Pitched as source of clean energy, ranchers say mills are an eyesore (TX NIMBYs)

[jpak]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/4525919.html

JACKSBORO — The wind rustling the oak trees on the Squaw Mountain Ranch soon may be its undoing as a starkly empty, unspoiled corner of North Texas.

Riding the boom that last year pushed Texas past California as the nation's leading wind energy producer, a wind power company wants to scatter 100 turbines across an area roughly nine miles long and two miles wide, with at least a dozen of the 250-foot towers on the ranch.

"I'm not interested in having blinking red lights causing the Milky Way not to be as bright or to hear them when now I hear nothing up here except the sounds of nature," said ranch manager Dan Stephenson, explaining why the ranch declined to lease land for the project and objects to its neighbors leasing as well.

"Wind farm, that's a spin term," Stephenson said as he took in a vista of tree-covered ridgelines. "I call them wind turbine industrial zones."

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[jwirr]

1. Those "Texans" have forgotten their own history. Cattle ranches

watered their cattle with wind mills spread out over the prairie for miles. They also had wind mills on the home places. They need to remember that every wind mill put up today is a picture of freedom. Freedom from foriegn oil. Freedom is beautiful.

Oh I forgot Texas is the home of much of the oil cartel.

[jpak]

7. And it's not like there are no jackrabbit and oil drilling rigs

fucking up the views in Texas...

:evilgrin:

[jwirr]

11. Right and nuclear plants, etc.

[jpak]

14. Or transmission line towers from coal/nuclear plants

n/t

[Up2Late]

12. Good point!

I wonder if these critics have different views of "producing" and "non-producing" oil well pumps?

We should ask these a-holes if we can bury some of the "Nukiller" waste on their land instead.:banghead:

[phantom power]

2. Maybe Dan would prefer some coal industrial zones. And a side of famine.

[Robbien]

5. Whether Dan would prefer or not, he is getting coal indusual zones

rammed down his throat. Texas is scheduled to get a bunch of them. He will be wishing for the days when all he had to worry about was a bunch of windmills lining the roads.

[phantom power]

8. I read that those new coal plants are being resisted.

We'll see.

[Ezlivin]

3. Oh yeah, this would be much better:

[Ian David]

4. Tough shit. We're not interested in YOUR oil pollution poisoning OUR bodies...

They'll just have to deal with having to look at the pretty windmills.

Fuck 'em.

[Ian David]

6. Freedom Turbines!

Harvesting the wind to kick Osama out of our country!

[Horse with no Name]

9. I think they are beautiful

I love seeing all of the windmills out in West Texas when I travel.
But folks...do a reality check.
These are the same people who fight and claw each other to be able to build prisons in their backyards but they don't want no darned windmills.:eyes:

[Justitia]

10. I actually think windmill farms are beautiful. I love visiting the ones in Palm Springs, CA

They are so dramatic against the hills, especially at dusk.

They are like mysterious giants, silent sentinels.

I like them. I hope we get some here in TX.

[zbdent]

13. Look at the eyesore exported from Texas

sitting in the White House (and the Veep's palace, too ...)

[eppur_se_muova]

15. Why is it that old Dutch windmills are a tourst draw, but modern windmills are...

considered ugly? :shrug: Personally, I think it's just a failure of imagination. If I had windmills near my back yard, I'd be wondering how to make a buck off of tourists.