It's an energy source that decreases our dependence on foreign oil and a technology that doesn't contribute to global warming, so wind power promises worldwide benefits.

But you can't hide man-made turbines on the tops of pristine ridges. They create sight, sound and other impacts that are decidedly local.

The Land Use Regulatory Commission has just completed a hotly contested three-day public hearing on the proposed Black Nubble wind farm near Sugarloaf. This time, the commission should decide that the broad benefits outweigh the local costs and approve the proposal.

This is the second time around for this project. A previous plan, which included turbines on the top of Redington Mountain as well as Black Nubble, was defeated by a 6-1 vote, in large part because of the visual impact that the wind farm would have on a pristine section of the Appalachian Trail.

This proposed wind farm would also be visible from the trail and has many of the same opponents, including Maine Audubon and the Maine Appalachian Trail Club.

A major argument against the wind-farm proposal is that it produces little energy in exchange for the damage it would cause. Black Nubble is proposed to be a 54-megawatt plant. A modern gas-burning generator would be rated at 500 megawatts or more.

The fact that wind is not the entire solution, however, doesn't mean that it isn't part of it.

All the power produced by wind and other renewable sources will allow fossil-fuel-burning plants to produce less power. That means less oil, gas and coal, and fewer carbon emissions to be trapped in the atmosphere.

According to Peter Didisheim of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, an environmental organization that supports the Black Nubble plan, there is no one solution for all of the nation's energy problems.

"We are going to need probably 20 different 5 percent solutions," he said.

Maine's land use regulators are facing a difficult task that changes the usual decision-making dynamic. Instead of weighing economic benefit against environmental protection, the board will have to consider competing environmental harms.

For wind power to move forward as part of Maine's energy future, LURC members should decide that the benefits outweigh the costs, and approve the Black Nubble plan.