I don't know if this is being rushed or not ..the company has been looking at this for 2 years and said it may take another number of years before anything could even start. Don't sound to fast to me....most of us might be dead by then guess we will leave all the problems to our kids and grandkids....better learn chinese or arabic.....

Good job, Mr. Hoenle. Popular sentiment is against this project, and until the public gets all the facts from all sides, and all questions answered, our elected officials would do well to listen to those who grant them their power.

Thank God someone is looking out for our locals, scenery, future in tourism, and land values. Good luck to ya, do you have a membership website or place for info. to join? That 800 could grow to 5,000 in no time with the right advertising like this. Thanks.

Interesting that most of the notable opposition to this point has been from seasonal residents, who are understably upset about their views changing which could certainly decrease their property values. You hear the same story with wind energy in other places, "we support green energy, just not in my backyard". While there is still work to be done on the environmental impact, if that is proven to be minimal then the benefits of clean energy combined with the job boost for the local economy certainly outweighs the asthetics.

It certainly sounds like typical politics....rush so the public can't do anything about it. I still don't understand why in Lake Michigan? I'm sure, in this economy, that if a similar offer were made to some of the hurting farmer land owners in the area they would jump at it. I am not against the concept of wind energy, but doing it in Lake Michigan just doesn't make sense from an economic construction sense, how in the world would this provide jobs for the folks here and why desecrate the most beautiful view imaginable?

No wonder why I love you people so much up there lol. Way to show some brass. Good job.

please drive by the wind farm in Benton County Indiana. It is visible from Eye 65 south of Chicago. You will be thunderstruk by the massive size and red flashing lights. If this is to be done it must not be in Lake Michigan.

One thing I seldom see in any of this is who pays for it and who gets the benifit? As I understand this is to power Milwaulkee and Chicago both of which have access to do this on their shoreline. Second none of the existing wind systems that I know of are capable of paying for themselves many avg well under 30% of rated capacity. There is a chart that shows power output hourly since going on line in 2006 for a Canadian project and only on 2 ocassions has it reached 90% of rated capacity so 2 days out of over 3 years you actually get near full power. The cost per KW alone should convince most to consider this a fad are we ready to triple or more our energy cost esp if we don't even receive any power from it? Sorry guys campare footprint and overall impact and Nuclear is the way to go and it will produce power 24 7 year round not just on certains days when the wind is just right. No matter how much Lipstick you smear on it this pig is ugly and only the US government would be dumb enough to fianance it and they are only willing to do it with our money.

These things don't grow out of the water themselves - they have to be built which means some job creation - wow, hope we can find the necessary workers in our booming economy. Hang in there ex-Metalworks employees - the union said there'd be hope on the horizon.

Copeland, let's talk about the windfarm in Benton County. Yes, you can see it...there are red blinking lights on them BUT can you feel/hear them? No. Do they generate money for the community and jobs? Yes they sure do. As a N. Michigan resident (Manistee) who moved to Indiana a few years ago (very near Benton County) I'm shocked that you guys are not jumping at the chance to start this. I'm sorry that some people who spend a few weeks a month don't want to see the wind towers...but hey if things don't start looking up in Michigan maybe they will lose those summer homes and not have a say in what happens up there, right?

Bob, your statement is true.... I have a brother in Texas and their windfarm structures are being produced in foreign countries= jobs!... China being just one.... Until our government requires quotas of American workers to fill positions like other countries, we will never have the employment we once had in this country... Were not on a level playing field buddy.. Tell me, do you think this will produce as many jobs if the same project were being built on land? Then and only then one MIGHT see more locals employed... Also... What qualifications are required? And how many citizens of Mason and Oceana county qualify? There already bringing their own engineers and "special" concrete for the base construction.... I guess we're not qualified to produce this "special" concrete in our area? My father was one of the divers who laid the foundation for the Big Mac bridge back in the 50's and that concrete is still doing just fine....Also... why are they building this so close to land to interfere with the local tourism and why aren't other lake communties "courting" this project if it's so great? Hmm?