so what do yall think of the area windmill idea?

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

It might not be a surprise but I'm very against this idea. East River mountain is the most beautiful and dominating landmark in our area, the mountains and the area's unique landscape are what really makes this home to many people and people like myself. I would hate to see 400 foot windmills all across the mountain top.

Not to mention these windmill companies have purchased land in the burkes garden area for windmills.

This area would be absolutely out of their minds to permit windmills on the ridges surrounding 1 of the most unique geographical features in all of the appalachians and in some opinions the country which surround burkes garden. I don't know of hardly any land surrounding burkes garden up high that isn't designated wilderness area or national forest.

These people who will benefit financially the most aren't even from this area, typical, they makes hundreds of millions by locating areas to exploit and put their windmills or whatever, pay the community a very small %, looks good to the people though, and aren't from here and don't care about the area's they exploit.

Is it likely that all of these mountain top ridges with the windmills then be off limits to area residents to because some company down south has it's windmills there? I don't care to see some company from down south exploit the mountains I grew up on telling me I'm trespassing on east river mountain or in the burkes garden area or anywhere around here.

Some people will argue that any financial gain is good for the area, but I'd argue there should be much bigger things in life than $s, and there should be limits on what people are willing to do for $s to, selling out the most valued natural treasures this region has, our mountains, to an outside source is shamefully selling out in my book.

[GMan 3,569]

If it is going to directly benefit this area...long-lasting, good paying jobs; the community benefits from the power created by lowering OUR electric bills; etc...then I'm for it.

 

If its just going to ruin our mountain and line the pockets of "outsiders", then they best be looking for another mountain...

 

BTW, I've read these windmills are going to be 400 ft. tall...does anyone realize how ginormous that is??? And placed on top of East River Mountain??? You'll be able to see those things from miles away...

[Deleted Account 5,203]

If it is going to directly benefit this area...long-lasting, good paying jobs; the community benefits from the power created by lowering OUR electric bills; etc...then I'm for it.

 

If its just going to ruin our mountain and line the pockets of "outsiders", then they best be looking for another mountain...

 

BTW, I've read these windmills are going to be 400 ft. tall...does anyone realize how ginormous that is??? And placed on top of East River Mountain??? You'll be able to see those things from miles away...

 

This.

And 400 feet tall is MASSIVE.

[trublue 939]

I have seen windmills in the flatter farm lands of Illinois that really stood out. Now as far as benefits derived from these windmills I couldn't say....but they were definitely "eyecatching".

I have also seen windmills on the ridges in upperstate WI from the 4 lanes below and they were at such a great distance I had to look several times to discern what they were....benefits to the area I couldn't tell you. However, the ones on the ridges were less obtrusive to the eye.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

If it is going to directly benefit this area...long-lasting, good paying jobs; the community benefits from the power created by lowering OUR electric bills; etc...then I'm for it.

 

If its just going to ruin our mountain and line the pockets of "outsiders", then they best be looking for another mountain...

 

BTW, I've read these windmills are going to be 400 ft. tall...does anyone realize how ginormous that is??? And placed on top of East River Mountain??? You'll be able to see those things from miles away...

 

 

I honestly don't see how these are going to provide any jobs if even a few, and these people wouldn't be buying this property or investing in it if it weren't for their financial gain, they certainly aren't showing up around here out of concern for the area.

That said, I doubt many people realize how big 400 foot tall windmills would be on east river, the mountain itself only rises about 1,200 feet along some of the higher points along the mountain in tazewell county, less in other places. A better example would be the big tower on top of east river mountain over bluefield, wv, with the 4 sets of lights, it's a 500 foot tower, and it's base is about 40 feet or so in elevation on the other side of the mountain just below the ridge, so you're seeing around 450 or 460 feet of that, the windmills would be just shorter than that.

[deuceswild 15]

I found a building that is roughly the height of that bad boy to give everyone a visual reference...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wtc-baltimore.jpg

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_World_Trade_Center

[BigBlueAlum 12]

I honestly don't see how these are going to provide any jobs if even a few, and these people wouldn't be buying this property or investing in it if it weren't for their financial gain, they certainly aren't showing up around here out of concern for the area.

That said, I doubt many people realize how big 400 foot tall windmills would be on east river, the mountain itself only rises about 1,200 feet along some of the higher points along the mountain in tazewell county, less in other places. A better example would be the big tower on top of east river mountain over bluefield, wv, with the 4 sets of lights, it's a 500 foot tower, and it's base is about 40 feet or so in elevation on the other side of the mountain just below the ridge, so you're seeing around 450 or 460 feet of that, the windmills would be just shorter than that.

