As Maine looks at the economic development opportunities available, it must consider the very real benefits that wind power offers all of us who live and work here.

Wind projects create construction jobs and provide additional business for host communities. They create a number of permanent jobs and provide hundreds of thousands of dollars of much-needed new tax revenues for towns around our state. This revenue is often put to immediate use by lowering local property tax bills or repairing roads and building new facilities.

Wind power does not tax our infrastructure by putting additional children in our schools, sucking water out of the ground, sending additional sewage to our treatment plants, or putting additional traffic on our roads.

The land on which these wind projects are built is leased by the developers, thus causing an income stream for landowners. Mainers often forget that we are able to enjoy so much private land for recreational uses, including fishing, hunting and camping. Allowing the landowners the chance to realize income for their property is very important to our overall quality of life.

Finally, wind turbines are working for Maine people. They are spinning in a number of rural towns, generating clean, renewable energy and helping to move us from dependence on foreign fuel sources.

In Maine,we’ve always enjoyed being independent. Wind power moves us closer to being energy-independent.

Pat Defilipp, Auburn