The ads tout scenic vistas and the license plates say “Vacationland,”  but unlike their compatriots to the south, the people of Vinalhaven, Maine, have no qualms about the impact of nearby wind turbines on the local tourism economy.  The quintessential combination fishing village and summer getaway voted overwhelmingly to approve a 3-to-5 megawatt offshore windfarm. 

While the project’s acceptance may owe less to environmental concerns than it does to the to disproportionately high price of power in the islands, which lie some 10 miles offshore, the vote nevertheless sets an important precedent as so-called “summer colonies” across the eastern seaboard struggle to balance a lucrative tourism industry with desire to produce clean, renewable power.

It may now be that green power has become such a cause célèbre among the summer residents and visitors to these communities, that towering wind farms may draw as much commercial traffic as the undeveloped seascapes ever did. As exciting a development as that may be, it might be best to temper enthusiasm. First, so that communities aren’t motivated build wind farms for tourists in not-all-that-windy areas, and second, so that the existing short supply of wind turbines is not exacerbated.