Mar. 20--It's the birds versus the wind in the northern Indiana city of Hammond, where local birders are fighting the installation of 115-foot wind turbines. The Hammond Port Authority is seeking city council permission to install the turbines as a clean energy source for a windy recreational area near Lake Michigan.

The Chicago Audubon Society opposes the plan, citing negative impact on migrating birds in a protected area that took years to establish. The case highlights how modern real estate disputes can pit natural habitat against green technology -- and who wins is not always clear.

Property laws are as old as civilization itself. As early man staked out fertile ground and passed it on to his heirs, a body of rules emerged for resolving disputes over boundaries, inheritance, water rights, mineral rights and even wandering livestock.

With a renewed emphasis on environmental preservation and alternative energy sources, especially wind and solar power, old-fashioned property law may be making a comeback. Experts at the legal Web site Findlaw.com announced in January that among the top 10 hot legal topics for 2009 will be "green law issues."

In May 2008, a California court ruled that a homeowner with eco-friendly solar panels could force his neighbors to prune up to 15 feet from three of their redwood trees -- those towering icons of California's natural beauty -- because they interfered with his solar rights.

The trees were planted in 1996, and the solar panels were installed in 2001, when trees didn't cast any shade on the panels. But trees being trees, they grew, and a legal dispute was born. The case is an unusual variation of the general legal principle of "first in time, first in right."

While Indiana's 2002 solar easement statute doesn't create an automatic right to sunlight, it does allow parties to enter into voluntary written agreements that are legally enforceable.

A solar easement, which is obtained for the purpose of exposing a solar energy device or passive solar system to the sun's direct rays, must include the vertical and horizontal angles, in degrees, at which the easement extends over the adjacent property.

In Evansville, homeowners in an upscale neighborhood near the Ohio River have filed a petition against the local board of zoning appeals to overturn its decision allowing a neighboring property owner to erect a 60-foot wind turbine.

Evansville attorney Les Shively, representing the homeowners, told The Herald-Times that while "wind power has its place," this turbine is not a permitted "single-family accessory structure" under the subdivision covenants and restrictions.

Shively claims the turbine will be "noisy, offensive looking and will have a detrimental impact on the quiet enjoyment" of the subdivision owners. He argues that wind turbines are appropriate for wind farms, not residential neighborhoods. "The dispute is about where it is, not what it is."

Expect to see more of these battles in the news, as the conflicting -- and in many cases, green -- interests of homeowners, municipalities, developers and alternative energy companies lead to difficult balancing of property rights and public policies.

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