Governor signs wind energy bill into law

Governor Tom Vilsack has signed into law a bill that removes a regulatory hurdle to MidAmerican Energy’s plan to build a more than three-hundred million dollar wind energy facility in northern Iowa. Vilsack says the bill allows Iowa to become a national leader in wind energy production. It allows utility companies to invest in wind turbines. Vilsack says the proposal will benefit Alliant Energy, too, if that utility plans a wind energy farm in Iowa. Vilsack says farm families will benefit, too, from lease or land purchase arrangements with utilities who plan to place wind turbines in Iowa. Vilsack says the bill is the first of many he expects in the next few weeks, including tax reform and a huge state economic development fund. MidAmerican still needs the approval of government regulators before it can start the project. MidAmerican officials have pledged to freeze electric rates ’til 2010, while at the same time building new power-generating stations in Iowa, including that wind energy farm.