Windmills stir up a storm in Cape Vincent

[phantom power]

On one side: supporters who see the windmills as a source of income for struggling farmers, tax revenue for the town and county, and jobs, however temporary, in a community whose economy is dependent on summer tourism and a state prison.

On the other: opponents, many of them summer residents, who see the turbines as a blight on the gateway to the Thousand Islands and a threat to wildlife, health and property values.

And in the middle: town officials who are trying to come up with a law to regulate wind development, even as questions about conflicts of interest have dogged every move. Two members of the five-person town board, and three members of the five-person planning board, either personally hold wind leases or have relatives with wind leases, meaning the leaseholders or their families stand to profit if the wind farms are built.

...

As the fight drags on, Pundt said, the damage to Cape Vincent grows deeper. “Neighbors don’t talk to neighbors. Businesses are afraid to speak up. Sociologically, wind has torn this town apart.”

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/windmills_stir_up_a_storm_in_c.html

[damntexdem]

1. Screw the naysayers and build the suckers.

Those 'blights' may help keep those thousand islands islands, no not seamounts.

As to the threat to birds, slice and dice is better than habitat destruction by climate change.

[joshcryer]

2. Good old NIMBYs.

[Nihil]

3. Not just NIMBYs but NIMSVBY ..

> On the other: opponents, many of them summer residents, who see the turbines
> as a blight on the gateway to the Thousand Islands and a threat to wildlife,
> health and property values.

Not In My Summer Vacation Back Yard.

:-(