Green Energy? Not In New Jersey...

....because while it sounds great in practice, everybody's got a beef. Build turbines 20 miles offshore, as one wind company suggested, and environmentalists react in the negative, saying some seabirds may get sliced. Build them on land, and, well....

The Board of Freeholders passed a resolution Thursday to oppose the construction of a 380-foot wind turbine at a wastewater treatment facility in Union Beach.

Freeholder Director Lillian G. Burry said the resolution was prompted by last month's board meeting, which was held in Keyport and attended by many Bayshore residents who blasted the Bayshore Regional Sewerage Authority's plan to build the turbine within 1,000 feet of homes.

Burry said the board is not opposed to wind power, but rather questioned the appropriateness of locating the "extremely invasive structure" near residential neighborhoods.

1,000 feet is just over three football fields, not quite in the backyard but still somewhat close. But if we are to at some point incorporate renewable energy sources into the power grid, this is what must be done. I wonder how may of these people have high-tension, high-load power lines within 1,000 feet of their homes. I'll bet most of them do, and don't think twice about it. But put in a windmill....

I don't know, I find windmills to be a perfect marriage of technology and nature, and find them eye-catching and inspiring:

Atlantic City

And useful:

Authority officials have said the turbine will allow them to reduce municipal sewerage rates by 35 percent by 2013. Towns that would benefit from the rate reduction are Union Beach, Hazlet, Holmdel, Keyport, Matawan, Aberdeen, Keansburg and parts of Marlboro.

Well, I suppose no one will benefit now. Except a few gulls, and some folks who prefer power lines to turbines...