GoBlueRide.net: Hagan Visits Beech Mountain Wind Farm

GoBlueRide.net
Adam Hicks
August 6, 2008

Democratic candidate for the United States Senate and current North Carolina State Senator for Guilford County, Kay Hagan, paid the High Country a visit on Wednesday to discuss renewable energy.

Hagan toured the North Carolina Small Wind Initiative site on top of Beech Mountain to learn more about how the state is working on alternative energy development.

The wind farm is also a partner with Appalachian State University.

Another reason behind Hagan’s visit was to learn what more needs to be done to foster such energy development at the federal level.

Hagan said that North Carolina could very well be on the cutting edge of researching, developing and applying these new forms of energy. Hagan explained, “We are situated in the right place. We have the best researching universities in the country, we’ve got the manufacturing facilities, and we’ve also got the agricultural sector. So I think if we merge those three entities, North Carolina can be the leader in alternative energy sources for the next decade and century.”

Hagan also explained that if North Carolina embraces alternative energy, it would give the state’s economy a boost. Hagan said, “We need to be doing that here in North Carolina because it would create a lot of new and good jobs that cannot be outsourced.”

Hagan said wind energy and other forms of renewable energy could help ease the United States’ need for fossil fuels. Hagan said that as a country, we would probably need some type of fossil fuel for quite some time, but the amount needed could be greatly reduced if new forms of energy were implemented.

Hagan will be running against Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole in November’s election.

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