He seems a bit hypersensitive
Quite possibly, for the one guy at the beginning of the article. But the balance of the report details the deep divisions in the community that the wind farm has brought, and these aren't wacko eco-extremists but rather (for the most part) the kind of 'salt-of-the-earth' types that anyone would want as their neighbors. The depths of the division and resentment is illustrated well in the article, although the balance of the community sentiment in this case was in favor of the wind farm.
To me, the article illustrated well:
- the Law of Unintended Consequences. I would never have thought that generating clean energy, getting much-needed cash into the hands of just-scraping-by farmers, working towards energy independence, and swelling municipal and school-district coffers would have generated anywhere near the opposition that this rather modest wind-farm project did. And if the people in these particular communities are not exactly a bunch of eco-warriors, what will happen when the utilities try to build a wind facility near a community that is?
- the disconnect between what opinion polls say we want - less dependence on foreign oil, etc. - and what, when the rubber meets the road, we actually decide to do. If communities in the future veto wind farms, where will all this clean, green energy come from - especially in a state like New York that has a green-energy mandate? Will those communities go solar instead? At what cost?
- in the end how true Tip O'Neill's dictum is, that all politics is local. I generally couldn't stand O'Neill when he was Speaker, but I think he hit the nail on the head on that one.
nrg |
