Rural Areas Benefiting From Wind Energy Revenue

Rur­al com­mu­ni­ties around the are ben­e­fit­ing from ener­gy projects, accord­ing to an Asso­ci­at­ed Press arti­cle pub­lished in Fast .

An AP of coun­ty tax records in Illi­nois, Nebras­ka, and Iowa — three states robust wind farm indus­tries — revealed that wind pow­er com­pa­nies are some of the biggest con­trib­u­tors to rur­al tax bases. “Local and school super­in­ten­dents, chiefs and com­mu­ni­ty col­lege admin­is­tra­tors are often among the first to see the eco­nom­ic ben­e­fits of wind devel­op­ment in their com­mu­ni­ties broad­ly,” the arti­cle adds.

“Farm­ers who sign wind leas­es can also con­tin­ue farm­ing most of their land while adding addi­tion­al rev­enue. Some of that mon­ey ends up fun­neled into the com­mu­ni­ty through spend­ing. And wind projects bring jobs — many tem­po­rary or requir­ing trav­el, some — offer­ing a new career path for com­mu­ni­ty col­lege stu­dents.”

While some states are mov­ing to lim­it renew­able ener­gy projects, local offi­cials say the rev­enue can a impact on local school dis­tricts and oth­er agen­cies.

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