it could take decades to recoup the investment.

But Wissemann insists the high costs of the pilot project will be outweighed by the long-term benefits.

"What we're talking about here now is a project that maybe produces high-priced power, but the trade-off is to get jobs," he says.

'The Math Doesn't Work'

But not everyone believes it's worth it.

Cleveland industrialist Dan Moore has stakes in a dozen businesses, including one that builds turbine blades. But he says the numbers Wissemann is throwing around just don't add up.

"The concept of building windmills in Lake Erie is nonsense. $100 million for 3.4 megawatts it doesn't even come close to making sense," Moore says. "It's Alice in Wonderland." (Moore is referring to his projections of production for a pilot project to test the proposed wind farm.)

Moore thinks high-priced wind energy won't work in a region that needs electricity to power heavy industry.

"The math doesn't work, you're off by a decimal point," he says.

Some other Great Lakes players are backing away from offshore wind turbine development because of environmental concerns. In Michigan, lawmakers and residents are concerned about disturbing the lake's natural beauty. Meanwhile in Canada, all of Ontario's offshore power projects have been put on hold.

Political, Economic Challenges

But backers in Ohio say they've looked at the realities, and they're still optimistic. Lorry Wagner, head of the non-profit Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., says he understands the challenges.

"We know we have to get [the cost] down to approximately half of what it is today and that's an immense challenge, we don't have any illusions about how difficult this is going to be," Wagner says.

The world's first freshwater wind farm went online last year in Lake Vanern, Sweden. Engineers in Cleveland are hoping to benefit from lessons learned there. And they say the project's engineering problems are actually the easiest to solve — it's the political and economic challenges that are likely to remain the thorniest.

Big Wind must be transparent

Wind energy is cited among the green alternatives to fossil fuel, but environmental and community groups are irritated about the handling of a massive project to transmit energy to Oahu from windmills on Lanai and Molokai. They should be provided more access to preliminary work on the plan by state agencies and Hawaiian Electric Co., and hold project members to promises of full access and participation at future venues.

HECO is seeking a "power purchase agreement" from the Public Utilities Commission to recover $4 million from ratepayers in costs for studies associated with the Big Wind, or Interisland Wind, project. The PUC has endorsed the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, which mandates that 40 percent of the state's energy come from renewable sources by 2030, so the studies are consistent with the state's goals. The path to getting there, though, has the potential to keep lay people in the dark until it emerges as a fait accompli.

Even Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa is complaining that "no one can tell us where the cable will run, its overall cost or how it would interconnect with the grids on the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai.... We need a clear, complete, accurate, detailed analysis for the cable system before we agree to finance it on the backs of the ratepayers."

For several years, the state, U.S. Department of Energy and HECO have analyzed the Big Wind project and "concluded that an undersea cable system is technically feasible, cost-effective and financially viable to serve the public interest and benefit," according to an introduction to state legislation prepared by project participants. HECO now is studying the actual particulars, such as the route for the cable, said Robbie Alm, executive vice president.

To Mayor Arakawa's concerns, Alm said a connection with Maui island has not been decided yet.

The U.S. Department of Energy has begun preparing its environmental impact statement on the project and the state will begin work on its EIS after the federal document is completed, Alm said. At that point, possibly this fall, the public will be allowed full access and participation in the process, he said, In addition, he said, the project will need 70 state permits, each of which will be subject to public hearings before being granted.

A big part of the concern at this stage stems from the fact that the PUC is a quasi-judicial state agency whose primary focus is regulations and rates, with dockets full of technical verbiage; its required level of public hearings is not structured like, say the City Council or the state Legislature, both of which hold multiple readings and hearings on issues.

Indeed, the present process consists of "technical studies to determine the possibility of adding large amounts of wind and solar energy to the Oahu grid," HECO spokesman Peter Rosegg told the Star-Advertiser's Alan Yonan Jr. The results of those studies "do not mean the Interisland Wind project will be done, only that it is possible," he added.

Well, the studies surely seem to go beyond that uncertainty.

The attempt by Honolulu-based Life of the Land to intervene so it could gain access to all the information about the project has been rejected by the PUC. The environmental organization's executive director, Henry Curtis, said his attempt to obtain public documents from the state has been resisted. Curtis said the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said it would cost Life of the Land $15,000 for photocopies of all its Big Wind material, and the PUC would charge $8,000 for copies of its documents.

PUC Chairwoman Hermina Morita says it complied with the law on Curtis's request, which asked for an overabundance of information (see today's Letters to the Editor), and that anyone can view the commission's website.

But while the PUC is not bound by the information disclosure standards of other state agencies, it needs to be acutely aware that public accessibility and understanding is crucial to what would be the priciest, most controversial public utility project in the state's history, even at this pre-EIS stage. The movers and shakers need to ensure comprehensive openness as the state environmental impact statement process unfolds with an abundance of hearings and thorough public scrutiny.

