Wednesday, November 12, 2008

More Wind Energy for South Dakota…

Energy remains a major issue… South Dakota is bolstering its efforts in renewable energy from wind through a proposed 306 Megawatt wind farm in east central South Dakota in Brookings and Deuel counties.

Projects like this around South Dakota are valuable for a multitude of reasons namely, increased energy production via sustainable and renewable generating mechanisms, decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels, and acting as the front line of defense in combating climate change due to global warming.

I would like to point out though that sustainable energy projects like this around South Dakota have the added potential to attract jobs, families, and individuals to small towns across the state. In the article on wind energy from the Argus Leader on November 10, 2008, the town of White could see the potential benefits of alternative energy production in their area…

The project would create about 100 temporary construction jobs, as well as 18 to 23 permanent jobs - welcome news to the 550 residents of White.

"Were always open to economic progress," said Mayor Randy Brown. "We've got new home lots being developed, a great school system, just a lot of good things happening in White."

Read the Rest of the Article Here…

Our rural regions stand to benefit greatly from the movements in alternative energy. Here in South Dakota we are 4th in the nation for wind power capacity, but 18th as far as production. Currently there is a biofuels study underway analyzing the benefits of harvesting cellulosic ethanol feedstocks from wildlife production areas, leading us to possibly new avenues for harvesting feedstocks from non-agricultural landscapes while at the same time safely and adequately managing our wildlife populations.

Our challenges as a state must be attacked from all sides and all angles. With the bolstered efforts in renewable energy, we can increase the benefits to our rural regions while meeting our demands for energy production as South Dakota progresses into the future.

One thing to remember is that these efforts to bolster rural regions are not to the detriment of our larger urban centers. South Dakota is an agricultural state… and as the agricultural sector goes, so goes the rest of the economy. An effort to become a leader in renewable energy is a strategy the entire state can benefit from…

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