Wyoming Wind Energy Forum Upbeat About Future

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Members of a panel at a forum on wind energy topics say expanding Wyoming's wind energy industry could boost the state's economic diversification and help address its education funding issues.

Titled "Wyoming's Wind Energy Future," the two-day forum was convened in Laramie by the University of Wyoming Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources and the UW School of Energy Resources' Center for Energy Economics and Public Policy.

Panelist Riata Little of the Casper Area Economic Development Association says wind would not be subject to the same volatile boom-and-bust cycle that coal is famous for.

The panelists say money brought into the state could also help offset effects to education caused by the decline of the coal industry.