Wyoming and wind

Interesting story about the boom in the wind energy industry out west and how some of that is bumping up against private property and NIMBYism, but what caught my eye was this bit:

Wyoming and the West are home to some of the nation’s strongest wind resources. The American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, says Wyoming has 85,200 megawatts of developable wind capacity, or seventh most in the nation. That’s enough to power about 1.7 million homes, or half of Los Angeles County’s estimated 3.4 million households.

Wyoming currently produces 816 megawatts of wind energy, ranking it 12th in the nation and behind California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado in the West, according to the wind association. Texas leads the nation with its 8,361 megawatts of wind power.

So that makes Wyoming one of the leaders in solving the problems of finding clean energy sources and making progress on climate change. Which is ironic, because Wyoming is also one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in solving those problems. I suppose that makes the Cowboy State a lot like Texas, though at least we will have a chance to elect a Senator who will be an asset and a leader in energy policy. But man, it would be nice if the politics of some of these states matched up with their potential.

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