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Supporting Wind Energy |
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Western
Colorado Congress Energy To Partially Power Mesa State College FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May, 2002 At the final meeting of Mesa State College's ASG (Associated Student Government), the governing body voted unanimously to "support the idea of wind energy as a means to partially power Mesa State College." WeCAN, a Mesa State College Club and the youth chapter of Western Colorado Congress, is championing a campaign to appropriate $1 per student per semester from Student Fees to purchasing Wind Power from Xcel. Cary Allen, senior at Mesa State, hopes the leg-work WeCAN did in collecting signatures from the student body in support of such a resolution will pay off. "We are thrilled the ASG recognizes energy issues are global, regional and local," Allen said. "Next year we will bring this issue before the Fee Allocation Committee and hopefully Mesa State College will join other colleges and universities around the nation in taking proactive steps for meeting our school's energy demand." ASG Representative, Sally Phipps introduced the resolution for WeCAN and said she discussed the idea of purchasing wind power with other students, and found most students were not only supportive of the idea, but thought more than $1 per semester should be invested. Wind power, through a program called Wind Source, is offered by Xcel Energy at a small additional cost and is available to all local residents, businesses, and schools. Buying wind power means directly investing in the purchasing of more wind turbines for Colorado. Currently, Xcel has 77 wind turbines in Colorado that produce 60 Megawatts of electricity per year. There are more than 21,000 electric customers who have invested in Xcel's Windsource program, 400 of which are commercial. The University of Colorado-Boulder purchases $50,000 worth of wind power each year. Provided the Fee Allocation Committee passes the $1 per student/per semester resolution next year, Mesa State College students will purchase the equivalent of $10,000 year in wind power. "Investing in wind power now is the best thing we can do locally to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce pollution and the effects of CO2 and minimize the impacts of oil and gas drilling on private property and public wildlands," Allen said.
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