PETERSBURG, Neb., Jul 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- State and local officials and community leaders attended a ceremonial groundbreaking held today for the Laredo Ridge Wind project near Petersburg. The project was developed by Midwest Wind Energy, LLC of Chicago and is owned and operated by Laredo Ridge Wind, LLC, an affiliate of Edison Mission Group (EMG) of Irvine, Calif., a subsidiary of Edison International /quotes/comstock/13*!eix/quotes/nls/eix (EIX 32.30, -0.70, -2.11%) . All of the electricity produced at the site will be sold under a 20-year contract to the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).
PETERSBURG, Neb., Jul 21, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- State and local officials and community leaders attended a ceremonial groundbreaking held today for the Laredo Ridge Wind project near Petersburg.
The project was developed by Midwest Wind Energy, LLC of Chicago and is owned and operated by Laredo Ridge Wind, LLC, an affiliate of Edison Mission Group (EMG) of Irvine, Calif., a subsidiary of Edison International /quotes/comstock/13*!eix/quotes/nls/eix (EIX 32.30, -0.70, -2.11%) . All of the electricity produced at the site will be sold under a 20-year contract to the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).
Nebraska Public Power District is Nebraska's largest electric utility, with a chartered territory including all or parts of 91 of Nebraska's 93 counties. It was formed on Jan. 1, 1970, when Consumers Public Power District, Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District (PVPPID) and Nebraska Public Power System merged to become Nebraska Public Power District. Merger properties also included assets formerly operated by Loup River Public Power District. NPPD is a public corporation and political subdivision of the state of Nebraska. The utility is governed by an 11-member Board of Directors, who are popularly elected from NPPD's chartered territory.
Illustrating that it was possible to create public entities serving public interests as late as 1970 in the USA. Nebraska does have some notable populist :history
"The sea of Nebraska" is what the first settlers coming west called the Platte River--not actually a single river, but a braid of streams that weaves a silver chain around sandbars and islands, flooding the level floor of the great plain--a mile wide, as the saying goes, and six inches deep. Nebraska was formed in one rush of settlement in the 1880s, when its population increased from 452,000 to 1,062,000; it increased less than that, to 1,578,000, in the next 100 years.... But while the 1880s were a time of plentiful rain here, the 1890s were a decade of drought, and Nebraska stopped growing.... The sudden boom of the 1880s and the bust of the 1890s produced the most colorful--and atypical--politics of Nebraska's history: The populist movement and William Jennings Bryan, the ''silver tongued orator of the Platte.'' Bryan was only 36 when he delivered his Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention and was swept to the Democratic nomination. He was so radical that Democratic President Grover Cleveland wouldn't support him, but he still won 47% of the popular vote in the first of three attempts at the presidency. Since Bryan's time, Nebraska's most notable politician has been George Norris, who led the House rebellion against Speaker Joseph Cannon in 1911, and in the 1930s championed the state's unicameral legislature and pushed through the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act (the first federal pro-union legislation) and the Tennessee Valley Authority. But most Nebraskans were repelled by the New Deal, which seemed to threaten their way of life. Although it often elects Democratic governors and senators, Nebraska over the past half-century has been the second-most Republican state in presidential elections.
The sudden boom of the 1880s and the bust of the 1890s produced the most colorful--and atypical--politics of Nebraska's history: The populist movement and William Jennings Bryan, the ''silver tongued orator of the Platte.'' Bryan was only 36 when he delivered his Cross of Gold speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention and was swept to the Democratic nomination. He was so radical that Democratic President Grover Cleveland wouldn't support him, but he still won 47% of the popular vote in the first of three attempts at the presidency. Since Bryan's time, Nebraska's most notable politician has been George Norris, who led the House rebellion against Speaker Joseph Cannon in 1911, and in the 1930s championed the state's unicameral legislature and pushed through the Norris-LaGuardia Anti-Injunction Act (the first federal pro-union legislation) and the Tennessee Valley Authority. But most Nebraskans were repelled by the New Deal, which seemed to threaten their way of life. Although it often elects Democratic governors and senators, Nebraska over the past half-century has been the second-most Republican state in presidential elections.