Breaking News: Pork Lawsuit Argument Announced

October 12, 2011, 2pm Albany. A Tea Party Rally against corporate welfare will be held at 12 noon on the Capitol steps. Stay tuned for details and save the date.

Note: we won in the Appellate Division five to zero.

The name of the case is Bordeleau v. State of New York.

Oral argument will be held at the Court of Appeals, NY’s highest court.

For more information google “pork lawsuit.”

Cohocton Wind Watch is a petitioner in this legal action.

A ‘bait and switch’ in Orangeville

On May 5, 2011, the Orangeville Town Board held the first of five work sessions for the Stony Creek wind turbine project. The project details given to the Town Board by Invenergy is not the same project as proposed in the original plans. The only thing the same is the name.

The new plans were incomplete but any issues could not be discussed because the public is forbidden to speak at these work sessions. Eric Miller of Invenergy stated one of the major changes was the increase in turbine size. Mr. Miller stated it was minimal and only 7 percent increase. Mr. Miller was correct to a point. Each blade will be 29 feet longer and compared to the total turbine height it is 7 percent.

In comparison to the original turbine in the DEIS this new model turbine is closer to 45 percent larger in area, thus much noisier and this turbine is going from the original 1.5 MW to 1.6 MW. This will also change the shadow flicker duration and ice shedding distance as well. The towers also had to be moved and transmission lines relocated. To put it bluntly it’s not the same project.

Invenergy’s Mr. Miller produced computer-generated photos of the larger turbines. Views with turbines carefully positioned by trees, buildings, hazy days and even from other towns miles away. We don’t live miles away. The turbines will be 1,320 feet from our homes, 700 feet from our property lines and 477 feet from the center of the roads. Mr. Miller says they tried to take the pictures on clear days but ...

Larger, noisier turbines require larger set backs. Mr. Miller said they did noise studies but would not disclose when and where and the results. We the people of Orangeville want to know the locations of the studies and done by who? Have any of these new, larger turbines been installed in any wind projects? Have any noise studies been done under actual conditions and not some computer-simulated report using ideal conditions?

The residents of Orangeville at the April 14 Town Board meeting were lead to believe that the new, revised maps of the project, changes in the locations of the turbines, transmission lines, modifications to the turbines to be used by Invenergy, etc., would be available on Invenergy’s website for the public to review. Nothing in regards to the Stony Creek project has been updated.

Again the public is being kept in the dark about the bait and switch. As a concerned Orangeville resident I asked Invenergy’s Michael Mulcahey if I could have a one-page copy of the project site and I was denied. Why? The new maps were to be displayed on the conference table at the Orangeville Town Hall and that has not been done.

There have been substantial changes in the project and no public input allowed at the work sessions. Not that the Orangeville Town Board and Invenergy are trying to slip this through real fast but they cut the work sessions to four meetings because “they made so much progress at the first meeting.” In less than two hours digested hundreds of pages of information. I must say, amazing ... I would hope the Orangeville Town Board would request the complete and accurate information and get advice from an independent source for the good of Orangeville.

Paul Jensen

Orangeville

Ontario unable to tell if wind farms exceed noise limits, activists say

Anti-wind farm activists have released leaked documents that they say show the Ontario government cannot tell if the giant industrial turbines meet provincial noise regulations.

A 2009 memo from a Ministry of Environment officer, obtained by Wind Concerns Ontario, said the Liberal government imposed noise limits as it approved wind farms, even though it has no way to tell if they comply with the limits.

“MOE currently has NO approval methodology for field measurement of the noise emissions from multiple noise sources,” the senior environmental officer wrote. “As such there is no way for MOE field staff [and I would submit anyone else] to confirm compliance or lack thereof with the noise limits set in the approvals.”

The memo is proof the Liberal government isn't telling the whole truth about wind farms, Wind Concerns spokesman John Laforet said.

“They've said in black and white they have no way to ensure compliance with the certificate of approvals, yet they willingly and knowingly continue to issue them,” said Mr. Laforet. “If there is unenforceable compliance, you're just letting industry do what it wants and the government is rubber-stamping it.”

Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday he had not seen the leaked memo, but added that the government based all its approvals of wind farms on scientific evidence.

“We had a three-judge panel confirm that we have always relied on the best science available in terms of coming up with our setback requirements and noise regulations,” he said. “We've got some of the toughest in the world, and certainly the best in North America.”

The Progressive Conservatives said there is a lot of anger in rural Ontario at the Liberals for imposing wind farms on communities.

“We believe the decisions regarding the establishment of the wind farms should be left to the local communities,” said PC critic Elizabeth Witmer. “Rather than Queen's Park making these decisions, we believe in local decision making. Right now, people feel absolutely powerless.”

The Liberals are ignoring complaints from local residents about noise from the wind turbines keeping them up at night and even making some people sick, and they should admit they can't ensure compliance with noise levels, Mr. Laforet said.

“I think the government has been completely dishonest on this whole issue,” he said. “They are afraid of science, which means they're covering something up and we'd like to get to the bottom of what that is. There's no harm in an independent study unless there's something that they're hiding.”

