“Maine wind farm not soothing to all ears; Turbines’ sounds have town divided”

—Brian MacQuarrie, The Boston Globe (8/30/10)

VINALHAVEN, Maine—Three white wind turbines, their 124-foot blades stretching 39 stories high, churn out more electricity than is used on this picturesque, pine-studded island off mid-coast Maine. Some residents call them objects of graceful art, others point to lower utility bills, and the environmentally conscious hail the benefits of clean energy.

But to some families living near the land-bound turbines, which began spinning in November, the blades signify something else.

“That noise is so insidious that you can feel it,’’ said David Wylie, 62, a transplant from Concord, Mass., who has owned property on the island since 1992. “I didn’t come up to Vinalhaven to live next to a dishwasher.’’

—Chad Pepin

My name is Chad Pepin. I live in Webster, Massachusetts. Douglas, a neighboring town, has proposed an 11-turbine, 2.5 Megawatt Wind Farm literally in my back yard.

My 1-acre house lot borders the Douglas town line. If the project comes to fruition, I’ll be faced with a 492-foot turbine less than 1400 feet from my house, with another 4 turbines within 2000 feet. Niether I, nor any of my fellow Webster residents, will receive any benefit from this project. Douglas will receive the TIF tax incentives, but Webster will get nothing. I am not allowed to vote at Douglas’s town meetings.

When this frustration topic comes up in conversation, I get quickly classified as a “NIMBY” activist—a radical, selfish resident who doesn’t want change.  “Not In My Back Yard.”

I have to wonder exactly when it became radical to stand up for one’s rights. The day we stop having the right to defend our homestead is the day we are Communists. I didn’t get that memo.