When Lightning Strikes Wind Turbines - Green Inc. Blog - NYTimes.com

The effect is spectacular — and scary. “It will explode those blades, and they’ll throw chunks of blade several hundred feet,” Mr. Brokaw, a member of his local fire department, told me over the telephone.

As the chunks fall, the firefighters douse them with water. Otherwise, “There’s really not much you can do with a turbine that’s 200 foot tall and on fire,” he said.

Mr. Brokaw said that in the past five years he has been called to help put out two or three turbine fires. He said that “there’s oil and gearboxes and a tremendous amount of wiring” in the generator — so even though the turbines are very well-grounded, they can sometimes light up.

Wind Watch: Environmentally friendly, ain't

...I will build them on this mountain, which is the windiest place I have found. Who cares about the wildlife, the beautiful vistas of Pilot Butte and the unimaginable sunsets? We will tell the locals how good this will be for them, with no emissions (no jobs), more power for the local consumers (we don’t need more). We will reduce the cost of power to locals, well maybe (wink, wink). It will give Sweetwater County $59,000,000 in taxes over 25 years (which is $2,360,000 per year, not very much when you lose White Mountain forever).

The Bureau of Land Management needs to step up and say no to this intrusion on the environment and the Western lore of Pilot Butte. What happened to them protecting the environment?

The original scam was for 36 wind turbines. Now it is 240 and probably going up from there. Damage to White Mountain will be enormous, with roads, turbine sites and traffic on the roads.

Imagine if you can, going to White Mountain on a windy day on a dusty road, looking out at Pilot Butte (if you can see it between the wind turbines). Most likely with no wildlife left, dust being blown up from the roads everywhere, and you may, if the dust doesn’t hide it, see the sunset or sunrise.
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Each turbine costs $2.5 million, multiplied by 240.

The county commissioners of Sweetwater County made a bad decision to allow 36 turbines on White Mountain, but they were told that they wouldn’t be visible from Rock Springs or Green River. Now the man says, “With the full build out, it is what it is and I can’t hide them.” So it proves they have no regard for the residents of Sweetwater County, their beautiful vistas, wildlife and overall environment. Is it all about greed and money?