The Liberals will pay a price in lost seats in the Oct. 6 election, especially in rural Ontario, if it doesn't back off the wind projects very soon, warned Mr. Laforet, who's been on a six-week tour of the province organizing anti-wind-power groups.

“We're visiting 18 Liberal ridings where we've got opposition to wind groups on the ground and we're actively organizing to use the election as a referendum on the Green Energy Act and on industrial wind farms,” he said. “If the Liberals were smart, they would take this opportunity to detach themselves from the industrial wind lobby in hopes of saving some of their seats in rural Ontario.”

The Liberals put a moratorium on off-shore wind farms after people in suburban Toronto complained about a potential installation in Lake Ontario, a move Ms. Witmer called part of the “Liberal seat-saver plan.”

The Ministry of the Environment said it takes compliance seriously, but did not say if it had come up with a way for field officers to measure noise from multiple wind turbines since the memo was first issued.

“We have always been able to measure noise levels and detect any exceedance of our stringent 40 dB requirement,” said press secretary Jonathan Rose. “This limit is what the World Health Organization recommends as protective of human health.”

Pattern Energy Begins Construction on Nevada's First Wind Farm

Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern) today announced it has begun construction on the Spring Valley Wind project. The project is located on public lands in northern Spring Valley, approximately 30 miles east of Ely, Nevada, and will be the state's first wind energy project.

The 150 megawatt (MW) Spring Valley Wind project will take approximately one year to build and will create approximately 225 jobs during construction, with a preference given to qualified local workers and contractors. The wind project will also create up to 13 full-time permanent positions once operational and generate new business and tax revenue for the state and White Pine County community.

"I'm pleased that construction has begun on Nevada's first utility-scale wind farm, creating jobs that help diversify our economy," said Senator Harry Reid. "Wind is an abundant natural resource that Nevada can harness on our path to become energy independent. Projects like this will convert our vast renewable energy potential into new economic opportunity and make Nevada a global leader in clean energy."

"Pattern is honored to be constructing Nevada's first wind project, which will provide groundbreaking mitigation measures to minimize impacts on the environment, including preservation of cultural resources, funding for sage grouse, curtailment standards, modified electrical lines to reduce risks to birds, and an advanced radar system for monitoring birds and bats that will allow us to turn off the turbines when species are identified in the area," said Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy.

"Many people in Nevada, particularly Senator Reid, have been at the forefront of encouraging renewable energy in the United States and in the state of Nevada, and we are proud to be the first company to bring wind power to the Senator's home state," added Garland. "We also appreciate the collaborative efforts of all those involved in the environmental review and permit process, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, NV Energy, the local tribes and the Sierra Club."

Pattern has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy for the sale of energy produced by Spring Valley Wind, which will equal the power needs of approximately 45,000 local homes. Pattern's Spring Valley Wind project is expected to generate more than $20 million in tax revenue for White Pine County and the state of Nevada's Renewable Energy Fund over the next 20 years. Pattern has selected Mortenson Construction to manage construction of the project, which will use 66 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines and utilize an existing 230 kilovolt transmission line for electricity distribution.

Spring Valley Wind will be Pattern Energy's fourth operating wind project in North America and is one of seven projects that Pattern expects to bring into construction over the next 12 months, consisting of more than 1,300 MW of new installed capacity. Pattern Energy currently operates 520 MW of wind power projects in North America.

ABOUT PATTERN ENERGY GROUP LP

Pattern Energy Group LP is an independent, fully integrated energy company that develops, constructs, owns, and operates renewable energy and transmission assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America. With a long history in wind energy, Pattern's highly-experienced team of scientists, engineers, construction experts, and legal and financial professionals has developed, financed and placed into operation more than 2,500 MW of wind power projects. Pattern's development pipeline exceeds 4,000 MW of renewable energy projects and includes multiple transmission projects. Pattern currently has 520 MW of wind energy in operation in the U.S. and in southern Manitoba, Canada. With offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, New York, and Toronto, Pattern is strongly committed to promoting environmental stewardship and is dedicated to working closely with landowners and communities to develop and operate premier renewable energy projects. For more information, please visit www.patternenergy.com.

Vt. wind developer sends no trespass notices for construction zone

SHEFFIELD, Vt. — A number of Vermonters opposed to construction of a wind power project in Sheffield say they've been sent "no trespass orders" by the developer.

An attorney representing a group of residents of Sheffield and Sutton opposed to the 16-turbine, $90 million project says it's a mystery to her why First Wind didn't just post "no trespassing" signs.

Stephanie Kaplan tells the Caledonian Record "maybe sending these notices is more intimidating and therefore more to their way of doing business."

First Wind spokesman John Lamontagne says the notices are needed because the area is becoming a busy construction site. He doesn't know how many notices were sent.

The first turbines could arrive at the construction site next week.

Kaplan says she is seeking an expedited appeal with the Vermont Supreme Court.