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[...I'm Dennis Daugaard, Lieutenant Governor for South Dakota.]
[What are we standing in front of today?]
[Well today we're in Aberdeen, South Dakota,]
[The beginning of the GE Capture the Wind Tour,]
[and Aberdeen is where MFG makes 40 meter blades,]
[and this is a 40 meter blade behind us]
[that's used on the GE 1.5 megawatt turbine,]
[most popular turbine in America, of course. Who else?]
[When we're travelling through this country, ]
[one of the key priorities of this sort of technology]
[is also to drive America's job growth. >>Yes]
[Talk to me a little bit about what wind blades like this]
[meant for residents of South Dakota.]
[Well, in Aberdeen, as an example--of course, the national recession has really impacted]
[every state in the nation, including South Dakota,]
[and we've seen some of our tax revenue dip as a consequence of that slow down]
[in economic activity--that hasn't happened here in Aberdeen.]
[Aberdeen--and a big part of it is the wind blade manufacturing that's going on here--]
[it's employed a tremendous number of people here,]
[and it's driving economic activity in Aberdeen,]
[among other things, but it's certainly a major part of that economic activity.]
[So, while other parts of the state are seeing]
[some decline or flattening of their sales tax revenue, ]
[Aberdeen's sales tax revenue is up.]
[So, it's just an just an example of how]
[green energy, and wind turbines, and wind blades, and all the manufacturing,]
[and attendant industries related to clean energy]
[can drive the economy. It's certainly happening here in Aberdeen.]
[And South Dakota itself is a town where]
[you actually have quite a large resource of wind.]
[Right. Now some people say it's the fourth best ]
[wind resource in the Nation,]
[and we are constrained in the development of that wind]
[primarily by transmission issues. ]
[We can generate it here, but we can't get it]
[to places where it's needed.]
[Right now, South Dakota is a net energy exporter. ]
[We generate more power in South Dakota than we use,]
[and so to put up more wind turbines to generate more electricity means]
[we need to find an outlet for it outside our borders.]
[So, transmission is the major impediment to growing wind energy in South Dakota]
[We're hoping the national energy policy]
[provides some incentives to interstate transmission lines, ]
[especially those that carry green energy--]
[renewable energy--we think that's the thing]
[that will really let the stops out of wind energy in South Dakota.]
[[Voice on PA] Come and sign the blade and [inaudible]]
[Okay, Lieutenant Governor--thank you very much for talking to us. >> You bet. ]
