"I don't understand this question. While I am personally all for New Hampshire developing New Hampshire sources for energy, and wind is a candidate for this, the issue is complicated. Windfarm noise, in particular, may pose health and safety issues that require special treatment of the rights of nearby property owners. State regulation is probably inevitable to resolve issues of local zoning. For example, zoning created to prevent high-rise apartment buildings in rural areas might also restrict windmills. Zoning should not prevent property owners from doing as they wish with their own property, provided they also respect the rights of their neighbors. To the extent possible, the State of NH should be neutral towards windmill and windfarm operation, allowing the market to determine whether this is a profitable source of power. Regarding each point above - A. (subsidies) I don't understand the question. Should NH restrict windfarms if they are too heavily subsidized by other government entities? Maybe. B. Aesthetics. Existing zoning attempts to strike a balance between aesthetics and usefulness. Examples such as cell phone towers, power plant smoke stacks, show how the balance between property utilization and aesthetics can be resolved. Windmills should not be give special treatment, either to encourage (because alternative energy is so important) or discourage (because windmills are particularly ugly) their construction and operation. C. Environmental Impact. Again, Windmills should be treated neutrally. That means plenty of environmental regulations at all levels are going to apply. The state should not be exempting windmills from whatever regulations would apply to any other structure. Windmills do have unique environmental impact concerns, but this needs to be balanced against the rights of property owners to use their land to generate wind power, if that is their wish."
Source: Citizens Count Issue Survey 2010
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