By Ralph Vartabedian | Los Angeles Times
RAWLINS, WYO. — A relentless wind howls day after day across this high desert, pouring through a low gap on the Continental Divide.
“This is one of the windiest places in the nation,” screams Bill Miller above the din of gusting air.
Miller, a wiry man who spent much of his career in the oil and gas business, is in charge of building a massive wind farm on a cattle ranch owned by Anschutz Corp., better known in Los Angeles as co-owner of Staples Center.
It would produce as much power as three nuclear reactors, making it the largest wind-generation facility in the nation, if not the world.
But not a single kilowatt would be consumed in Wyoming. Instead, it would feed a new 750-mile transmission line to the California grid, where the electricity would help California’s crusade against global warming, while much of Wyoming continues to rely on the fuel that is one of the big contributors to climate change: coal.
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, director of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
