• How a storm of lawsuits paralysed wind mills in northwest Spain

    Updated: 2025-01-15 15:14:18
    Jose Maria Cofreces is the owner of a guesthouse in northwestern Galicia, one of Spain’s most picturesque regions and a major tourist draw. It is also one of the windiest parts of the country, and that has made it a magnet for developers of giant wind turbines that can stand higher than 50-storey tower blocks. Cofreces is among those at the vanguard of opposition in Galicia. Echoing the tactics of rural communities across Europe, the protesters have used the courts . . .

  • Wind turbines impair the access of bats to water bodies in agricultural landscapes

    Updated: 2025-01-14 14:35:26
    Summary: Bats depend on open bodies of water such as small ponds and lakes for foraging and drinking. Access to water is particularly important for survival in the increasingly hot and dry summers caused by climate change, the time when female bats are pregnant and rear their young. A scientific team has now shown that access to drinking sites is hampered by wind turbines in agricultural landscapes: Many bat species avoid the turbines and water bodies located close to the . . .

  • Atlantic City, NJ, & all east coast wind turbines to be halted

    Updated: 2025-01-14 14:25:05
    Offshore wind turbine opponents have been anxiously awaiting for Donald Trump to take office as President of the United States on November 20, 2025 at 12:00 noon, ET. Congressman Jeff Van Drew, R-NJ-2, offered a very important update today regarding the offshore wind turbine activities planned for all over the East Coast, including off of the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Atlantic City project is preparing to spend two years burying high power, electrical cables directly underneath stable . . .

  • Whitman County Commissioners issue moratorium on wind energy projects

    Updated: 2025-01-12 23:55:41
    Members of a community group opposed to plans for a large wind farm project near Kamiak Butte in Whitman County are celebrating a decision this week by county commissioners to place a moratorium on new commercial wind turbines. Commissioners cited the need to update regulations on wind energy projects. Save the Palouse, a nonprofit organization formed in opposition to the project, posted news of the six-month moratorium on social media. “This is a huge step in the right direction, and . . .

  • Court says no to wind turbines, imposes one year moratorium

    Updated: 2025-01-12 19:19:18
    In a special meeting on Dec. 30, the Madison County Quorum Court imposed a 1-year moratorium on wind turbine development within the county. [This item is available in full to subscribers.]

  • Co Tyrone 75m wind turbine refused due to “potential shadow flicker” and wildlife concerns

    Updated: 2025-01-12 14:31:30
    A planning application for the replacement of a wind turbine on lands north of No 62 Tullydraw Road, Dungannon, has been refused as the said wind turbine would have been nearly twice the height of the existing one. The existing wind turbine is 42m in overall height, while the new turbine would have had an overall height of 75m. The planning officer who assessed the planning application wrote: “I consider the proposed turbine will have an unacceptable impact on visual . . .

  • Rep. Van Orden holds talks with frustrated Portage Co. farmers

    Updated: 2025-01-11 14:29:04
    “We’re very concerned about the weather-based energy that’s coming through our area is driving up our land prices and it’s really changing the way our industry is being done,” Trine Spindler said.

  • 3 lawsuits claim Inslee, regulators sidestepped state law to approve Eastern WA wind farm

    Updated: 2025-01-11 14:22:00
    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and the state agency responsible for authorizing energy projects overstepped state law when they approved a controversial energy project south of Kennewick, allege three new lawsuits. Benton County, Tri-Cities CARES and the Yakama Nation followed up on their November promises to sue to curtail Scout Clean Energy from developing a massive wind, solar and battery farm along a 24-mile stretch of the Horse Heaven Hills. Separate suits filed in Thurston County Superior Court ask a judge . . .

  • World-first Monash study shows bird flight paths through two proposed Bass Strait wind farms

    Updated: 2025-01-10 14:13:00
    A world-first study of birds migrating across Bass Strait has shown they travelled directly through zones earmarked for the federal government’s two declared offshore wind farms. Monash University researchers studying Tasmanian Boobook owls have become the first to examine flight migration paths from Victoria to Tasmania, tracking the birds via satellite to map their over-water journeys. The findings, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Emu – Austral Ornithology, highlight the importance of Bass Strait as a flyway for land birds . . .

