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Rob: There is another emerging new energy that doesn't come from foreign
soil, but it might have blown over it.
It's the wind, and increasingly it's being harnessed for electricity.
Our Alisa Hines explains.
Alisa: We've all seen what it can do to a fire.
And we've seen what it can do to our homes.
But now it's being put to a non-destructive use, power.
Wind power.
Wind generated power that's good for the environment.
Alec Dreyer is the CEO for Horizon Wind Energy.
Alec Dreyer: Well, there are no emissions.
There are no pollutants or anything like that, that are emitted,
unlike more traditional generation.
So it's absolutely perfect.
We take up less than about three percent of the land area in a wind farm with
the actual turbines and people can actually farm and produce right up next
to our turbines.
So it's very good for the land.
Alisa: Wayne Walker is the director of project development for Horizon
Wind Energy, and says there is an economic benefit to the landowner.
Wayne Walker: In most cases, wind farms are a great way for rural
landowners to diversify their current cash crops, be it from agriculture or
ranching operations.
Because they only take up about three percent of the surface area of the land,
and we can design them in a way so that their other income sources aren't
impacted.
Lynn Ann Dietrich: It's primarily for cattle anyway,
and they didn't use a lot of acres.
Alisa: Lynn Ann Dietrich is a landowner who benefits from the wind
farm.
Lynn Ann Dietrich: I didn't disturb a lot of acres that we were using,
and so it's really just kind of a benefit as far as income.
Alisa: And at a time when gas prices are soaring, wind power may be a
solution for high bills.
Stuart Solomon is president for the Public Service Company of
Oklahoma.
Stuart Solomon: It's because the energy coming from this facility is
priced at such that it can go right on our system and actually save our
customers some money.
Alisa: Now Oklahoma ranks high in the nation in producing wind generated
electricity.
Stuart Solomon: Well, Oklahoma is one of the top five states in the country
from a wind energy perspective, and I see that only getting better
for the state.
We have such a wonderful wind resource in this state,
and the industry is now starting to harness that resource that we have here
and have it in abundance.
Alisa: Creating an economic impact that's sweeping down the plains.