The wind-power may not emit noxious fumes or other pollutants, but the industry is still leaving a bad taste in many people's mouths.
"Big Wind" is ripping many communities apart and even creating family rifts pitting father against son and brother against sibling. John Yancey is an upstate New York resident who accuses his own father of selling him out by installing wind turbines on his land.
"(Yancey) hates the sight and he hates the sound. He says they disrupt his sleep, invade his house, his consciousness. He can't stand the gigantic flickering shadows the blades cast at certain points in the day," writes Helen O'Neill of the Associated Press
Wind turbines are viewed as a preferable source of energy to carbon-based sources such as oil, but the presence of turbines on mostly rural land is viewed by others as a visible blight. Wealthy property owners––including Senator Ted Kennedy––successfully derailed plans for an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod earlier this year.
Detractors are also accusing some local politicians of corruption for legislating zoning changes that allow turbines while profiting personally by placing the windmills on their property. The towering structures can cost approximately $3 million to put in place, but energy companies will pay property owners a steady annuity to have them located on their land.
Concerns about the turbines are not limited to the aesthetic. Studies have been published linking wind farms with something called vibroacoustic disease, a rare condition allegedly linking low-frequency noise with epilepsy and cancer.