 

 

I read in one article (can't remember which paper) that the windmills would be placed just over the ridge line on the opposite side of 460. If this is true then you would see less of the windmills, it may have even said you would only see the tops of them. I only read this in one of the articles, the rest mention nothing about it, so who knows if the information is correct. Not sure this would really make a difference anyways.

[Lance 228]

If any of you have ever made the drive from Los Angeles to San Fran then you have seen the windmill farms...they are a bit odd, but not really an eye sore...just kinda strange...

 

I'm with Gman...if they don't benefit our local community 100% then I'm against it...I'm tired of seeing our local areas raped and the people who live here have nothing to show for it....it's time that these companies start putting something back out of what they take.

[BigBlueAlum 12]

I just ran across this page concerning a similar situation in Mount Storm, WV. There are some actual photo's of what could be expected. IMO, they don't look that bad.

 

http://www.mtnhome4u.com/windmills.html

 

Note: Make sure you read the captions on each picture, some of the pictures are "scare tactics" that have been edited.

Edited January 27, 2009 by BigBlueAlum

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

If any of you have ever made the drive from Los Angeles to San Fran then you have seen the windmill farms...they are a bit odd, but not really an eye sore...just kinda strange...

 

I'm with Gman...if they don't benefit our local community 100% then I'm against it...I'm tired of seeing our local areas raped and the people who live here have nothing to show for it....it's time that these companies start putting something back out of what they take.

 

I've seen those, but those are relatively small windmills, and not on top of our mountains that make this area so unique and beautiful, those places through there don't really have much going for them in terms of natural beauty anyhow. If that were the case I really wouldn't care but this is a special place and tazewell county is 1 of the most beautiful areas in the country to me, certainly burkes garden is to.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

I just ran across this page concerning a similar situation in Mount Storm, WV. There are some actual photo's of what could be expected. IMO, they don't look that bad.

 

http://www.mtnhome4u.com/windmills.html

 

they're certainly not natural but more than that, our mountains are sacred and should remain in a natural state. That area represents big company property that will be off limits to the people of this area to. I'm not ready to sell off east river mountain or the areas around burkes garden.

It angers me because many people opposed the power line but big business wasn't going to be denied. Powerlines, media antennas, cell towers, windmills?, does anyone think it's really going to stop?

 

Here's another big thing, as tall as these things are, faa regulations are going to mandate that these towers be lit at night, and in va., that's likely going to be with the obnoxious strobes, like on the antenna on big ridge, so does anyone really think 60 towers blinking with strobes up in the sky isn't going to not only ruin the view, but plain ole devalue property in the area?

[BigBlueAlum 12]

they're certainly not natural but more than that, our mountains are sacred and should remain in a natural state. That area represents big company property that will be off limits to the people of this area to. I'm not ready to sell off east river mountain or the areas around burkes garden.

It angers me because many people opposed the power line but big business wasn't going to be denied. Powerlines, media antennas, cell towers, windmills?, does anyone think it's really going to stop?

 

Here's another big thing, as tall as these things are, faa regulations are going to mandate that these towers be lit at night, and in va., that's likely going to be with the obnoxious strobes, like on the antenna on big ridge, so does anyone really think 60 towers blinking with strobes up in the sky isn't going to not only ruin the view, but plain ole devalue property in the area?

 

At the bottom of the page it mentions that each of the turbines in WV "has a small

red light at the top of the tower at night, but from the ground, you can't actually see them all." And if it is an FAA regulation I doubt it would be any different in VA than WV.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

At the bottom of the page it mentions that each of the turbines in WV "has a small

red light at the top of the tower at night, but from the ground, you can't actually see them all." And if it is an FAA regulation I doubt it would be any different in VA than WV.

 

Most wv towers have the red lights, most towers in va seem to have the strobes. I don't really know of any that don't have strobes on the va side. I don't know the different reasons though.

Red lights wouldn't be good either though, better but hardly good, I would bet that as an article that seems to be for the windmills, they're somewhat misleading when they write that you can hardly see it at all from below, perhaps they mean directly underneath, because they'd have to have a good bit of visibility to comply with the regulations on towers.

I wouldn't likely matter the elevation the towers are at to, perhaps in lower places in certain zones they don't have to be lit much, that I don't know, but I do know towers on east river mountain seem to have to be considerably lit and visible as evidence by the antennas already there up on top...

