Mathern Touts Wind Potential

It was a windy day across North Dakota - the perfect time for the man who wants to unseat Governor John Hoeven to talk about wind energy Democrat Tim Mathern says the state should be producing at least 10-thousand megawatts of wind power within 12 years That would be a 30-fold increase from the current wind production in North Dakota and more than six times the level proposed by a commission appointed by Republican Governor John Hoeven Mathern held press conferences in Fargo Bismarck and Grand Forks to say Hoeven is not ambitious enough in setting energy production goals for the state And the Democrat says the governor has not done enough to increase the capacity of transmission lines in the state to move wind-produced electricity Tim Mathern D - Gov Candidate right now our country is building the super highway of electrical transmission ND is not on that super highway Our Governor has not worked with other states to position this super highway and if we re not aggressive that super highway is going to go right past us Mathern is also proposing a new state office of renewable power Meanwhile a spokesman for Governor Hoeven says Mathern is behind the curve on the energy question saying the governor has worked with the legislature to establish a transmission authority to deal with electricity transmission issues The spokesman also says Hoeven is considered a leader among the nation s governors when it comes to energy policy