Wind mill project proposal. Windmills for the Cape Cod Wind project would be 450 feet high. Photo: North Cape Wind, CA

Alternative energy projects around the country are in stages of development similar to those in Maine. Coastal states are developing both wind and wave projects. Wave energy engineering is newer and more experimental. Other countries have the jump on the U.S. in offshore wind energy.

From Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and coastal Oregon, to Mars Hill and Vinalhaven, Maine, public opinion about wind energy projects is similar.

Most recognize the need for developing alternative, truly renewable energy sources. A lot of people are surprised by the size of commercial windmills and some like what they see.

However there are also people in all these areas who see the need for alternatives to oil and coal, but object to the windmills in their area. Their objections are as uniform as the praise of proponents. Opponents cite the visibility of the windmills, the sound from them, and the uncertainty that the people within sight and sound of these facilities will directly benefit from the energy produced.

Wave energy generators draw less fire. They are more out of sight and hearing, but fishermen express concern. Fishermen cite the amount of fishing bottom they will consume, and question the effects the facilities could have on spawning areas. Offshore windmill facilities in Maine have some lobster fishermen concerned about the loss of bottom.

On Martha’s Vineyard a privately erected windmill at a home in a neighborhood of closely arranged houses motivated a neighbor to complain to the town.

There are six windmills on Vinalhaven. These will provide power to that island. A lot of people there speak positively about the generators. Others voice the common complaint made about the sound. Islands are particularly quiet. The greater contrast would be more evident there than between an interstate and a mall complex.

Losing a familiar view and accustomed silence are clearly sacrifices some will be making as these facilities are built. There are also people on both sides of alternative energy development who want to see serious conservation measures developed alongside new power generation.

Among them are critics who say the development of renewable energy resources should not, and cannot, be allowed to become another “too cheap to meter” resource, as was the development of atomic energy, which clearly is not. The Wampanoag tribe on Martha’s Vineyard off Cape Cod, MA, has moved to have Vineyard Sound declared a National Historic Site. That would prevent or deter the proposed Cape Wind Project. That project has met opposition over the last decade. It would be located in the middle of the Sound, visible from both the shores of Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod. It would also be in the middle of sailing territory for some wealthy coastal residents and in the fishing grounds of hard-strapped fishermen.

There is a lot of pressure from both sides of the Cape Wind Project. However obvious the need to delete petroleum from the world’s energy equation, few seem willing to have the energy produced in their back yard if it is heating office buildings in a distant city.

The rush to build wind energy systems is going forward with a lot of questions unanswered.