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

Anyhow, it seems there's an easy answer to who these windmills would really benefit, the daily telegraph states in this morning's paper that the companies, dominion and bp wind energy north announced plans for a large scale windmill project in tazewell county.

Odd, I don't recall the citizens of this area having given anyone the go ahead for anything, in fact public hearings on the matter are on going, apparently these companies assume they're dictating to the people of this area what will be done with our mountains.

The companies purchased 2,560 acres or land in tazewell co. I didn't realize there was 2,000 some acres of land for sale up high in tazewell co. and this is obviously public land, did the citizens of tazewell county approve this sale of the county's land?

The 2 companies have agreed to jointly own, operate, and develop these projects it reads, obviously the people of this area are simply pawns in this, they need our land for their projects.

That's only 2,000 some acres of prime tazewell county mountain top land that will now be off limits to the inhabitants of this area simply to benefit another out of region greedy company. What's not to like about that.?

[BigBlueAlum 12]

Most wv towers have the red lights, most towers in va seem to have the strobes. I don't really know of any that don't have strobes on the va side. I don't know the different reasons though.

Red lights wouldn't be good either though, better but hardly good, I would bet that as an article that seems to be for the windmills, they're somewhat misleading when they write that you can hardly see it at all from below, perhaps they mean directly underneath, because they'd have to have a good bit of visibility to comply with the regulations on towers.

I wouldn't likely matter the elevation the towers are at to, perhaps in lower places in certain zones they don't have to be lit much, that I don't know, but I do know towers on east river mountain seem to have to be considerably lit and visible as evidence by the antennas already there up on top...

 

The article could definitely be misleading, I wouldn't doubt that at all. But the pictures are not misleading. I think when people imagine the windmills on top of the mountains they picture something more along the lines of the photoshop pictures (maybe no that extreme) but in reality they are a lot more discrete. While they may not be natural...neither is the damage that coal mining does to the land, or the coal burning power plants that emit toxins into the air, and in my opinion much more obstructive to the beauty of the land.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

The article could definitely be misleading, I wouldn't doubt that at all. But the pictures are not misleading. I think when people imagine the windmills on top of the mountains they picture something more along the lines of the photoshop pictures (maybe no that extreme) but in reality they are a lot more discrete. While they may not be natural...neither is the damage that coal mining does to the land, or the coal burning power plants that emit toxins into the air, and in my opinion much more obstructive to the beauty of the land.

 

I don't think those are really discreet at all, you look up at those ridgelines and you think, windmills....

I guess the big difference is that my idea of what's best for this landscape is nothing along the ridges, there's enough already, at least certainly nothing more along east river mountain considering it's dominance over the bluefields and on down to tazewell. I'm not for the coal mine's damage either, but it is a fact that they aren't a problem in this immediate area. Tazewell county's simply to unique and beautiful to destroy with such things, so is bland county and our area. I've already written that a few times basically though haven't I. I should get away from this computer for the day.

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

While they may not be natural...neither is the damage that coal mining does to the land, or the coal burning power plants that emit toxins into the air, and in my opinion much more obstructive to the beauty of the land.

 

Obviously you have never been hunting or fishing in a refurbished mine site, or strip mine site. Some of the best land out there, I promise you.

 

And something tells me I cant climb a wind tower or turbine with my treestand... :)

Edited January 27, 2009 by BEAVERTAIL

[Guest BEAVERTAIL]

I havent read the article, but someone posted that I think it could support 39 homes at capacity? Is that right?

 

Anyways, in Nebraska, in the plains, they achieved a 41% capacity rate, and that is the highest ever recorded from 2002-2006. How much could we make is the question, and would it help that much? Would it actually help the community?

 

And for those that venture out west, are there a lot of them? Cause they only factor .64% of the nations energy. I thought they were just a lot of hot air, and the articles im reading confirm it. Kind of like ethanol. Lets find a new energy solution America.

[bluefieldRocks 14]

We have those huge windmills up here. They actually look really cool...

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

I havent read the article, but someone posted that I think it could support 39 homes at capacity? Is that right?

 

Anyways, in Nebraska, in the plains, they achieved a 41% capacity rate, and that is the highest ever recorded from 2002-2006. How much could we make is the question, and would it help that much? Would it actually help the community?

 

And for those that venture out west, are there a lot of them? Cause they only factor .64% of the nations energy. I thought they were just a lot of hot air, and the articles im reading confirm it. Kind of like ethanol. Lets find a new energy solution America.

 

 

lots' of unanswered ?s about them, likely different from region to region to.

