There are more than enough wind resources in Texas to provide for the entire electricity consumption of the state. Even if you only consider the areas with high enough wind to be very profitable (class IV and greater) there would be enough wind to provide for 123% of the state's total electricity consumption. http://www.infinitepower.org/reswind.htm
Currently wind power is the single most cost effective source of electricity for a new power plant. Coal and nuclear power are completely obsolete, and with extensive implementation of demand side management, natural gas peaking plants could also become obsolete. In the long run it will become cheaper to build long distance transmission lines to wind-poor areas than to build coal or nuclear power plants. Even if total wind power capacity continues to double every three years, it will be eighteen years before the intermittency of wind becomes a significant enough factor that any additional costs will have to be incurred because of it, to pre-empt likely complaints about that.
Most environmentalists are in favor of wind energy. The most powerful anti-wind lobbies are paid for by rich brats that don't want their coastal view spoiled. Even the british royal society for preservation of birds recognizes that properly placed wind farms pose more of a benefit to birds more from reduced pollution than a threat. Wind farms have an energy payback period of less than six months.
/threadjack
OK, back to cheap gas: I'll believe it when I see it, and expecting gas to rise again after the november elections isn't paranoid, it's appropriately cynical. Low gas prices may very well be the new "october surprise." I haven't seen anyone provide a factual contradiction to Dave's assertion that oil inventories have never dropped, just lots of people calling him paranoid. Maybe you never took logic, but that's called an ad hominem argument and it doesn't fly with me. Just because Dave is paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get him. Of course the evidence is hardly conclusive, but we've been given plenty of reason to be suspicious. Neoconservatives loved the movie "wag the dog" back in the nineties, but avoid all mention of it in the 21st century.
Also regarding the article, this line makes no sense "With oil inventories high, refiners that turn oil into gasoline are expected to cut production." Why would they cut gasoline production just because their oil supply was high? It would be more logical for them to maximize their output in response to decreased supply costs. Of course stockpiling oil inventories while prices are low is a great idea, but cutting usage due to a supply surge defies all logic. "Idaho turned out a record crop of potatoes, so McDonalds is expected to cut french fry production."
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