On an Upstate Wind Turbine Project, Opinions as Varied as the Weather (NYT)

[jpak]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/nyregion/28towns.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

Floyd Many, now 81, grew up in the rolling hills of Delaware County in the Catskills. He has served on the town board for the past 25 years.

But when asked about anything comparable to the disputes that are pitting neighbor against neighbor and prompting stern warnings about the importance of remaining civil before public meetings, he draws a blank.

As we stumble toward what’s supposed to be a greener future, almost everyone, in the abstract, is for wind energy, surely as green, safe and abundant an energy source as there is. But, as residents of Long Island saw last summer in a proposal for wind turbines off Jones Beach that was quickly deep-sixed, it’s often not so simple at all.

So on the road from Grand Gorge to Stamford you see the yard signs popping up in front of barns and houses — “Yes to Clean Energy” on some, “No Industrial Wind Turbines” or “Save Our Mountains” on others.

<more>