In the big scheme it still seems to me unfortunately like another ? of simply what aren't people willing to do to have a few more $s in our pockets.

.......

[BigBlueAlum 12]

Obviously you have never been hunting or fishing in a refurbished mine site, or strip mine site. Some of the best land out there, I promise you.

 

And something tells me I cant climb a wind tower or turbine with my treestand... :)

 

You're right I haven't, and I don't doubt that it is beautiful now...but at one time is wasn't, when it was still in use. The thing is that we all want to use energy, and this energy has to be produced at some cost to the land. I feel that these, aside from solar panels, are much less detrimental to the surrounding land than the other means we use now.

 

I'm sure with a few modification you could use you tree stand on one of the turbines...maybe some magnets or something. lol

Edited January 27, 2009 by BigBlueAlum

[BigBlueAlum 12]

I havent read the article, but someone posted that I think it could support 39 homes at capacity? Is that right?

 

Anyways, in Nebraska, in the plains, they achieved a 41% capacity rate, and that is the highest ever recorded from 2002-2006. How much could we make is the question, and would it help that much? Would it actually help the community?

 

And for those that venture out west, are there a lot of them? Cause they only factor .64% of the nations energy. I thought they were just a lot of hot air, and the articles im reading confirm it. Kind of like ethanol. Lets find a new energy solution America.

 

The articles I have read said that each would power around 600 homes. It didn't say if that was at capacity or not. Either way, a lot more than 40.

[buzzsawBeaver 12]

this is an article that is primarily against windmill farms, some of the comments that are more along the lines of my concerns are quoted

 

"The industry says the average windmill gives off only 45 decibels, but Larivee said the mountainous topography around his home amplifies the volume - and it didn't help that developers clear-cut the trees on the top of Meadow Mountain to make way for the wind."

 

 

 

my thoughts before reading about them, they simply aren't going to put up some 60 400 foot structures on top of a sharp ridgline such as east river mountain without some big impact on the mountaintop itself.

 

 

 

""Larivee, who stresses he's an environmental chemist, said he favored the windmill farm as the green way to go when the facility was built.

 

But he's now concluded that windmills aren't a very efficient way of generating electricity. The wind farm scrambled his TV and radio reception, and the turbine blades have claimed the lives of countless bats that used to keep control over the population of mosquitoes and other summer insects.

 

Larivee's advice to residents of other rural areas planned for wind farms: "Fight it." "

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The idea of windmills brings to mind bucolic Renaissance paintings of Dutch landscapes and tulip beds.

 

But that's hardly the experience of some who live next to the 400-foot electricity-generating giants being built across America's breezy plains.

 

They complain about the incessant "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" of the machines at work, the flashes of light and shade across their windows, and the occasional terrifying midnight screech of turbines repositioning themselves to catch shifting winds.

 

"It sounds like a train going through, except the train never comes through," said Wayne Danley, whose life had been turned upside down by a giant windmill located 900 feet from his house in rural Fenner, N.Y., where he has lived since 1976.

 

Danley said he fears the days when the winds come from the northwest. "The whoop, whoop, whoop becomes a roar," he said. And in the spring before the trees sprout leaves, the turning turbine causes flashes of light in his living room that so annoyed his wife, the pastor of a local church, that she had to flee to the bedroom to get away from it.

 

Danley said he has nothing against windmills on the neighboring wind farm. He only wishes someone would do something about relocating the one on his doorstep. "It's too close," he said.

 

While the industry portrays electricity-generating windmills as a benign and natural source of power, community opposition to new windmill farms is cropping up across the country - particularly in Eastern states, where there are more people fleeing urban blight to live in idyllic rural towns.

 

Last week, authorities in Vermont rejected plans for a windmill farm on top of that state's scenic mountains near East Haven, while Peru, N.Y., declared a one-year moratorium on any construction of windmills so the town can further study the impact on the rustic charm of the Adirondacks.

 

Community activists in Dryden, N.Y., last year forced Cornell University to withdraw plans for a windmill farm in their tiny community, and in England - where opponents have ridiculed the huge machines as "lavatory brushes in the sky" - lawmakers are considering proposals that would require any new windmills to be located no closer than two miles from homes, and preferably out of sight.

 

John Semmler, an education consultant who has lived in Dryden for 30 years, said he's been ridiculed as being a NIMBY - meaning "not in my backyard" - for his role in leading the opposition to the Cornell project. Semmler and other residents argued that if Cornell wanted to build an industrial complex of windmills, it could easily do so next to the Ithaca campus eight miles from Dryden and leave their vistas and peace undisturbed.

