Cleveland, OH, Jan 11, 2012 — Politics and price are pitting gas drilling against offshore wind on the Great lakes.
Our Front and Center partnership with WBEZ in Chicago looks at hopes for economic revival in the nation's rustbelt.

In the Cleveland area, politicians and businessmen have been pushing for years to build a wind farm in Lake Erie. But the project's financing is up in the air, and as WBEZ's Chip Mitchell reports, state politics is tipping the balance toward hydrofracking, and away from what could be the first major offshore wind development in the Great Lakes.  Go to full article

Wolfe Island, ON, Dec 21, 2011 — Most experts agree we need to move toward renewable energy to save the planet. Giant wind farms are already up and running across America - from the high deserts of California to the North Country's Tug Hill Plateau. And from coast to coast, communities have been divided over wind power development. Supporters around the nation imagine wind providing clean energy--and green jobs--for generations to come. But wind farms have a downside.

In 2009, dozens of wind towers were installed on Wolfe Island on the Canadian side of the border, just where Lake Ontario feeds into the St. Lawrence River. The turbines rise like thirty story buildings, transforming the landscape and sharply dividing a once-sleepy farming community. This audio collage, produced by Chris Trimmer and Aleksandra Bragoszewska of Kingston, Ontario for Front and Center, captures the low roar of the turbines and the dissonance they've spread in the community.  Go to full article

Watertown, MA, Dec 20, 2011 — Over the fall, North Country Public Radio was one of a group of public radio stations that partnered in a special series from WBEZ in Chicago. The ongoing project, called Front and Center, looks at the Great Lakes, from a variety of angles. This week, we're sampling some of the Front and Center stories.

The Great Lakes contain 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water. But can this precious resource can be harnessed to help reverse the region's economic decline and put people back to work. Brian Mann led off the series near Lake Ontario.  Go to full article