Seven Mile Hill Wind Project Dies

[Jane]

(this isn't breaking news , but I thought newsworthy for those who are familiar with the area. It's a challenge to know additional power is needed, but balancing with the "not in my backyard" concerns... )

Sevenmile wind project dies
First Wind letter withdraws application

By RODGER NICHOLS
of The Dalles Chronicle 1-22-09

A controversial proposal to site wind turbines on Sevenmile Hill near The Dalles has been cancelled.
A letter from Massachusetts-based applicant First Wind dated Jan. 20 formally withdrew the company’s application.
Originally filed under the name UPC wind on April 11, 2007, the proposal would have placed 40 wind turbines, with blades that reached 390 feet at their apex, along a seven-mile footprint on the ridge west of The Dalles.
“We’re dancing in the street,” said attorney Mark Womble, a Sevenmile resident who was part of fierce opposition to the plan. “We’re excited. We’re very happy.”
That joy was echoed by Linda Casady, another resident. “That’s very, very good news,” she said. “There are a lot of reasons that this is not a good place for such a facility: wildlife, threats to health, dynamics with people living here and the scenic aspect to it. Whether or not the [National Scenic Area] is involved, we didn’t move up here to live into an industrial zone.”...

article continues:
http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/news/ ... 9-01.shtml

Here's some pics of the area:

[weathercrazy]

I wouldn't want to see wind turbines everywhere, but I do like the way they look. I was up in Alberta and watching an electrical storm with the wind turbines in the foreground, it was an amazing sight.

I couldn't stop where I was to take pictures because it was actually private land, but I did take some that night. In the top photo you can see the wind turbines in the very distant hills.

[retired jerry]

I think windmills are a good idea.

Maybe not right at that location, but you have to spread them out so if the wind isn't blowing one place, maybe it'll be blowing another.

They should be coupled with closing the Boardman coal plant and then the gorge would be less hazy, a positive tradeoff.