Rural U.S. Turning On to Wind Power

Erin Ailworth reports that wind energy is winning converts in rural, and conservative, parts of the United States.

The article sets its stage in Fowler, Indiana, where wind turbines are "rising for miles amid the golden-tipped cornfields and leafy soybean plants blanketing much of Benton County, pop. 8,650."

The benefits of wind power developments in this part of the country have been multiple and persistent, and not just for the jobs created during construction. "Wind developers have made $17 million in payments to the county and have spent $33 million on roads, a boon for an economically struggling community that about a decade earlier considered hosting a waste dump to generate jobs and government revenue," according to Ailworth.

Fowler's example is part of a larger narrative, explains Ailworth. "As wind becomes a bigger part of the U.S. electricity mix, it is becoming an economic force in rural communities such as Fowler, a development that is changing the political conversation around renewable energy in many parts of the U.S."

[The Wall Street Journal article might be behind a paywall for some readers.]