Banking on the Wind in States that Produce Fossil Fuels

Even in states that produce fossil fuels, Americans are figuring that prosperity will be tied to finding greener energy resources.

Based on a lifetime of experience — from a Rocky Mountain oilfield roughneck to a founder of a Billings drilling and oil production company — Montana state Senator Roy Brown understands why Republican crowds in this fall’s political campaign chanted "drill, baby, drill." Drilling for oil and mining coal remains, he says, the quickest way to create high-paying jobs for the state’s hard-pressed High Plains towns. A big drilling rig runs 24 hours a day, paying top wages to three shifts composed of five to six workers. "If you drill a 15,000-foot well in eastern Montana," Brown says, "especially if you’re doing horizontal drilling, that’s a multimillion-dollar operation."

By TOM ARRANDALE

Full Story: http://governing.com/articles/0812env.htm