OC will still be the lively beach we love even with turbines

I read the recent essay by an Ocean City resident about her grave concerns about putting offshore wind turbines off the coast (“Ocean City leaders correct to be wary of wind farms,” March 4).

These turbines will be more than 15 miles offshore; if you can see them at all, they’d appear as little more than specks on the horizon. That’s a lot less offensive to me than sitting on the beach and watching: planes fly by with long advertising banners, little boats cruising along with electronic signs advertising 2-for-1 cocktail specials at nearby bars, and huge container ships and fishing vessels regularly making their way to and from Delaware Bay. Those sights haven’t turned OC into a ghost town.

Let’s stay committed to clean energy, which wind power provides. I’m sure Ocean City will continue to be the lively beach we all love.

Don’t like the turbines? Ignore them.

I agree with your letter writer who thinks the high-rise apartment and hotel buildings are uglier than sleek, slender, graceful wind turbines planned for off the Ocean City coast (“Impact of climate change is much uglier than wind turbines,” Feb. 28), as well as the point that climate change will be uglier without them.

We should also note that rusty ugly cargo vessels cruise our coast much closer than the planned wind project, yet no one says they are ruining our tourist industry. And how about those noisy, irritating planes that drag crass advertising up and down our coast in summer? The tourism industry has not collapsed in spite of the fact that this ugliness has been affecting the view for decades. Why? Because our guests come to the shore for the waves, the water, the sand castles and all the other fun we have. Those visitors do what wind turbine opponents should do — ignore them if you don’t like them.

Or learn to love wind turbines because they will help save our planet.