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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Wyoming Weighs Consequences of Taxing Wind Energy

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Thursday, July 28, 2016   

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming is the only state in the nation to tax wind energy production, and lawmakers recently moved to increase taxes to help fill the gap left by falling fossil fuel revenues.

Critics fear higher taxes will push wind development to other states, costing taxpayers more in the long run.

Robert Godby, director of the Center for Energy Economics and Public Policy at the University of Wyoming says, climate change politics aside the state is positioned to be a leader in wind energy.

"There are sites in Wyoming where the wind blows very often and blows typically quite hard, hard enough so that you get almost maximum potential from the turbine,” he points out. “So for that reason, Wyoming really does have a rich wind resource."

Almost half of the best winds in America blow across the Cowboy State, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab.

Legislators say the industry needs to pay its fair share on par with other energy producers.

Godby points out the severance model compensates the state for assets that are removed from the ground, but wind is different – it's not going anywhere.

Officials with the Power Company of Wyoming say higher taxes could derail wind development in the state, including the company’s plans to build the nation's largest onshore wind farm south of Rawlins.

Godby contrasts Wyoming's policies to efforts made by Colorado and other neighboring states, which provide incentives such as clean energy mandates to attract investment.

He says if utilities have to buy a certain amount of renewable energy, companies know there will be a specific and reliable demand for their product.

"So in effect, you don't have to go find the market,” he explains. “The market is searching for you. When several states around us have those sorts of rules, then clearly we might be at a competitive disadvantage."

Godby maintains Wyoming's ambivalence about renewable energy isn't about wind, or the sun. He says renewables represent change in a state that until recently has thrived on fossil fuels, and he says with change comes fear of the unknown.





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