19th Annual Salute to Industry

Posted on Friday, November 30, 2007

Despite the snowy weather and slippery roads, US Senator John Thune made the trek to the Dakota Prairie Playhouse in Madison last night for the 19th annual Salute to Industry Banquet. Thune discussed the energy bill with the over 100 people who were in attendance. Thune says next year we will exceed a billion gallons of ethanol produced in South Dakota alone, and will be at 7!/2 billion gallons nationally by the end of this year. Thune also discussed wind energy. He says South Dakota is behind the times when it comes to the renewable resource compared to neighboring states.

Thune says what we need to do now is to find ways to get the wind to places that need it.

He says transmission is the issue that is inhibiting the states ability to grow in the wind industry.But, Thune does say that there are good things going on in regards to wind energy within the state. He says South Dakota has enough wind to provide for the electricity needs of 55 percent of the country.