I continue to be amazed and perplexed by the thinking of some people who live in town, totally unaffected by the ravages this proposed wind turbine project will bring to the countryside and how they feel it is a sacrifice we, living in its footprint, should bear.

I am a part of a group of landowners from the Eyota-Viola area who are involved in the planning stages of starting a wind farm east of Rochester. What a wonderful, green, and patriotic thing to do -- provide the public with green, renewable energy. What could possibly be wrong with wind energy? Well, I'm having second thoughts -- not about my friends and neighbors or the people helping develop this project, but wind energy in general.

In 1996, after working for 41 years in the public service, (15 years in the R.C.A.F. plus 26 years teaching and administration) I retired in New Denmark for what I thought would be peace and tranquility with my neighbors and environment. NOW because of the proposed wind "farm", things have changed, and pitted neighbour against neighbour!

New Interior Secretary Ken Salazar went overboard when he said recently that windmills off the East Coast could generate enough electricity to replace most, if not all, of the coal-fired power plants in the country. ...It is clear that the new administration is changing the nation's energy policy, putting more focus on renewables and clean energy. But coal has clearly not been taken out of the equation, even though we're not likely to see construction of many more traditional coal fired power plants.

As wind use becomes more popular nationwide, landowners need to be aware of lease potentials and pitfalls. Corporate Learning at Oklahoma City Community College has received inquires from landowners who have requested information on how to negotiate a land lease. In response, OCCC and the Phillips Murrah Law firm joined forces to present the Wind Power for Landowners seminar.

As I drove into Fargo from Rollag, Minn., our home for seven years, I saw my signs of spring. The dogwood branches were blazing red, willow trees a bright lemon gold, and another bush, nameless, had brilliant orange branches. The drive was wonderful and painful at the same time. From Glyndon to the southeast corner of Clay County, a little of Otter Tail and Becker counties, the land will be covered with a possible 500 wind turbines.

But wind energy is an industry just the same, and it's wise to regulate it like any other. That's why the city of Cleveland was smart this week to consider a new zoning ordinance sponsored by City Councilmen Matt Zone and Joe Cimperman, which is aimed at regulating the size, location and appearance of land-based turbines. Not everyone loves Big Wind.

Unfortunately, in our rush to stop the environmental impact, we are only replacing those negative effects from fossil fuels by another if we are not careful. The problem with the current wind turbine is the negative environmental impact. We hear of flicker, of vibration-hum and the visual impact of having a turbine so close to where people are living. If I lived in the Back Bay, I would be livid not just from the health hazards but from the loss of property value.

Again, US Wind Force spins their claims and half-truths in the April 14 article "US Wind Force Counters Commissioner's Concern." Mr. Friend's cites a West Virginia statewide opinion survey that 57 percent of individuals polled were pro-wind. At best, this survey is misleading, dubious and outdated. ...The uninformed opinion of pro-wind is diminishes when individuals learn that industrial wind turbines are planned on fragile mountain ridges.

As you can see most green schemes collapse pretty quickly when you apply numbers to them. The problem, of course, is that the media is so politically biased, professionally incurious, and scientifically illiterate that they accept this sort of spurious pabulum without ever engaging their critical faculties.

I was alarmed to read that the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, believes "it should be socially unacceptable to be against wind turbines in your area - like not wearing your seatbelt or driving past a zebra crossing" ...Not wearing a seatbelt, and driving regardless over a zebra crossing, are illegal - whether or not they are socially acceptable. Both were made illegal in my lifetime, because of evidence that this would save lives.

The news that millions of dollars in liens against Noble Environmental power LLC and its leaseholders in Wethersfield, and across New York State, comes as no surprise to those of us who have been warning of Big Wind's shenanigans for years now. Many of these liens have been filed against the landowners who agreed to allow industrial wind turbines to be sited on their land.

Rumor had it, that the Noble Corporation had liens against it. At the Wyoming County Court House, there are 19 mechanics liens filed in connection with the Noble Wethersfield Wind Park, owned and operated by Noble Corporation. A mechanic lien is filed: "when a person or business doesn't receive payment for a service or material." I wonder if the Wethersfield landowners who hold leases with Noble were aware that if Noble didn't pay debts, their property would have a lien placed on it?

Last week, Ian Bowles, state secretary of energy and environmental affairs, urged Congress to carefully plan and manage the development of offshore renewable energy projects. ...After urging Congress to develop a comprehensive regulatory regime to plan and manage offshore energy projects, Bowles, with a straight face, last week called for the speedy approval of deeply flawed offshore renewable energy regulations now before the Secretary of Interior.

The fundamental problem is that there's no solid evidence that green policies -- even those aimed explicitly at creating jobs -- will actually lower the long-term unemployment rate. Most of the research on how these sorts of programs might build up the work force simply tallies the payrolls, current or projected, of companies in renewable energy and other sectors. (Analyses typically include not only jobs installing solar panels or engineering algae for biofuels, but also secondary activities like making widgets for use in windmills.)

Energy: The governor wants to carpet the desert with solar panels. The senator says it will destroy the ecosystem. The battle between environmentalists and conservationists is one of alternative energy's big drawbacks.

Tufts economist, Gilbert Metcalf ran the numbers and found that the effective tax rate for wind is a minus 163.8 percent. In other words, every dollar a wind firm spends is subsidized to the tune of 64 cents from the government -- creating a free lunch for the Big Wind LLCs, and forcing taxpayers to pay for what is nothing less than a huge corporate welfare feeding frenzy. In spite of the fact that "America is now No. 1 in Wind Power" (as Invenergy boasted in a recent propaganda piece it sent out to Orangeville residents), over 25,000 industrial wind turbines later in the U.S., wind still contributes less than 1 percent of our nation's electricity.

It was Noble's windmill that fell to earth a few weeks back. The most the company will say: There was a "wiring anomaly." That's reassuring. That statement also came days after the event. Noble held no news conferences, took no reporters to see the damage, didn't go on camera to discuss the accident. Maybe they were hoping the story would just blow over.

The people of the Waitaki region have been left high and dry by the attitudes of officialdom over Meridian's north bank tunnel concept hearings and the Environment Court appeal. The majority of the hearings have been, or will be, held in Timaru and Christchurch. Such matters of local interest and importance - and this includes major court trials that have recently been shifted out of Dunedin - should be considered in the communities of concern.