  • Environment dept under fire over wind farm

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:37:16
    Environmental organisations Terra Cypria and BirdLife Cyprus found on Tuesday that a wind farm in Kellia state forest in Larnaca, which had been put on hold by the Environment Department for a series of violations, has been concluded with the blessings of the department itself. They said the Republic is already facing an EU procedure for failing to adequately implement a directive on birds. In the context of this procedure, the European Commission has already sent a letter of notice . . .

  • Petition aims to halt Hill of Fare wind farm application

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:22:19
    Campaigners are petitioning for the site of the proposed Hill of Fare wind farm in Aberdeenshire in a bid to stop the project. The Hill of Fare Windfarm Information Group called for Dunecht Estates, where the wind farm will be based, to get the project’s developer, RES, to withdraw its application. RES is looking to develop the 105.6MW less than four miles from Banchory. Under its current plan, the wind farm will use a total of 16 turbines, with heights . . .

  • Crews clean up hydraulic fluid after Newburyport turbine incident

    Updated: 2025-01-08 15:18:58
    Newburyport neighbors had their first look at cleanup crews that showed up Tuesday morning along Route 1, all under the watchful eye of the Department of Environmental Protection. This is the result of hydraulic fluid that came cascading down from a wind turbine before ending up across the street, leaving blotches of fluid covering the siding of a condo complex, cars, curbing and fences too. Fire officials say it was all the result of a recent rain storm that included . . .

  • Trump says he wants no wind turbines built during his administration

    Updated: 2025-01-07 20:26:44
    President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he would seek to have a policy of having no wind farms constructed during his second term, threatening billions of dollars in planned wind projects. “We are going to have a policy where no windmills are being built,” Trump said during a lengthy tirade against wind power during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Trump, who has vowed a first day executive order targeting wind power, has long made no secret his . . .

  • Offshore wind farms ‘could blind Britain’s radar to enemy missile attacks’

    Updated: 2025-01-07 15:35:31
    Defence experts are working on radical solutions to prevent offshore wind farms blocking radar systems amid fears they could leave the UK vulnerable to missile attacks. Fears have been raised that plans to massively increase the number of turbines in the seas around Britain could leave the Islands open to a surprise attack. Scientists are now working on measures to lessen the impact of the proposed quadrupling of offshore wind power by 2030. They include making turbines from stealth materials . . .

  • Country towns feeling steamrolled by rapid growth of wind energy in regional WA

    Updated: 2025-01-04 20:50:41
    In short: Hundreds of wind turbines are set to dot the landscape across southern WA as part of the state government’s push for more renewable energy. Residents of multiple country towns have expressed concerns about the uneven playing field they face negotiating with energy companies. What’s next? The WA government’s green power agency says the ongoing rollout is a collaborative process between locals and energy developers. The erection of hundreds of wind turbines across Western Australia’s agricultural heartland has communities . . .

  • The looming battle over Britain’s wind farms

    Updated: 2025-01-04 20:32:10
    The Labour government wants to ramp up renewables. But many local residents are up in arms about plans for pylons and cables in sensitive sites. Adam Rowlands’ boots scrunch through the pebbles as he describes the abundance of wildlife in the wetlands behind the beach in the Suffolk town of Aldeburgh. “We have scarce white-fronted geese, alongside important numbers of pintails, wigeons, and other waterfowl,” reels off Rowlands, an area manager for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, . . .

  • Protecting cave bats: Wisconsin DNR proposes wind turbine restrictions

    Updated: 2025-01-04 15:27:34
    Wisconsin’s cave bats are in rapid decline. Now the DNR is looking at new restrictions on wind turbines to help save the bats. Cave bats serve an important role in Wisconsin’s ecosystem by eating biting insects and other pests, but they’re also under threat. “Unfortunately, when you have a bat that’s very tiny, that gets hit by a very large turbine blade, they end up dying,” Stacy Rowe, a conservation biologist at the Wisconsin DNR said. The fungal disease white-nose . . .

  • Brennendes Windrad bei Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersbergkreis)

    Updated: 2025-01-03 22:05:47
    [A wind turbine caught fire on Thursday in the facility on the Hungerberg near Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersberg district). The flames could be seen from afar. The police think a technical defect was the cause. The operator of the wind turbine, Cerventus, estimates that the damage will amount to around one million euros.] Im Windpark auf dem Hungerberg bei Kirchheimbolanden (Donnersbergkreis) brannte am Donnerstag ein Windrad. Die Flammen waren von Weitem zu sehen. Die Polizei geht von einem technischen Defekt als Brandursache . . .

