What's "green," 18 stories tall and trashes property values? A wind turbine next to the new East Ridge High School in Woodbury - according to developers. Plans for a wind turbine roughly 200 feet tall hit a snag last week when developers balked at the idea of building houses nearby. They said buyers of high-end homes would be spooked by the noise and visual distraction of huge whirling fan blades. City officials are taking the threat seriously.

Victorian Nationals Energy spokesman Peter Hall has called on the Government to acknowledge that windfarms devalue properties surrounding the land on which they are sited, and to review planning guidelines to reflect the drop in value. Mr Hall said that irrefutable proof of property devaluation was contained in conditions attached to a recent planning permit issued by South Gippsland Shire Council. The condition, attached to a permit to subdivide land adjoining the proposed Bald Hills wind energy facility, requires future land owners to be advised that "residents on the lots may experience detrimental amenity affects arising from the facility such as noise, blade glint and blade flicker." ..."The Government's renewable energy policies should be targeted at those renewables that have less negative environmental impacts such as solar, geothermal and bio-fuels," Mr Hall concluded.

Do you think wind mill development can effect property values? For anyone to say that property values aren’t hurt by this is wrong. I went to a house where six of these wind mills were facing down on me. The house is 2,000 feet away and you can plainly see them in front of you as if it’s right there, that’s how close they feel. They are gigantic devices and I have to say I am amazed by them, but would I want to look at them that close to me? No I wouldn’t. The people in Tyrone that will be affected by our proposed wind farm are the people who live on top of Decker Hollow Road, by the old apple orchard. Those people will see and hear the wind mills. I’m going Saturday on top of Decker Hollow Road and look to see the mountain they will be on and try to imagine what it will be like.

'A Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors study suggests local house prices drop by around 20 per cent when a wind farm application is submitted. If a house in the vicinity was once worth Pounds 350,000, it will now be worth Pounds 50,000 to Pounds 70,000 less,' he says. Mr Barlow is one of the leaders of the Stop Wadlow Wind Farm campaign, a group of 300 local residents opposing plans for what he describes as '13 vast, noisy turbines, each one taller than Big Ben, and visible over an area of more than 300 square miles'. ...While some estate agents claim turbines have a negative impact on prices, many others see them as an inevitable feature of the future landscape. And farmers, on whose land the turbines are often built, can certainly profit from wind.

Twenty-five people fired their concerns at TrustPower major projects manager Deion Campbell and environmental officer Ryan Piddington about a project they said has divided the community. TrustPower hopes to build the $500 million wind farm on nine properties in the hills behind Mataura. ... The land owners' biggest concern is the impact the wind farm will have on their property prices. TrustPower had "handsomely" compensated those people whose land would be used for the turbines while neighbours had been left in the cold. The consequences for them were only negative with pristine views spoiled and fears that noise from the turbines would cause a drop in property values.

"We want to get on with our lives but until we know whether the wind farm is going in, there's no point putting money and work in to improve our properties because it could become worthless. ..."The last time the company was in contact with the community was in 2005. We've picked up bits and pieces from the radio but when we send them registered letters asking for more information, we are ignored."

An MP has put his political clout behind a campaign against a proposed wind farm amid claims that properties within a 2km "blight zone" will be devalued by at least 35 per cent if the turbines are built. South Norfolk Tory MP Richard Bacon warned of damage to the "gentle rural landscape" if plans for seven wind turbines on the old Pulham Airfield site, near Diss, went ahead.

But campaigners from local pressure group Vortex massed outside the venue and canvassed the opinions of visitors leaving the exhibition. Vortex member Roger Wytcherley, aged 55, of Napley Heath, said the majority of people were opposed to the plans. "Everybody has been very willing to tell us their feelings, and not many are for the wind farm," he said. "A lot of people say their questions are evaded and washed over. People are most concerned about noise and loss of equity in their houses. People are not buying houses around here because of the threat of the wind farm.

When Fatima Hamioni and Gary Colclough built their dream home from scratch, they made sure its stunning view of the countryside was its main feature.But now a wind farm could be built on neighbouring land, ruining their rural outlook. The couple had been hoping to sell their home in Knighton, on the Shropshire-Staffordshire border, for £395,000 so they could move to Alsager. But the week they put the three-bedroom property on the market, they discovered Nuon Renewables was thinking of erecting nine 100m tall turbines nearby. The couple spoke out after around 120 people braved the wind and rain to attend a public meeting on the issue at Knighton Village Hall. Ms Hamioni, aged 36, said: “No-one in their right mind will want to pay £395,000 knowing there is a possibility of a wind farm. You are buying the view.

Nimby-ism (Notin My Back) is almost understandable when talking about a gas pipeline or an ugly McMansion. But when it comes to environmentally friendly, quiet and- some say- beautiful windmills, an astonishing number of people are saying "no". Melanie Wold asks, "Why? Is it all the dead seagulls?"

Editor's Note: This article appeared in the October 2006 issue of Shattered Magazine. The pdf version is available via the link below.

But I was sitting at my kitchen table in North Buffalo, far from the wind farms of the Southern Tier, and such distance makes for simple, black-and-white comprehension. There are places in Western New York where wind energy isn’t so clear a choice. Places with names like Perry, Sheldon and Arkwright, rural towns perched atop the high glacial ridges to the east and south of the city, whose landscapes might soon be dominated by hundreds of towering, 400-foot windmills. As wind companies eye their windswept fields and make overtures to local town boards, divisions run deeper and deeper between citizens who disagree on the merits of wind farm development in their backyards. In such locales, the gray areas of wind development come into sharp focus.

Eric and Kyle Hosmer of Howard address the Howard Town Board meeting Wednesday night and asked that a letter they read to the board be placed in the official minutes. The request was denied for the time being. As a courtesy, we are printing portions of that letter here.
Editor's Note: The complete letter follows.

The first glimpse of the turbines from state Route 6 presents a surreal image like something from a Road Warrior movie.