• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota board has approved a $16 million loan to build a regional wastewater treatment system at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City.
• A state fund that supports wastewater, storm water and pollution-control projects will provide the money to the Ellsworth Development Authority, which is working on projects to help ensure the air base is not closed.
• Gov. Dennis Daugaard says the low-interest loan will finance a regional wastewater treatment system that will meet the needs of Ellsworth Air Force Base and the nearby community of Box Elder.
• Officials say existing wastewater treatment facilities at the air base and Box Elder need upgrades to comply with surface-water discharge standards. They say a regional system will cost much less to operate than two separate systems would.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A new report from the U.S. Energy Department says

that South Dakota in 2011 had the capacity to generate about 22 percent of its electricity from wind energy, ranking first among all states.
• Energy Secretary Steven Chu says that wind power represented 32 percent of all new electric capacity additions in the United States last year and accounted for $14 billion in new investment.
• The department says that the percentage of wind equipment made in America also increased dramatically.
• Nearly 70 percent of

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