The Dec. 21 news that Greenpeace has endorsed the proposed wind turbines in the Adirondack Park near Gore Mountain is thought provoking. Greenpeace is right: global climate change is an enormous challenge that Americans must face up to. We also are relieved to hear that Greenpeace does not want to see wind farms throughout the Adirondacks.

What Greenpeace may not understand, because they do not work in the region, is that Pete Gay Mountain, where Barton Mines proposed to put the Adirondack turbines, is only partially an old industrial site.

Most of the mountain ridge is not marked by former industry and is clothed with spruce and fir, and classified as "resource management," requiring the park's most stringent protection outside of the "forever wild" clause itself, which pertains to adjacent, publicly owned forest preserve land. If permitted here, wind farms might be permitted on any privately owned Adirondack mountaintop.

The Adirondack Park has served as a model for parks and protected areas across the globe. Its economic prospects rest on whether its natural wonders and wild character are assured.

Large industrial windmills on Pete Gay Mountain may make us feel good that "we are doing something" to reduce pollution, but a 27-megawatt contribution to a state with more than 10,000 megawatts of wind energy potential is not very meaningful. Furthermore, the subsidized electricity Barton is asking to produce here only adds more energy into the regional grid for an energy-wasteful society, this from an Adirondack region that is already exporting its power.

Other regions of the state offer much more wind potential than the Adirondacks. What can the Adirondacks uniquely offer without sacrificing any mountaintop?

The association proposes a coordinated, funded program to support energy conservation and efficiency measures in homes and businesses in the region, and to strengthen and expand NYSERDA's Energy Smart Communities Program in the Adirondacks.

These actions would greatly reduce energy use in the region, keep local dollars from flowing out of the region and reduce its contribution to polluting emissions without compromising existing laws and policies that form the very foundation of the park's long-term integrity and economy.