As an avid user and admirer of Maine’s natural beauty, I am dismayed by the efforts by Rep. Terry Hayes, D-Buckfield, (Jan. 14) to curb wind power development, including subjective restrictions within 15 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

Is Hayes unaware that the trail passes close by many densely populated areas in states like New Jersey, where factories, farms and towns can be seen from the trail? The trail is as much loved there as in Maine, and people are happy that it coexists with their human habitats.

I wish to see windmills proliferate, building tangible efforts to save the world from our profligate use of fossil fuels.

Some of those fossil fuels are burning to operate the hundreds of thousands of cell phone towers that blanket the nation. I have not heard windmill opponents objecting to these unsightly towers or asking how many birds they kill. If they do object they should hang up their cell phones and ask themselves how much electricity is wasted by their 24-hour Internet-connected computers, cordless telephones, instant-on televisions and other devices perpetually plugged into chargers.

Lastly, I wonder how many of them have paid big admission fees to tour Holland’s windmills, admiring the practicality of those pragmatic Dutch who understand the impact of humans on the environment.

Phillip DavisWest Gardiner