Windmill Farms and the Beauty of Palm Springs

In response to your article (April 9) about windmills in Palm Springs, alternative energy production is without question a must. However, it appears that the manufacturers, developers and the Bureau of Land Management have excelled in this area only to fail in the area of land conservation. The windmill farms do seem to multiply at an alarming rate with little or no concern for the physical environment.

I applaud the lawsuit filed by Palm Springs against the Bureau of Land Management and the seven developers. It is not an attempt to restrict alternative energy development, as the developers have responded, but rather an attempt to impose responsibility for our environment upon those who would choose to ignore it.

The environmental problem is exacerbated by the apparent lack of awareness and concern for tourism. For the federal official who asked: “How would it be, if people in Palm Springs turned on their air conditioners and nothing happened?”

I ask, “How would it be, if there was nobody to turn them on?” If there is any “narrow-mindedness,” as suggested by William Adams, it is on the part of the developers and Bureau of Land Management.

While the developers may have generated innovative, clean and efficient electricity, they haven’t begun to see the light.

STEVEN SHMERLER

Los Angeles