  • Windkraftanlage in Niedersachsen brennt lichterloh – Schaden in Millionenhöhe

    Updated: 2025-01-03 21:56:31
    [On Wednesday evening around 6:00 p.m., a wind turbine in the Gildehaus facility in the county of Bad Bentheim, Lower Saxony, caught fire. The cause of the fire is still unknown.] Am Mittwochabend gegen 18:00 Uhr fing eine Windkraftanlage im Windpark Gildehaus in der Grafschaft Bad Bentheim, Niedersachsen Feuer. Die Ursache für den Brand ist noch unbekannt. Die Freiwillige Feuerwehr ließ das Feuer in 100 Metern Höhe kontrolliert abbrennen. Es bestand zu keinem Zeitpunkt eine Gefahr für Menschen, weitere Objekte . . .

  • Lawsuit against Arkwright wind turbines adds plaintiffs

    Updated: 2025-01-03 21:49:23
    A lawsuit that has thus far crawled along at a snail’s pace will continue – after further delay. Richard Alexander et. al v. EDP Renewables North America LLC et al. was originally filed Sept. 24, 2019, by dozens of north county residents over the Arkwright Summit Wind Farm, which consists of 47 wind turbines erected in 2018. Residents are asking the court for unspecified damages related to loss of property values, compensatory damages for destruction of homes and lifestyle, loss . . .

  • Cornwall fishermen fear for livelihoods as offshore wind farms pose ‘greatest change’ the industry has faced

    Updated: 2025-01-02 15:22:21
    Fishermen in Cornwall fear proposals for mass offshore wind farms could destroy their businesses and pose the “greatest change” the fishing industry has ever faced. The Crown Estate – which owns much of the country’s seabed – has published plans for what it calls “areas of opportunity” for offshore wind farms in waters off the North East and the Celtic Sea around South Wales, Devon and Cornwall. It insists a maximum of 15% of North East and 12% of Celtic . . .

  • Greek environmentalists say wind farms threaten brown bears

    Updated: 2025-01-01 14:57:24
    Greece’s push for alternative and sustainable energy sources will bring more wind farms but environmentalist groups Arcturos and Callisto said the sites could risk the habitats of brown bears and were not considered by the Environment Ministry. The organizations said the ministry instead has intervened in a national action plan for the brown bear, developed under the European Union’s LIFE program by removing references to the impact of the farms where the animals live. They also said that proposals to . . .

  • Buffalo Common Council member pushes back on Lake Erie wind turbine proposal

    Updated: 2025-01-01 14:51:21
    Forty degrees and windy in late December aren’t exactly the ideal conditions for a beach day. But that isn’t stopping Councilman Joe Golombek from thinking about Buffalo’s shoreline. Golombek submitted a resolution to the Buffalo Common Council opposing the placement of wind turbines in Lake Erie and making Buffalo one of the last major cities along the coast to support a region-wide ban. The resolution was discussed in Monday’s council meeting. “Once I looked at all of this, I said, . . .

  • Planned $2bn South Australian offshore wind farm scrapped

    Updated: 2024-12-31 15:15:41
    Another proposed wind farm ­development has been shelved, with the partners behind a contentious plan in South Australia ­quietly pulling the project. An application with federal ­environmental regulators for the almost $2bn SA offshore wind farm project – also known as the Kingston project – was withdrawn without explanation this month. The project was originally proposed by British company Australis Energy. German group Skyborn Renew­ables – which is involved in ­operating or under-construction wind farms in Germany, Taiwan, France and . . .

  • Ilirska Bistrica locals submit signatures against wind farm

    Updated: 2024-12-31 14:34:16
    After the locals expressed in October strong opposition to the plans to build a wind farm near Ilirska Bistrica (SW), the Snežnik civil initiative has now submitted signatures of opposition to the project to the Natural Resources and Spatial Planning Ministry. They argue the planned location is within a Natura 2000 nature protection area. Civilna iniciativa proti vetrnim elektrarnam v Ilirski Bistrici predala podpise ministrstvu Predstavniki Civilne iniciative Snežnik so danes na ministrstvo za naravne vire in prostor dostavili zbrane . . .