 

"I'm not a NIMBY, I'm a NAMBY - `not in anybody's backyard,' " said Semmler, who toured other wind farms in the region to find out how they have affected people's lives. "I resent the use of the word `wind farm' to describe these projects - these are huge, monstrous pieces of machinery that make noise," he said.

 

The industry did not expect the intensity of community opposition that wind farms are getting, said Marion Trieste, publicist for the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, an organization that has the backing of industry and environmental groups.

 

"There's a lot of misinformation, and a lot of inflamed discussion about negative encroachment," she said.

 

Trieste said supporters of wind energy outnumber opponents. The group has put a video of testimonials from people living under windmills who enthuse about their experience with the machines, and the contributions windmills make to renewable energy.

 

"People are passionately concerned about their communities, and concerned about energy, and we have to come to terms with the alternatives," she said.

 

The American Wind Energy Association, which represents the industry, says it knows of only a few complaints about noise. Scores of new facilities are set for construction under incentives for wind energy that Congress included in last year's energy bill. The incentives expire in 2007.

 

"You can stand under a wind turbine and have a normal conversation," said Laurie Jodziewicz, a policy specialist for the association. "It's just a `whoosh.' "

 

Jodziewicz said modern turbines are much quieter than the first generation of windmills, and that complaints about wind farms today "are very, very rare." She said there have been complaints about the strobe-light effects, but those occur only during certain months of the year and depend on the sun's angle to the turbine blades.

 

Robert Larivee, a professor of chemistry at Frostburg State University in Maryland, says that's not his experience. He and his family have lived for the last three years under a wind farm built on Meadow Mountain, about a half mile from his home in rural Meyersdale, Pa.

 

Larivee said he had a professional engineer measure the noise, and found the windmills showed an average reading of 75 decibels - about the level of noise from a washing machine.

 

The industry says the average windmill gives off only 45 decibels, but Larivee said the mountainous topography around his home amplifies the volume - and it didn't help that developers clear-cut the trees on the top of Meadow Mountain to make way for the wind.

 

"It's a low frequency, a rumbling like you are listening to a base drum," he said. "It's a constant background of `whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.' " He said he and his family haven't adjusted to the sound. "If you've ever had a leaky faucet, you know it doesn't make a lot of noise, but it drives you nuts."

 

Larivee, who stresses he's an environmental chemist, said he favored the windmill farm as the green way to go when the facility was built.

 

But he's now concluded that windmills aren't a very efficient way of generating electricity. The wind farm scrambled his TV and radio reception, and the turbine blades have claimed the lives of countless bats that used to keep control over the population of mosquitoes and other summer insects.

 

Larivee's advice to residents of other rural areas planned for wind farms: "Fight it."

[BigBlueAlum 12]

this is an article that is primarily against windmill farms, some of the comments that are more along the lines of my concerns are quoted

 

"The industry says the average windmill gives off only 45 decibels, but Larivee said the mountainous topography around his home amplifies the volume - and it didn't help that developers clear-cut the trees on the top of Meadow Mountain to make way for the wind."

 

 

 

my thoughts before reading about them, they simply aren't going to put up some 60 400 foot structures on top of a sharp ridgline such as east river mountain without some big impact on the mountaintop itself.

 

 

 

""Larivee, who stresses he's an environmental chemist, said he favored the windmill farm as the green way to go when the facility was built.

 

But he's now concluded that windmills aren't a very efficient way of generating electricity. The wind farm scrambled his TV and radio reception, and the turbine blades have claimed the lives of countless bats that used to keep control over the population of mosquitoes and other summer insects.

 

Larivee's advice to residents of other rural areas planned for wind farms: "Fight it." "

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The idea of windmills brings to mind bucolic Renaissance paintings of Dutch landscapes and tulip beds.

 

But that's hardly the experience of some who live next to the 400-foot electricity-generating giants being built across America's breezy plains.

 

They complain about the incessant "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" of the machines at work, the flashes of light and shade across their windows, and the occasional terrifying midnight screech of turbines repositioning themselves to catch shifting winds.

 

"It sounds like a train going through, except the train never comes through," said Wayne Danley, whose life had been turned upside down by a giant windmill located 900 feet from his house in rural Fenner, N.Y., where he has lived since 1976.

 

Danley said he fears the days when the winds come from the northwest. "The whoop, whoop, whoop becomes a roar," he said. And in the spring before the trees sprout leaves, the turning turbine causes flashes of light in his living room that so annoyed his wife, the pastor of a local church, that she had to flee to the bedroom to get away from it.

