Residents in the East County are sounding an environmental alert about future wind farms in their community. The battle is heating up over plans to build hundreds of wind turbines near Boulevard.

When Boulevard resident Donna Tisdale looks out over the horizon of her 250-acre ranch, she sees future wind farms similar to the one that's been up and running on the nearby Campo Indian Reservation for the past three years.

"And we're talking over 500 to 600 turbines for now, over 400-feet tall silhouetted on that ridge line," she said.

That ridgeline to the south is in Mexico, where Sempra Energy - the parent company of SDG&E - Is planning on building a massive wind farm. So big, in fact, it will be visible from San Diego County.

"So now, what's a beautiful, clean ridgeline with no power lines, no utility lines, will have 40-story turbines turning and blinking," Tisdale said.

And that's not the only wind farm in the works out here. The Sempra project in Mexico could mean 500 wind turbines to the south. The Campo Indian tribe has 25 wind turbines, and is talking about 150 more. On BLM land to the north, a foreign energy company is planning 100 turbines.

Then there's private property where one developer tells News 8... SDG&E wants to build 15 turbines north of Interstate 8, and 23 more to the south. That's more than 800 wind turbines.

Kevin Smith calls himself a green developer. A few months ago he started planning a 7,000-home development in Boulevard called Rancho Milagros. Smith says SDG&E was willing to put up big money to build 38 wind turbines on the land as part of what he calls an entirely renewable residential community.

"The issue with wind turbines, they're actually beautiful to me. I don't know about everybody else in the world. They're magnificent to watch," he said.

Smith's role in the development deal fell through because of legal wrangling with his partner, but the project may still get built.

"If you want to live in a sustainable development, you'll want to live in Boulevard, if it ever happens," he said.

Smith says the energy companies are still there, looking for wind farm land.

"They're all trying to get the specific lots that can have wind turbines on them because there aren't very many," he said.

Under state law, SDG&E is mandated to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

Wind energy can also be profitable in the form of tax credits and incentives to companies that build wind farms.

Tisdale believes wind energy is not the answer, because it requires large transmission lines to carry the power into the city. In fact, the proposed southern route for SDG&E's Sunrise Powerlink would run straight through the Boulevard wind farm zone.

Tisdale favors renewable solar energy instead, installed inside city limits.

"They're coming out with solar paint that can be painted on metal roofs. They're coming out with windows that will generate solar," Tisdale said.

As for the wind farms, Tisdale says the battle over Boulevard is only just beginning.

"Out in the back country it's still open and beautiful and wild, and these yahoos want to come out and change everything for their own profit," she said.

SDG&E did not respond to News 8's request for an on-camera interview. The company's Sunrise Powerlink transmission line has not been approved, and is still under review in Sacramento.