Wind Powers Community

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Story Published: Jul 23, 2009 at 6:02 PM PST

By Peter Bukowski

Adding another windmill to Kittitas county would hardly be news. But trading up for the 220 foot wind turbines like those at Wild Horse Wind Farm, has been a boon for both the county and Puget Sound Energy.

"It's a very large value project in a county that needed more tax revenue. We pay about 1.3 million dollars in taxes every year. We are very supportive in the community," says Brian Lenz with Puget Sound Energy.

In fact, they're the largest source of tax dollars in the county. And the energy they give back comes directly from the County's own limitless resource: the wind

And it isn't as expensive as you may think.

"We have to look at first at the economic test. So we went out to bid for resources. This wind farm and the wind farm we have down in Dayton Washington, when those projects were purchased they were actually the lowest cost new resources to bring online"

But they do more than just create energy here at Wind Horse. They are creating jobs, infrastructure, and opportunity.

In fact, since 2006, they've literally powered the community. Bad weather has twice knocked out the main energy transmission lines to Kittitas County. The wind farm here was able to power the grid during repairs.

"It's very rewarding for us to see the facilities we have make a difference"

And people touring the wind farm here told us they understand how valuable this resource is.

" I think it's extremely important because our supply of energy is not limitless... unless we plan on becoming dinosaurs and producing our own fossil fuels, which I hope we don't," joked Lois Bax.

And with wind turbine technology taking off, farms like this one could make fossil fuels go the way of the dinosaurs.

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