There is probably a lot more to the story than you might think. Wind-power is never going to be the big deal that some think. It is expensive and not reliable unless you live somewhere where the wind never stops. Wind and solar power has to be backed up by conventional power plants that are idling. I believe state and federal government would do far more toward securing reliable energy by encouraging develpement of natural gas, hydro, bio and even coal and nuclear power generation.
Here is some of the deal on wind farms:
(Please bare with me as this is what I have learned, heard, and read when I was personally dealing with a wind farms in addition to what a federal employee that was preparing environmental impact reports several years ago told me. Some of these things may have changed over the past 5 or 6 years.)
First off, Europe was using wind energy for 10 to 20 years earlier than we have been. Guess what? As what I have read and know of, they have found that it does not hold the promise of "free energy" as once thought. I believe that they are not investing in it as they did many years ago.
Secondly; there is a lot of deception involved with wind farm development. Wind energy companies come and go. A wind energy company that sets contracts with land owners is often gone by the time the first phase of the wind farm is finished, leaving the land owner to deal with a completely different company....and many more thereafter.
Third: Many times, a wind energy company's original plans state that 100 or 200 towers will be put in place. It's almost guaranteed that once they have their foot in place, at least two to three times that many towers will follow.
Fourth: Again, as I have heard of it when I was dealing with wind towers....a tower has roughly a 20 year life span. Once the tower is "dead" and no longer useful, it is the land owner's responsibility to take it down. Otherwise, it will sit there forever. As much as they're paying land owners for each tower in place, I'm certain that the land owner will not want to foot the bill to take one or more 400 ft structures down.
More....and these are just my thoughts....
Is wind energy really free? Think about this: How much energy does it take to spin one of these things? Could you (one person) walk up and push a blade and get it spinning? (obviously you cant reach the blade) Now, imagine the amount of force it takes to move these things continually, day after day, at the speeds in which they move. (The outer blade of a 398 ft tower moves nearly 100 mph)
OK, now that you've imagined the amount of power or wind energy it takes to keep these propellers in motion, now imagine how much energy has been taken from the atmosphere. Doesn't it make anyone wonder how weather patters might change if we keep taking wind energy from the air? Will it change our rainfall patterns over our most precious areas of farmland? Will it cause drastic changes in weather patterns, including severe weather? Hmmmm....,kinda makes you wonder with all of the tornadoes we've been seeing lately.
Again, these are just thoughts.
No matter what you think of this, I think we all will agree that when it comes down to it, NOTHING IS FREE! No matter what we do to have a positive effect in one area (in this case, clean and free energy) there is ultimately going to be an equal and opposite effect somewhere else. Something, somewhere has to pay the price.