A number of years ago a friend of mine had a job offer in Wyoming, so he and his wife went to visit the area. As his wife started to open her car door a gust of wind came up and violently blew the door open! To make a long story short his wife then refused to get out of the car. Her final comment was, “Any place but here!” Needless to say, my friend did not take the job.
Even though that was a long time ago, it is unlikely that the wind has changed as Wyoming’s topography has not changed. Now even though the wind in Wyoming might not make it a pleasant place in which to live, it would certainly be a perfect place for green wind power. Oops! … as Tonto would say, “not so fast kemo-sabe!”
From the Blaze.com:
“Once upon a time, the people of Wyoming enjoyed the lowest electricity rates in the nation, thanks to their supremacy in coal production. A state rich in God’s natural energy is now facing a 29% increase in electricity rates, thanks to Republican Governor Mark Gordon’s windmill grift. Who needs cheap natural fuel when you can have expensive and inefficient wind power?
“Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Rocky Mountain Power, the state’s largest utility company, announced the nearly 30% hike in rates due to rising costs. Residents responded with outrage. They had thought, with good reason, that the state’s abundance of resources would shield them from the national trend.
“It wasn’t always like this. Coal plants accounted for about 71% of the electricity produced in Wyoming in 2022, down from a peak of 97% in 2003 but still second-highest in the nation after West Virginia. What changed? Wind power now accounts for 22% of the share, more than doubling just in the past three years under Governor Gordon.”
To me if wind power cannot succeed in Wyoming, it is unlikely that it will be successful anywhere. (If not there, … where?)
BTW, my friend and his wife settled in Kansas City, and to the best of my knowledge, at last report the wind in Missouri has not violently blown their car door open.
11/21/23