  • ACK For Whales asks Supreme Court to hear appeal

    Updated: 2024-12-29 17:15:10
    First offshore wind case to go to Supreme Court since Loper Bright decision ended “Chevron deference.” Nantucket Residents Against Turbines (ACK For Whales), the grassroots Nantucket group fighting to prevent environmental ruin caused by offshore wind development (OSW), has asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of a lower court decision allowing federal agencies to disregard the Endangered Species Act in their rush to approve OSW projects. The petition asserts the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals wrongly allowed . . .

  • Opponents want to stop $500M Wyoming wind farm, say it will kill eagles and bats

    Updated: 2024-12-28 16:27:28
    Wyoming archaeology and conservation groups, an eagle expert and two Albany County residents are asking a judge to stop a federal energy bureau and the U.S. Energy Secretary from advancing a vital step in building up to 149 wind turbines in the southeastern Wyoming county. The critics say the devices will kill eagles and bats, harass wildlife, blast the locals with constant noise, and mar the landscape and the skyline of the Ames Monument National Historic Landmark. The $500 million . . .

  • More wind turbines could be coming to the Pennask Mountain area; K2 Project will be exempt from environmental assessment

    Updated: 2024-12-28 15:20:59
    More wind turbines could be coming to Pennask Mountain in the coming years, after BC Hydro signed a 30-year power purchase agreement for several proposed wind farm projects earlier this month. The BC government announced in early December that it had selected nine proposed wind energy projects following its earlier call for power-generation projects. One of the selected projects is the K2 Wind Power project which is proposed to be built on Westbank First Nation land on Pennask Mountain. Westbank . . .

  • Preservationists nationwide say that wind energy is harming America’s historic sites

    Updated: 2024-12-27 16:15:43
    A pyramid in Wyoming, lighthouses in New England, and the site where Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in World War II are some of the historic sites that are being threatened by wind development, preservationists say. The Bureau of Land Management earlier this month approved a 241-turbine wind farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, about a two-hour drive from Boise. From the time it was announced, the project was met with opposition from ranchers, environmentalists and Native American tribes. This managed to get . . .

  • Vineyard Offshore retreats from major wind project

    Updated: 2024-12-25 20:14:58
    Another proposed offshore wind project is off the table. Vineyard Offshore confirmed Friday afternoon that it is pulling the 800 megawatts that Massachusetts had selected from its 1,200 MW Vineyard Wind 2 project back from contract negotiations, saying the deal with Massachusetts was conditioned on Connecticut buying the remaining 400 MW. “We were proud to submit our Vineyard Wind 2 proposal in response to the New England three-state solicitation, and we are grateful to Massachusetts for its provisional award of 800 MW. With . . .

  • Assessment of WA Offshore Windfarm Project has been terminated

    Updated: 2024-12-24 16:50:35
    NOTICE OF DECISION TO TERMINATE THE ASSESSMENT PERSON TO WHOM THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN (a) WA Offshore Windfarm Pty Ltd (ABN:89647508512) Level 2, 570 St Kilda Road Melbourne VIC 3004 c/o j.vanrijmenant@skybornrenewables.com (b) Relevant Decision-Making Authorities, see Attachment 1 PROPOSAL TO WHICH THIS NOTICE RELATES: PRO-0021533 – Proposal – WA Offshore Windfarm Project – Assessment No. 2294 At the request of WA Offshore Windfarm Pty Ltd and pursuant to s. 40A of the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (EP Act), the . . .

  • Report recommends further research on impact of offshore wind farms on fish

    Updated: 2024-12-24 16:22:56
    The Scottish Government have published a report on the impact of off shore wind development on species of fish that undertake regular migrations between freshwater and marine environments. These include Atlantic salmon and sea trout. The report finds that the potential for negative impacts from sound and vibration on these fish associated with offshore wind farms are most likely during construction, with pile driving creating particularly loud sound pulses, which is relatively short term but intense. Potential impacts include behavioural . . .

  • Loud noises from wind turbine project have stopped for now but will continue in the new year

    Updated: 2024-12-24 16:17:59
    In Virginia Beach, some residents are concerned about a wind turbine project and the impact it is having on their neighborhood. One of those residents is Chase Rudolf, who lives in the Croatan neighborhood. “In my kitchen, you can hear it shaking, and you can feel it on the beach sometimes,” Rudolf said. Dominion Energy says the completed project, known as Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, includes 176 offshore wind turbines about 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Currently, . . .

  • Are particle emissions from offshore wind farm blades harmful for blue mussels?

