Quality high, price low.

Editor,

From the environmental perspective the only drawback I can see is the danger these devices pose to birds; however, I do remember reading something about slower-turning blades being less of a hazard. I also remember reading something about the lights of radio towers attracting birds to their deaths at night. Perhaps not lighting the windmills or placing the lights on nearby structures that do not kill birds would mitigate this problem.

My main concern is that these projects will undoubtedly be developed by privately owned corporations. Citizens will be overcharged for the electricity produced so that private investors can make a lot of money, much as Internet bandwidth and telephone service are handled now.

Electricity in this American bastion of capitalism will probably never be treated as a community resource -- like roads and bridges, police and fire departments, water systems, sewage treatment plants, public schools (which capitalists perceive as vulnerable to destruction and are therefore under attack), airports, air traffic control systems, and the courts -- but it should be, to spread the cost for it equitably and to keep quality high and price low.

re: "Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S." (4/29/2010)