Wind Farms Could Bring Wyoming Ranchers Windfall

Very interesting piece on NPR that I recommend, Wind Farms Could Bring Wyoming Ranchers Windfall which points out though ranchers have faced some rough times when it comes to the price of beef, there is a potential that some could profit thanks to green technology:

In Wyoming, some landowners are forming "wind associations" by pooling their land together to market it to companies eager to harness and profit from the wind power of the plains.

Kathy Speiser, who owns a farm in Laramie Valley with her husband Pep, says wind speeds in this valley can reach 80 miles per hour. Pep says that can be deadly in the winter.

"When the temperature is 20 degrees, maybe, and you get a 30 mph wind, it doesn't take long to chill a calf," Pep Speiser says.

But about two years ago, that cruel Wyoming wind started to become a commodity. Strangers began to drive up the long dirt roads in the valley, knocking on ranchers' doors. They were wind developers who wanted the rights to build wind turbines in the area or to sell those rights to bigger companies.

This would be a new twist on the when life gives you lemons, when life gives you strong winds, use them...