Wind Energy a Lifeline for Drought-Stricken Farms
Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 3:18PM It is rare to find me agreeing with a representative of NRDC on any subject, but this article tells about the economic effect on the production end of the wind industry. As a supporter of extending the Federal renewable energy production tax credit, I often read stories about the loss of manufacturing jobs if the industry cuts back. While this is very much a concern, often left out of the equation is the economic benefit to the production areas. Wind development brings large construction crews (3 years running my my home community of Limon), leaves permanent jobs in maintaining and monitoring the systems, and increases revenue for the farmers and ranchers who receive lease payments. All those beneficiaries spend money in the rural communities, hotel rooms and RV spaces are full; resturants, grocery stores and c-stores are all busy; and these folk buy everything from parts to hardware to flowers locally. The Ports-to-Plains Alliance continues to support the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit because it creates jobs in both the manufacturing and production of wind energy.
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"Welcome in any year, income from wind turbines has become an economic lifeline for thousands of farmers and ranchers like Carter across the country's vast heartland. With more than half the country searing in the worst drought in half a century, much of the nation's corn, wheat and grasslands parched to ruin and cattle ranchers struggling to feed or liquidate their herds, wind turbines are providing back-up income that is helping to keep family farms and ranches alive."
Click here for complete article > Huffington Post
August 29, 2012
Photo by Melanie BlandingThe killing of Billy the Kid was still within living memory for some on the stark, wind-swept prairie outside Ft. Sumner, N.M., when Powhatan Carter's grandfather settled there to raise cattle in 1937.
Twelve years later, Pow was born there, where he runs the family cattle business his grandfather began.
After two years of drought, though, Carter's land is so dry that even the durable native grasses in his pasture are dying…
Reader Comments (1)
The horse ranch there was forced to relocate. Had to ship all the horses for sale sydney to another state.