 

Danley said he has nothing against windmills on the neighboring wind farm. He only wishes someone would do something about relocating the one on his doorstep. "It's too close," he said.

 

While the industry portrays electricity-generating windmills as a benign and natural source of power, community opposition to new windmill farms is cropping up across the country - particularly in Eastern states, where there are more people fleeing urban blight to live in idyllic rural towns.

 

Last week, authorities in Vermont rejected plans for a windmill farm on top of that state's scenic mountains near East Haven, while Peru, N.Y., declared a one-year moratorium on any construction of windmills so the town can further study the impact on the rustic charm of the Adirondacks.

 

Community activists in Dryden, N.Y., last year forced Cornell University to withdraw plans for a windmill farm in their tiny community, and in England - where opponents have ridiculed the huge machines as "lavatory brushes in the sky" - lawmakers are considering proposals that would require any new windmills to be located no closer than two miles from homes, and preferably out of sight.

 

John Semmler, an education consultant who has lived in Dryden for 30 years, said he's been ridiculed as being a NIMBY - meaning "not in my backyard" - for his role in leading the opposition to the Cornell project. Semmler and other residents argued that if Cornell wanted to build an industrial complex of windmills, it could easily do so next to the Ithaca campus eight miles from Dryden and leave their vistas and peace undisturbed.

 

"I'm not a NIMBY, I'm a NAMBY - `not in anybody's backyard,' " said Semmler, who toured other wind farms in the region to find out how they have affected people's lives. "I resent the use of the word `wind farm' to describe these projects - these are huge, monstrous pieces of machinery that make noise," he said.

 

The industry did not expect the intensity of community opposition that wind farms are getting, said Marion Trieste, publicist for the Alliance for Clean Energy New York, an organization that has the backing of industry and environmental groups.

 

"There's a lot of misinformation, and a lot of inflamed discussion about negative encroachment," she said.

 

Trieste said supporters of wind energy outnumber opponents. The group has put a video of testimonials from people living under windmills who enthuse about their experience with the machines, and the contributions windmills make to renewable energy.

 

"People are passionately concerned about their communities, and concerned about energy, and we have to come to terms with the alternatives," she said.

 

The American Wind Energy Association, which represents the industry, says it knows of only a few complaints about noise. Scores of new facilities are set for construction under incentives for wind energy that Congress included in last year's energy bill. The incentives expire in 2007.

 

"You can stand under a wind turbine and have a normal conversation," said Laurie Jodziewicz, a policy specialist for the association. "It's just a `whoosh.' "

 

Jodziewicz said modern turbines are much quieter than the first generation of windmills, and that complaints about wind farms today "are very, very rare." She said there have been complaints about the strobe-light effects, but those occur only during certain months of the year and depend on the sun's angle to the turbine blades.

 

Robert Larivee, a professor of chemistry at Frostburg State University in Maryland, says that's not his experience. He and his family have lived for the last three years under a wind farm built on Meadow Mountain, about a half mile from his home in rural Meyersdale, Pa.

 

Larivee said he had a professional engineer measure the noise, and found the windmills showed an average reading of 75 decibels - about the level of noise from a washing machine.

 

The industry says the average windmill gives off only 45 decibels, but Larivee said the mountainous topography around his home amplifies the volume - and it didn't help that developers clear-cut the trees on the top of Meadow Mountain to make way for the wind.

 

"It's a low frequency, a rumbling like you are listening to a base drum," he said. "It's a constant background of `whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.' " He said he and his family haven't adjusted to the sound. "If you've ever had a leaky faucet, you know it doesn't make a lot of noise, but it drives you nuts."

 

Larivee, who stresses he's an environmental chemist, said he favored the windmill farm as the green way to go when the facility was built.

 

But he's now concluded that windmills aren't a very efficient way of generating electricity. The wind farm scrambled his TV and radio reception, and the turbine blades have claimed the lives of countless bats that used to keep control over the population of mosquitoes and other summer insects.

 

Larivee's advice to residents of other rural areas planned for wind farms: "Fight it."

 

Are there a lot of/any homes up near the ridge line of the mountain? Serious question.

Edited January 27, 2009 by BigBlueAlum

[Dane55 10]

I have not been convinced that it will benefit OUR area.... provide jobs, etc.

Who will be hired? Are our workers trained? lots of questions.

 

I am remembering all the county talk about how much the new prison would benefit the Northern District......have not seen that much of an economic boost, have you?