Residents debate windmills on Great Lakes

ALGOMA, Wis. – A little red lighthouse. Boardwalks. The blue-green waters of Lake Michigan stretching to the horizon.

It’s just another pretty-as-a-postcard view on the shores of this sleepy town of 5,700 a half-hour east of Green Bay. But how long the unspoiled vista in Algoma and in other communities along the Great Lakes will last is anybody’s guess.

Government and industry officials are set to meet in Madison and Toledo, Ohio, this month to talk about the prospects for installing giant electricity-generating windmills out in the Great Lakes.

Advocates say offshore wind turbines would be an efficient means of producing power. Opponents fear the windmills would harm the lakes’ natural beauty and hurt tourism and fishing.

AP