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How to make money in the wind industry
By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
10/26/09 2:26 PM EDT
Wind Capital Group, a Missouri-based enterprise, just signed on the dotted line to create the largest wind-farm in Missouri. I learned about this deal through T Boone Pickens on Twitter. My first thought when I read the T Boone tweet was "I wonder which politically-connected bigwig is behind the Wind Capital Group. The first sentence of this story gave the answer:
Wind Capital Group, led by President Tom Carnahan, said Monday it has closed on financing for Missouri’s largest wind energy development. [emphasis added]
If that name sounds familiar, that's because Tom's father was the governor of Missouri, his mother was a U.S. Senator from Missouri, his brother Russ is a U.S. Congressman from Missouri, and his sister Robin is the Secretary of State of Missouri, running for Senate.
Anywhere you see large investment in wind energy, look for political connections. Wind giant General Electric is the biggest spender on lobbying over the past decade, and T. Boone Pickens, well, he's well-connected, too.
But it's not just wind in Missouri -- the ethanol folks there are also dialed-in politically. Just ask Andy Blunt, brother of the former governor Matt Blunt.
[In the original version of this post, I mistakenly called Robin Tom's "brother," and erroneously wrote she was running for governor. My apologies.]
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