I have watched the wind turbines going up west of town for the last several years. They started spinning from the Columbia River, moving eastward, and are now visible from inside the city limits looking west.

I grew up in the rural town of Milton-Freewater and returned 22 years ago because of the local area of orchards and farmland and mountains. Being able to view the nearby hills and mountains in their natural state everyday is something I never thought could be taken away or sold. Rural towns and people, that have little political power, have had their pristine lands taken over with industrial wind turbine facilities across the country and around the world. Our area has already been heavily developed westward, on lands with fewer impacts than our mountains will sustain.

To continue developing east of Milton-Freewater, after jumping the town, is putting too much of a burden on one area of the county and the state. Make no mistake in identifying these 300- to 550-foot tall structures - they are industrial energy facilities - and the Umatilla County Planning Commissioners are now charged with sifting through the facts to determine whether this is the right decision to make for the majority of the people they serve. Will their decisions be determined by short-term money in this time of high need? And, will that reduce income for northern Umatilla County businesses and citizens in other parts of the economy? Are there better places to site energy facilities than in the foothills and mountains of such scenic beauty and wildlife? Most of all, why is there such a big rush to make decisions that will have long-lasting, negative effects on Mother Nature if industrial wind turbines are erected there?

What will be our generation's legacy when this decision is made for the Blue Mountains? Let your Umatilla County Planning Commissioners and Umatilla County Commissioners know what you want. For more information, visit www.bluemountainalliance.org.