    Updated: 2024-12-18 20:11:53
    After several years of service under harsh weather conditions, the rotor blades of offshore wind parks are subjected to degradation and surface erosion, releasing sizeable quantities of particle emissions into the environment. A team of researchers led by the Alfred Wegener Institute has now investigated the effects of these particle on blue mussels – a species also being considered for the multi-use of wind parks for aquaculture. In the experiment, the mussels absorbed metals from the rotor blades’ coatings, as . . .

  • Worcester County to use eminent domain to save seafood properties from US Wind

    Updated: 2024-12-18 19:09:48
    Worcester County Commissioners have announced plans to use eminent domain to prevent US Wind from purchasing two seafood wholesale properties in West Ocean City’s commercial maritime harbor. The move comes as US Wind’s parent company, Renexia SpA, looked to demolish the harbor’s only commercial seafood wholesalers, Southern Connection Seafood and the Martin Fish Company, according to the Commission’s resolution. Commissioners cited several reasons for taking action, including the commercial fishing industry’s impact on the regional economy and federal fishery catch . . .

  • Moray Council’s objection to wind farm could spark costly public inquiry

    Updated: 2024-12-18 15:20:27
    An expensive public inquiry could be triggered after Moray Council today objected to an application to build a wind farm between Keith and Buckie. Members of the planning committee unanimously came out against a proposal for 16 turbines at Aultmore. Up to 650ft in height the turbines would be about eight times the size of the Ladyhill monument in Elgin. The council is objecting on the grounds the wind farm will have an “unacceptable and significant visual impact on the . . .

  • Découverte d’un cadavre décapité de vautour dans les Pyrénées-Orientales

    Updated: 2024-12-17 16:56:25
    [After the discovery of a decapitated vulture involving a wind turbine in Prugnanes, the League for the Protection of Birds in the Pyrénées-Orientales shares its emotion and concerns.] À la suite de l’accident survenu à cause d’une éolienne à Prugnanes, la Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) dans les Pyrénées-Orientales partage son émotion et ses inquiétudes. Tout comme le Groupe ornithologique du Roussillon (GOR), l’antenne locale de la Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) agit au quotidien pour . . .

  • Court rules that mobile phone messages are admissible as evidence in wind farm case

    Updated: 2024-12-17 14:38:02
    The anti-corruption office USKOK accuses Josipa Pleslic of having favoured an investor in the construction of wind farms in the Ervenik and Knin regions. She is suspected of numerous offences, including manipulating state audits, ordering subsidy allocations and manipulating conditions for the leasing of state land, including in the context of the wind farm scandal.

  • Developer dismisses community concerns

    Updated: 2024-12-17 14:32:45
    Contact Energy has hit back about comments on its planned wind farm in Southland, saying it vehemently disagrees the project is causing “insurmountable difficulties”, pointing to what it describes as a game-changing package of environmental measures, and boosting a community fund to nearly $4 million. The planned 55-turbine wind farm at Slopedown near Wyndham is part of the fast-track legislation process and a decision is due from the hearing panel this week. In a minute produced by the panel last . . .

  • ‘All those creatures are going to be decimated’ – anger over Lancashire’s controversial offshore wind farm plans

    Updated: 2024-12-17 14:16:23
    Fylde residents have expressed their anger over controversial plans for two proposed windfarms which they say will cause disruption to homes and businesses. The two windfarms, located in the Irish Sea, will be linked by miles of cables to a substation in Penwortham, dubbed the ‘Morgan and Morecambe’ project. As this cable corridor has been likened to being ‘wider than the M55’, many residents are concerned about the affects it will have on businesses and homes across towns and village . . .

  • Sturmböen brechen Rotorflügel von Windkraftanlage in Niedersachsen

    Updated: 2024-12-16 17:32:59
    [In Dinklage, gusting wind caused a wind turbine blade to break.] Ein Schaden an einer Windenergieanlage in Dinklage wurde am Montagnachmittag, 16. Dezember, gemeldet. Der betroffene Standort befindet sich in der Brockdorfer Straße, in der Nähe der Autobahn A1, berichtet die Nachrichtenagentur Nord-West-Media TV. Es wird angenommen, dass heftige Sturmböen, die am Montag über die Region fegten, dazu führten, dass einer der Rotorblätter der Anlage in der Mitte brach. Der obere Teil des beschädigten Rotorblatts bleibt hoch in der Luft, . . .

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