“The Pacific Northwest is well on its way to becoming the wind capital of the U.S.,” says Tom Gray of the American Wind Energy Association. For example, the new Stateline Wind Energy Project on the Washington-Oregon border will begin operations this fall with 396, 242-foot turbines, together capable of powering 60,000 homes. Wind power generates only 0.1 percent of the nation’s electricity, but new wind projects coming on line across the country this year will be enough to power 300,000 homes. The Clinton administration in 1999 set the goal of having wind power generate 5 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2020.
