Milford High School renewable energy teacher Andy Swapp admitted he and the 50th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Ken Salazar had some differences, but did agree on one issue.
"He wears a cowboy hat and rides a horse and I wear a baseball cap and ride a mule, but one thing that we agree on is renewable energy," Swapp said.
Salazar accepted a blue "Milford wind" baseball cap from Swapp and placed his cowboy hat on the teacher's head during his visit to the rural school as part of a daylong tour that began with a meeting in Salt Lake City with Gov. Gary R. Herbert's Balanced Resource Council to discuss America's great outdoors.
Salazar then flew to Milford and participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony of a 20-kilowatt solar project at the high school's shop building, which is anticipated to save the Beaver County School District $5,000 a year in electricity bills.
The solar array and solar tracker at the school was made possible by Rocky Mountain Power's Blue Sky Grant program. The program awarded $125,000 toward the solar project that was spearheaded by students - referred to as the Wind Kids - who wanted to diversify the energy produced at the school. The nickname of Swapp's students derived from their first tower in 2001 that started measuring the wind resource in Milford and paved the way for a 200-megawatt wind farm by First Wind that has since come to fruition.
"Milford High School and Beaver County are leading America in the renewable energy revolution," said Salazar. "I'm very proud."
During a brief address, Salazar stood at a podium in the school's parking lot with a large solar panel as the backdrop and said the United States dependence on foreign energy sources has created a national security issue with an estimated $700 billion spent overseas to buy oil. He said if every community throughout the U.S. followed Milford's example the country would no longer rely on those sources abroad.
"What this tells me about Milford is that it means this community has the kind of values I grew up with, values of love of family, values of love of community and that you understand use of land, water and wildlife and you've got a head start on a major imperative for this country and are leading the band," Salazar said.
The compliments from Salazar had a strong impact on Swapp's students.
"It's awesome," said Logan deGraffenried, MHS senior. "He's real friendly. It's a pleasure to have him at our school."
MHS senior Tara Rose was more awe-inspired.
"When we first found out that he was coming to our school, all of our hearts stopped to think that he would come here to see us," Rose said. "It's just crazy."
Rose was among the students Salazar insisted on having his picture taken with and urged all of them to pose with their pointer fingers in the air saying, "We're No. 1."
That fun-spirited nature Salazar shared is something MSH senior Jay Richardson said he won't forget.
"His visit made me feel spectacular and extra special," he said.
Following the ceremony Salazar visited the 97-turbine project with First Wind and its Milford Wind Corridor project, which began commercial operation in November of 2009. The wind farm has the capacity to generate clean, renewable energy to power an estimated 45,000 homes per year. During construction, the project created more than 250 development and construction jobs, resulting in more than $85 million in economic benefit to Utah.
He also visited the Blundell geothermal power station at the Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal area near Milford, which has been in operation since 1984. The resource depths of the geothermal plant range generally between 2,100 and 6,000 feet.
Resource temperatures in production wells usually exceed 520 degrees Fahrenheit. The station has a capacity of 23 net megawatts per hour. The plant annually produces about 195,000 megawatt-hour of electricity.
"We're honored by Salazar's visit," Swapp said. "We're not just Podunk Milford. We're from Milford, the cutting edge on renewable energy and we can 'git-r-done.'"
By Jennifer Weaver of The Spectrum & Daily News http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20100427/NEWS01/4270327/1002/rss/Salazar-visits-Milford-High
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