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In central Oregon, wind farms are dotting the landscape and helping local farmers stay on their land. The leases for turbine pads provide income for farmers in this area of extremely low rainfall, and the rural counties in windy areas have gotten an improved tax base out of the deal.
The windmills themselves are not unsightly at all. Against a big sky, they aren't really visible until one is quite close. The sleek windmill designs and slow-moving blades don't rest heavily on the landscape. The first impression is that they are part of an art installation. You can't say that about a coal-burning plant. And they are silent, unless you stand directly beneath one, and then all you hear is a slight "whoosh" as the blade sweeps by.
The blades would have to wipe out whole species of birds to come close to the impact of pollution from fossil-fuel derived energy.
With sensitive siting, wind power has most of the pluses, and none of the minuses, of petroleum-based energy production.
mlw
