You probably thought I'd do WHEAT for "W", didn't you? Wheat IS king here on the Palouse, but I feel like I've written enough about the grains farmed in our area.
The Palouse is a very windy place. Seeing abandoned windmills like the one above is fairly common.
We are also beginning to see wind turbines on wind farms like the picture below, which is located somewhere on the Palouse, but I'm not sure where.
So far, none have been built in our neighborhood.
Generally the wind farms are located in truly isolated areas. However, someone did approach us about the possibility of doing a wind study on our River Ranch, for the possible location of wind turbines there. If that happens, there might possibly be wind turbines only five miles outside of Colfax.
I'm not sure what to think about the proliferation of wind turbines in the state of Washington. You see vast hillsides of them at the base of the Blue Mountains. You see vast hillsides of them as you cross the Columbia River at Vantage and start up the hill toward Ellensburg.
They're surreal and magnificent to look at.
But whenever I look at them, I also recall seeing the abandoned wind farm on the big island of Hawaii. Once abandoned, the turbines are among the most unsightly things on the planet. I've heard that it costs somewhere around $1,000,000 for each wind turbine that gets erected. I hope to heck that, here in Washington, included in the $1,000,000 price tag is the money to tear it down, should the power company ever decide that the turbine is unacceptable for whatever reason.
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I remember seeing those in Washington as we were heading to Oregon for a week of camping a couple of summers ago. I had never seen so many, and so up close! I felt like I was on another planet! They are so HUGE! I hadn't thought about what they would do with them if they are no longer useful, though.
ReplyDeleteI just hate those wind turbines in Hawaii. I hope they are being used because they mar such a beautiful landscape. I love the windmills though. I've always been fascinated by them and covered bridges and barns and lighthouses for some reason!
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