Wind Debate

Democratic Candidate for Governor Tim Mathern says North Dakota needs to be producing more wind power Mathern says incumbent Republican Governor John Hoeven hasn t been ambitious enough in setting wind power goals He says North Dakota has twice the wind as Minnesota but Minnesota has triple the amount of wind turbines If elected Mathern says he will have 10 thousand mega watts of wind electricty by 2020 The state now generates about 345 megawatts Mathern says Governor Hoeven hasn t addressed the problem the state currently has of getting the wind electricty out of state He has a plan to target that In addition Mathern says more of the profits from wind need to stay in North Dakota Tim Mathern D Gov Candidate Mathern is also proposing a new state office of renewable power He says putting someone in charge of promoting the industry would help it develop more quickly