Essentially, anyone with a farm will be entitled to install wind turbines, with virtually no setback, and this will pre-empt any local zoning. So beautiful vistas in places like Portsmouth and Jamestown will be up for grabs, and there will be no consideration of the effect on the historic beauty of the area or impact on people’s real estate use or resale values.

The "view" is what attracts people to Vermont as tourists, as transplant Vermonters, and it is what keeps many of us here even when we could be more financially well-off elsewhere. ...Before we destroy our views of our mountains, perhaps we should try to calculate the tremendous value of our views.

In the hill country where I live, there was a time when you could enjoy the blue haze from the distant hills, maybe set up a canvas to paint the sun setting behind them or just sit and watch while the color washed over them at dusk. Now those hills are dotted with wind generators churning out electricity. This pastoral scene looks nothing like the Texas kids imagined when they imagined cowboys and cattle drives.

Environmentalists do not classify wind farms as having the same negative impacts on an area's natural beauty and habitat which other conventional projects would simply because they are willing to sacrifice an area's natural beauty, all the wildlife and some endangered species as well for natural renewable energy. This would be fine if wind farms were really contributing to reducing fossil fuel usage. However, nothing could be further from reality.

How anyone could ignore something 410 feet high is beyond me. These turbines, however, are far more than visual eyesores: They are permanent scars on our mountainous landscapes.

Although I believe in finding green sources of energy I am deeply concerned about the preservation of the natural landscape, our greatest resource, especially in areas of scenic beauty and scientific importance. Unfortunately the Silcote Corners Wind Project pits one against the other.

They looked like a line of alien invaders marching across the face of the earth. I believe I counted 31 of them using my binoculars, with several more showing just their blades cutting in the back drop. I thought how horrible they looked.

I wondered how Maine reached this precipice, where developers and politicians permanently scar beautiful Maine landscapes. It seemed a strange twist for a state that once had prided itself on financially sound, aesthetically pleasing development, and even outlawed billboards decades ago.

As unmolested as these islands look from the deck of a small craft, that may change as wind turbines sprout. ...Voters whose calculations of industrial wind, whether off or on Vineyard shores, conclude that the detriments outweigh the benefits will want to examine candidates for the state senate, the House of Representatives, and the Massachusetts governorship carefully.

This "visual inventory" is being done through a series of public meetings so the scenic value of these lands can be considered prior to the approval of future wind energy projects. Developers have been constructing on average 200 or more wind turbines for the past several years, and the industry is looking at adding at least another 3,000 wind turbines during the next decade.

I returned to Wyoming last summer after a 10-month trip. Arriving home, I was surprised and dismayed to see that tall, futuristic-appearing windmills had popped up in various parts of the Cowboy State ...the idea of windmills has not received thorough analysis. Willy-nilly construction of windmills is filled with unintended consequences harmful to Wyoming and other states in the Rocky Mountain West.

I am a sporting camp owner in the town of Highland Plantation. Our town is the site of a proposed industrial wind power facility. I am concerned about the future of the wildlands of Maine, as well as our town, since the number and scale of wind power proposals likely will affect all the mountains of Maine, leaving not a single place free of a view of 400-foot turbines.

And now a wind farm in the scenic hills near the small town of Union, southeast of La Grande, is up for approvals. ...It's late in the day. We need to get a handle now on how wind power adds up -- not just in megawatts but in how much it will change Oregon's views. Otherwise, in this state where we once insisted things look different, we just might not like the way things look.

A great disservice will be done to the people of Massachusetts and all others who enjoy the pristine scenery, water sports and solitude of Nantucket Sound by placing an industrial plant in its heart, as intended by Cape Wind and politically correct politicians who want wind energy there regardless of the cost and its effect on national treasures and National Natural Landmarks.

Meridian Energy, the state-owned energy company, wants to build a wind farm in front of our vineyard, atop a beautiful range known for centuries as Nga Waka a Kupe - the canoes of Kupe. ...But this won't just affect our front yard. With 45 turbines twice as high as the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and blades twice as large as the Westpac Stadium, sited 8km from the town square, this could be the end of Martinborough as we know and love it. The tourism industry our economy depends on - wine festivals, outdoor concerts, homestays, weddings, cycling - will they continue with noise from these turbines?

Over lunch with the top execs of Suzlon Energy, Andris Cukurs, CEO of the multinational's U.S. subsidiary, brought up Starbucks. Turns out there's something called the Starbucks Rule when it comes to siting wind farms. He said Suzlon and its rivals plot where Starbucks are in the general area and then make sure their project is at least 30 miles away. Any closer and there'd be too many NIMBYs.

Blaine County commissioners are formulating an ordinance to allow wind turbine towers in the Wood River Valley. As proposed, the ordinance would allow windmills 40 feet tall with 12-foot blades within the scenic corridor along Highway 75. Protection of our scenic corridor has been a high priority with previous county administrations. ...Wind turbine construction has been very controversial in all parts of the United States, yet our commissioners are writing this ordinance without the input of Blaine County citizens.

The Oregon Trail is in the way of a gold rush that will demolish part of our history and leave us poorer. The Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, now operating under the new moniker Oregon Business, was commanded by statute to promote the Oregon Trail as a major tourist attraction consistent with maintaining the historical integrity of the Oregon Trail. ...The gold rush that threatens the Oregon Trail is "free" and "green" energy from the wind. If only it were so.

I find it ironic that the mountains chosen by the Rutland Herald to exemplify our state's beauty are the same mountains that will be visually spoiled by the Vermont Community Wind Farm's proposed plan to erect 45 400- to 500-foot wind towers. Along with the turbines come the 36-foot-wide access roads cut into the mountains, the removal of the top of the mountain for footings and the power grid lines.

The Sept. 1 letter of Claire Jones hits a key point. Ms. Jones apparently is a regular visitor to the Thousand Island area from far away. I too am a regular visitor, and like so many, we cannot believe how some local town officials are seriously prepared to transform the area in a most profound way. Having seen the Maple Ridge Wind Farm many times on my way to the Thousand Islands, I am shocked that efforts are under way to bring such visually dominating infrastructure to the Thousand Islands.