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by by Kenyon Bennett
As I headed to Texas this past summer and had already driven south of Oklahoma City on Interstate Highway 35, I noticed the horizon had changed. Hundreds of bright white wind turbines littered the landscape. My first reaction was disbelief. Why would anyone deface such beauty that once had been? Economics. Yes, economics.
"How can I keep my land without going under financially?" a rancher might have asked. "I guess I'll have to allow the wind turbines to be placed on my land. That revenue will help me keep my property."
When I reached the Arbuckle Mountains in south-central Oklahoma, the wind turbines had been deliberately set among the beautiful massive gray boulders and bluffs that had once enhanced the supreme beauty of the area. My emotions turned to seething anger. A lack of foresight had definitely occurred.
Economics. Economics. Economics.
Well, I don't have an answer for this dilemma. If I could have fought to preserve the Arbuckle Mountains from being defaced, I would have. I don't know what to say to families who might be experiencing financial difficulties and want to allow wind turbines to be placed on their property. I just don't have an answer. All I know is that there must be some type of foresight put into place when preserving the beauty of the land and the horizon. There must be areas reserved and preserved to prevent what I saw in Oklahoma.
I have reached a turning point now. The line has been drawn in the sand. Here it is: I don't support any broad usage of white wind turbines. Why? The visible beauty of nature, the landscape, and the horizon are destroyed when too many wind turbines are planted.
I believe in "America, the Beautiful." The lines "Oh beautiful, for spacious skies/For amber waves of grain/
For purple mountain majesties/Above the fruited plain" resonate as much with me now as when I sang the song at school in Texas when I was growing up.
Keep America beautiful.