Minneapolis Star Tribune: Vets promote wind power in capital
By Truman Project Staff | 10.20.12
Jim Spencer writes about Truman’s involvement in the promotion of the wind industry:
WASHINGTON – As Army officers, Duane Enger and Justin Van Beusekom each spent time in Iraq trying to win a grinding war. Last week, the two Minnesota veterans found themselves hunkered down in Washington battling political gridlock to preserve wind power as a part of the United States’ energy arsenal.
The Truman National Security Project flew Enger and Van Beusekom from Minnesota to the nation’s capital as part of Operation Free, a coalition of veterans who want to make development of clean energy part of the national security debate. The vets say that not developing domestic fuel sources puts the country at risk by making it vulnerable to the whims of foreign fuel suppliers.
“I remember driving from Kuwait to Baghdad and seeing the pipeline carrying oil into Iraq,” Enger said. “Then, we came on a scene of Iraqis waiting for gas in lines that were 2 miles long. Iraq hadn’t invested in their own natural resources. We’re the Saudi Arabia of wind.”
Enger and Van Beusekom both work for wind power companies now. So, they say, do thousands of other military veterans, as wind energy companies and makers of wind power equipment have become big employers in Minnesota and Iowa.
The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Truman National Security Project or Educational Institute
