Apr. 22--LAMAR -- Southeastern Colorado is seeing some pretty tough times in its battle with Mother Nature.

There's an ongoing drought that is drying farm and ranch lands; two blizzards buried the area, killing about 10,000 cattle in late December; and a lethal tornado whipped the town of Holly just last month. With all the obstacles laid in front of them, area leaders and residents are looking to renewable energy to help boost the economy in the region. Strong winds in flat, dusty Southeastern Colorado have become the area's best friend, with wind farms sprouting like spring flowers. PPM Energy, ScottishPower's competitive U.S. energy business, is constructing the 75-megawatt Twin Buttes Wind Power Project west of Lamar in the southeast corner of Bent County.

The Twin Buttes project will run adjacent to the Colorado Green Wind Power project, the fifth largest wind farm in the nation and the largest in the state, spanning 11,840 acres of grassland between Lamar and Springfield. With 108 wind turbines on line, the Lamar wind farm, which is jointly owned by PPM Energy and Shell WindEnergy Inc., is located 23 miles south of Lamar. Power generated by the Twin Buttes project will be delivered under a long-term contract to Colorado customers of Xcel Energy. Xcel also receives the entire output of the Colorado Green Wind Project. The project, which is scheduled for completion by the end of the year, will span approximately 9,000 acres owned by seven people.

PPM officials say the actual footprint of the turbines covers less than 2 percent of the total acreage. The remainder continues to be used for ranching and grazing. The Twin Buttes project will use 50 GE 1.5 MW turbines. The Twin Buttes project is expected to create an average of between 40 and 50 jobs during construction. In addition to the creation of five to six full-time jobs in the community, the project initially is expected to provide several hundred thousand dol ars a year in property tax revenues. "We are in heavy-duty construction right now," said Jan Johnson, a spokeswoman for PPM. Johnson said construction was slowed because of the back-to-back blizzards over the Christmas and New Year's Day weekends, but everything is moving smoothly now.

"We started back up again in early March," she said. Officials say there are several private groups in Southeastern Colorado testing for future wind projects. One group called Baca Green Energy, which consists of local farmers and landowners, is trying to establish a wind farm near Springfield. They are hoping to build a large wind farm of 100 or more generators. In August, the group received an $80,000 grant to install meteorological towers that will gather wind data. Fred Hefley, a spokesman for Baca Green Energy, said the group has installed seven towers that are compiling data every day. The data collected from these towers is sent to wind energy developers to see if they can entice someone to construct a wind farm in the tested area.

People in the valley are also looking for the production of energy through biofuels. In August, an East Coast company that manages small-scale ethanol plants and grain production facilities announced plans to build ethanol plants in Ordway and Lamar. Liquidmaize LLC, an ethanol development and management company, wants to build an ethanol plant at the Ordway Feedlot, about two miles east of town and another at the Four States North Feed Yard, seven miles north of Lamar on County Road 8. The faciliti s would create about 10 jobs each. Officials with the company say that planning for the plants are in preliminary stages.

A Front Range biodiesel fuel company has announced plans to open the area's first biodiesel refinery at the former Bay Valley Foods facility. Colorado Biodiesel, a group of investors from Colorado Springs and Denver, has purchased the former pickle factory, which has been idle for nearly a year. Officials in La Junta say the operation is in planning stages. 123456 Twin Buttes Wind Power Project, west of Lamar Colorado Green Wind Power project, Lamar and Springfield Lamar wind farm, 23 miles south of Lamar Baca Green Energy, near Springfield Liquidmaize LLC ethanol plants, Ordway and Lamar Colorado Biodiesel, La J nta