Letter: Blinded by the wind

Steve, I understand your point, and I assure you that I have met hundreds of people who oppose industrial wind, and they are equally concerned about our environment. So many people are being led to believe that opposers of IW are selfish and short-sighted, when I've found just tho opposite to be true. The people of Maine have been led to believe that wind turbines will be economically feasible and financially beneficial for the people of Maine, that they are environmentally friendly, and that their negative impacts are small. Unbiased experts are saying just the opposite. I will be happy to provide you with the contact information of experts in every field (even those who've come up with science-based evidence to show the negligible 'greenest' of IW, if that's your major area of concern) and documents showing the 'other side'. I've chosen to have more faith in scientists and economists who have no financial stake in IW rather than believe the standard feel-good tag lines of our administration and IW developers, who stand to benefit if these projects are permitted.

Bill Downes made some excellent points in his letter, and I believe they are thought-provoking. His questions are ones which are pertinent and the industry has shown they cannot answer them satisfactorily.

I also believe that the Howletts are very caring people who revere this land. They apparently haven't had access to all the facts about industrial wind, yet... but many of us across this state are doing our best to make sure those truths reach the people. We've found that-- once armed with the real facts-- citizens are deciding on their own that the governor's plan for 2700 MW of land-based IW along 360 miles of Maine's mountaintops is a colossal mistake-- no matter what angle it is studied from.

Respectfully,
Karen Pease, Lexington Twp., ME

Since First Wind only exists because of government subsidies it is more than likely that at some point they will fail and as Mr. Downes points out; then what? We will be left with rusting hulks of junk littering our landscape with everybody knocking each other over trying to get out of the way of the responsibility for taking them down. And the landscape that they were erected in changed forever.

There are many voices out in the public discourse forcefully trying to discredit new ideas, fighting any and all efforts to solve the very large and serious problems we face today. Maine's wind power policy is a response to the need to reduce the burning of fossil fuels and the massive environmental (thus long-term economic) destruction and national insecurity it continues to produce. We would do well to consider the motivations of the powerful forces that defend and preserve the status quo. To accuse the supporters and constructors of alternative energy projects of ideological blindness and greed leaves the accuser open to the same accusations. Indeed, it is largely due to ideology and greed, and dependence on foreign oil that our nation is presently being bankrupted by 2 far-flung, far-fetched wars that do nothing to enhance our security or our standing in the world. If this seems untrue to you, ask yourself this question: "If there were no oil or natural gas in Iraq or the Caspian Basin, would the US Military be there right now at the ultimate cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars?" Large-scale alternative energy is not an option, it is imperative. And it is long overdue.