The American public suffers from the so-called "NIMBY" complex. This stands for "not in my back yard" and reflects the attitude that prevails in US culture. No matter what the project in question, almost invariably, someone (and usually many people) will lobby against having it in the location proposed. This can be because of concerns (which in many cases are legitimate) of safety, drop in property values, degradation of scenery, traffic increases, expectation of higher taxes to fund projects, etc. This has been for example the major stumbling block in the US efforts to open a national spent nuclear fuel facility e.g. in Yucca Mountain.

Specifically in the case of off-shore wind farms, opponents usually cite the impact on the natural beauty of beach settings if one has a large number of turbine blades on the horizon. Whereas land-based wind farms are often built on private lands, where there is limited legal recourse for people to complain, and perhaps, where the site is remote, there are few people who care about it, near the shores there are many property owners who don't want their ocean view to start including industrial-looking items such as a wind farm, and are also concerned that this will drive down the value of their (usually expensive) property as a result.

It may take some creative solutions to address these concerns. For example, if the wind farms can be placed far enough off-shore to take them under the horizon from shore-based homes, that will go a long way toward addressing such complaints. Additionally, if one sites these farms off-shore from existing industrial zones, the problem will be much reduced.

The US has been very slow to adopt many renewable energy generators, including wind. The up front capital investments for wind are large. Thr regulatory process is long. Noone wants turbines in their backyard. Energy from fossil fuels is cheap. Basically, Americans haven't felt the need to invest in renewable sources like people in Europe have.

Slow? Obama's only been in power for a little over a year!

Before that, big oil Bush wouldn't have done anything to detract from his family fortune. And that includes the destruction of our economy and environment.