In her second closed-door, invitation-only meeting in two days, Congresswoman Kristi Noem talked up the Production Tax Credit, a pro-wind-power policy that Mitt Romney opposes*. Rep. Noem makes this powerful claim in her press release on the topic:
Since its establishment in 1992, the PTC has encouraged investment in renewable wind energy in South Dakota. In fact, South Dakota became the first state in the U.S. to generate more than 20 percent of its electricity from wind [Rep. Kristi Noem, press release, 2012.08.07].
Rep. Noem's wording is slightly misleading. 22.3% of the electricity South Dakota generates did indeed come from wind turbines in 2011. We do lead the nation on that statistic.
However, only 13% of the electricity we use comes from wind turbines. 50% comes from hydroelectric dams, and 35% comes from coal-fired plants, which are really dirty. 13% is still pretty good, but Iowa still beats us, with 15% of its electricity consumption coming from its wind turbines.
Update 12:40 CDT: An eager reader notes that Romney went to Iowa today, so of course today he disowns his record and loves wind power.
Neither Romney or Obama will let the consumers decide which form of energy they will use.
So if we only use 13 percent, where does the other 10 percent go?
Remember, we're talking two different numbers here. Our production is not the same as our consumption. We import a fair amount of power from North Dakota and Wyoming coal plants.