Episode 239: Blowin’ In The Wind

As a folksinger myself, I couldn’t help humming that tune all throughout the taping of the first in our series of four specials featuring renewable energy.  This episode of New Mexico In Focus features the wind industry.  How apt, as March roars out like a lion and the gusts seem strong enough to blow even an ample person like myself away, that we produce a show focusing on one of New Mexico’s most abundant commodities: wind.

How many roads can a man walk down?  Travel the Road to Corona as independent producer Chris Dudley takes a trip to to see how the wind industry is providing an economic boost to this rural New Mexican town.

We also had some of the top players in the industry in our studio for a discussion on the promise and pitfalls of harnessing and using this natural resource: Greg Nelson, Executive Director of Utility Services for PNM, Michael McDiarmid, Manager of the New Mexico Wind Power Program for the state’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, and Jose Zayas, Manager of the Wind Energy Technology Department at Sandia National Laboratories.

And as if that topic weren’t enough, we also had a lively discussions on a variety of other subjects, which included opinions on the recently ended New Mexico Legislative session with our regular and semi-regular panelists Jim Scarantino, Teresa Cordova (filling in for Margaret Montoya while she’s away teaching in New York), Marco Gonzales (filling in for Whitney Waite Cheshire this week, and guest Steve Terrell, whose blog Roundhouse Roundup is worth checking out!

Have a great week!

Kathy Wimmer, for The Public Affairs Team

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5 Responses to “Episode 239: Blowin’ In The Wind”

  1. Cirrelda Says:

    Too bad the sound for the woman in the Road to Corona was not available.

  2. D. Dennison Says:

    Scarantino makes a comment that Pakistan will be Obama’s Cambodia and Grant replies “yes”! Neither of these two clearly know or undertand much about foreign affairs, but perhaps they should shut up until they do. There is no comparison between the two situations and the statement reflects a knee-jerk, ignorant opinion from Scarantino only out-weighed by his statement that Obama ran as an anti-war candidate and he is violating that position by sending more troops into AfPak. Wrong again - Obama ran against the war in Iraq. But we’re there now and, as Obama said repeatedly, “we must get out with more care than we went in”. We’ve already got more than 100,000 IRAQI killed - they apparently are fine with shedding much more Iraqi blood. Both Scarantino and Grant should educate and inform themselves more completely if they’re going on the public air.

  3. Kathy Wimmer Says:

    I was just as surprised as you were, Cirrelda, when there was no sound for the woman in the Corona wind piece! It was there throughout all the steps we have to take to prep the show for broadcast - except that one little button that’s supposed to be “foolproof” managed to make us look foolish; it was turned down, and made that one little audio track not make it to the final broadcast. We’ll promise to double check that little button from now on. And please watch the piece again on this website (go to “Recent Videos” on the left or watch New Mexico In Focus Episode 239 again). You’ll get to hear every word she says this time!

  4. Edward L. Quintana Says:

    I use Mozilla Firefox Ver. 3.0.8. Your web page is not rending correctly for me. Perhaps the code needs to be fixed. In any event, I am not able to read the right side of the screen because the blue against the slate background renders it impossible to read with such a small font. I would like to send an Alternative Energy idea directly to David Alire Garcia and Gene Grant but do not find an email that will get my idea to them.

  5. home made wind generators Says:

    Great article. Will come back again..

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