There are no guarantees with oil and gas; it’s up and down and that’s a fact of life in Wyoming — just like how the wind always blows out here.

A favorite joke of mine is that one time the wind stopped blowing in Wyoming and we all fell down.

Before moving to Powell, I lived in Rock Springs where it was particularly windy since it was where the Rockies opened up east and west, funneling a lot of wind through the area.

A lot of my running was done simply from chasing my hat down and occasionally my garbage can too, if it was particularly breezy.

That’s just how dependable the wind is in the Cowboy State.

We pride ourselves on being an energy producing state and acknowledge that the wind will always blow here. So why not embrace wind energy?

The Power Company of Wyoming is proposing to build 1,000 wind turbines in southern Wyoming and I am thrilled at this idea, and I hope other Wyoming residents are too.

We need jobs, and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s report says it will create up to 1,000 jobs at peak construction. From there, more than 100 permanent jobs will remain for operations and maintenance over the first 20 years of operation.

Now, I’m going to open myself up to the vulnerability that comes with not having been born here. I know Wyoming residents hate it when anyone who isn’t a 50th-generation jackalope rancher suggests something other than oil gets tried out, but I think these guys might be on to something. I mean, they wouldn’t propose doing it if they didn’t see it as potentially profitable.

So let’s take a look down Interstate 80 to my homestate, Iowa. Corn and pig farms aren’t the only farms over there, they also have wind farms — they generate power and tax revenue; and the jobs those wind farms create are coveted high-paying positions for welders and engineers alike.

Wyoming also needs money, and a lot of it too, considering the Legislature recently cut down the state’s budget to the tune of half a billion dollars.

This one project alone won’t solve Wyoming’s financial woes, but it will help. According to the BLM, those 100 jobs will generate $300 million in property tax revenue during construction and its first 20 years of operation.

It is also projected to contribute $232 million from sales taxes and $170 million from wind-electricity tax.

The energy need for our country continues to grow, and this project is expected to generate 3,000 megawatts of power — enough to power nearly 1 million homes, according to the BLM.

There are arguments against wind farms as they can be problematic for wildlife, namely birds, and I get that. Who doesn’t love seeing a red-tailed hawk soaring around?

But if we’re able to maintain our status as an energy producer and do so in a way that creates zero emissions and doesn’t run dry and relocate to drill elsewhere, then why not use a resource that’s even more abundant than sagebrush in Wyoming?

Unlike oil wells, a wind turbine stays in place. There’s no need for habitat reclamation, and the wildlife don’t have to move from one range to another as development sites shift to new spots.

The other argument against wind farms is they are unsightly. I think that’s just a matter of opinion and could be said about any structure that isn’t naturally occurring. (Plus the ones proposed are far enough south of Rawlins that they won’t be getting a lot of guests.)

Personally, I think wind turbines look cool. Seeing a large wind farm is a little bit hypnotic with all of the turbines spinning in unison, and it also is a bit inspiring to see power created just because the wind is blowing. Nothing is getting pumped, shipped, refined, shipped again and burned. It’s just simple source-to-product production and I dig that.

We can wait for oil to turn around, though some predictions are that won’t be for several years. Or, we can take the resources we have and use them to our advantage with an energy resource that we know will always be here.