"But you don't even hear them," his wife, Anne, said. "You hear a slight sound of humming from the electricity that they're generating, but it's nothing louder than having a refrigerator on."

Boyea agreed and said he hasn't experienced "a lot of the things that people said."

Like the Manwells, the Boyeas said the local turbines will help create clean energy at a time when it's increasingly needed.

"We'd rather see the turbines than smoke stacks," Mrs. Boyea said. "They're beautiful and they're clean."

State officials and representatives said the local windparks are helping to move New York in the desired direction of having 25 percent of all state electricity coming from renewable energy within the next five years.

"We have to be green. We know it's a reality," Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) said during the ceremony.

"And why not take advantage of what Mother Nature gave us a lot of (in the North Country)," she said as dozens of area residents nodded in agreement.

Hinckley said there are currently projects under way in Altona and Chateaugay, which will bring another 134 turbines to the area.

There are plans already in the works for possible windparks in Burke and Brandon, as well, he said.

And, according to Tom Gray of the American Wind Energy Association, "More wind power today means a better tomorrow."

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com