WORLD WIND ENERGY NET

Just when Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham thought national attention for the wind energy capital was beginning to top out, Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens came along and stirred things up again.

Pickens recently visited Sweetwater to tour wind farms and tout the city as a model for developing the wind energy industry. His comments have helped Sweetwater, a city of 11,000 people, make national news, and city officials have been getting calls ever since.

In promoting Sweetwater and the positive effect of the wind industry and other alternative energy, Pickens is hoping to show people in the Panhandle what is to come from his $12 billion wind project planned for that area. He is also promoting alternative energy in general.

National media outlets such as ABC News and USA Today came to Sweetwater with Pickens, and Wortham said he is still getting calls. CNBC may feature Sweetwater as well.

In addition, Google "wind energy" on the Internet, and the first choices to pop up are news articles about Pickens and his energy plans as well as his visits to Sweetwater.

When asked by phone Friday what sort of attention Sweetwater has received as a result of the publicity, Wortham said "that's why I'm standing under a wind turbine with a video crew."

Wortham said that he was giving wind farm tours Friday and that after he returned to his office, he found a Pickens video crew waiting for him. They had returned to scout locations for filming the energy magnate's $58 billion national ad campaign that is set to begin soon. The campaign will focus on solving the nation's energy crisis.

"We are at another turning point," Wortham said, referring to the new publicity generated for Sweetwater due to Pickens talking up the city. Wortham is also referring to what is to come if a clean coal-powered plant comes to fruition.

Ken Becker, the Sweetwater Enterprise for Economic Development (SEED) director, said that when successful people with national stature such as Pickens talk, people listen. He said he has had more calls from wind developers from all over the world since Pickens' statements and visits. He said he is also getting calls from people seeking employment in the wind energy or education in the field from Texas State Technical College.

Wortham said that he is excited about the attention and that people as well known as Pickens are saying that Sweetwater is proof that alternative energy is happening and working with great intensity and that towns like Sweetwater are benefiting.

Wortham is also excited about Sweetwater becoming known as a center for energy production -- oil, wind, nuclear (Ludlum Measurements) and possibly coal, with a coal plant in the works.

Becker agreed.

"We enjoy being on the cutting edge of the energy industry," he said.

A report released Thursday says the wind energy industry will have a $315 million economic impact this year on Nolan County (Sweetwater is the county seat). The impact figure was reached by applying a sevenfold multiplier effect. The multiplier estimates the number of times a dollar of initial spending is spent and re-spent in the local economy before leaving.