A remarkably similar scenario is playing out in the mountain ridges ofWindham, Vermont, as in the ridges above Penn Forest Township.

For four years, Iberdrola Renewables has been trying to win approval to build a wind turbine farm in the Green Mountains of southwestern Vermont.On Tuesday, the voters in Windham went to the polls to vote on a controversial plan, which would have authorized Iberdrola to pay the town and its residents a yearly stipend in exchange for letting the Stiles Brook Wind Project go through.The plan would have Iberdrola paying the town a $1.5 million annual fee and residents of Windham approximately $1,100 per year each.Nearby residents of Grafton, Vermont, would have received less than $500 per year.When the plan was first suggested, the state's attorney general's office looked into the matter when critics of the plan raised issues of it being a bribe. Other residents looked at the plan as a way to spread the benefits "beyond reducing property taxes."The office of the attorney general eventually ruled that the payment was not a bribe and the issue was placed on the ballot forTuesday.The referendum was met with a resounding "no" in Tuesday's general election. And it was not just no to the payments, but to the project as well.According to an article in theWednesday issue of The Commons, in Vermont,Iberdrola administrators said they would abide by the results of the election.In the end, Grafton voted 235 to 158 against the Stiles Brook Wind Project. Windham voted 181 to 101 against.Windham Selectboard Chairman Frank Seawright has been a vocal opponent of the project from the beginning."We have been saying it from the outset that this is an inappropriate site for such a project," Seawright said. "There's no amount of money that will change that base, bare fact, OK? It is an inappropriate site."In the four years since the project was first suggested by Iberdrola, the company has made a number of changes to try to accommodate the concerns of the residents, including decreasing the number of proposed turbines and moving some to different locations."This is really a reflection of the conversation that we have been having," said Iberdrola spokesman Paul Copleman. "We have made an effort, through a four-plus year process, to very transparently engage with folks and solicit feedback."FollowingTuesday's election Copleman confirmed Iberdrola's decision to suspend the project.- The Associated Press contributed to this report.