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• Western Plains plans to buy 17 ½ million bushels of grain sorghum a year from area farmers, and if more biofuel plants begin using sorghum, it has the potential to create a new and much bigger market for those growing the grain.
• "Western Plains will be the first, but from our discussion with ethanol plants they won't be the last," said Cogburn, whose group helped push the EPA to recognize grain sorghum as a base for advanced biofuel. The effort also had support from the National Farmers Union.
• No groups have stepped forward in opposition to approval.
• Western Plains' switch to sorghum had to do with more than just economics, Sheldon said. Most of the company's managers and board members are farmers.
• "And farmers are the ultimate environmentalists," he said. "They have to live on

the land, work the land, raise their kids out there. We want to do our part."
•

• 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 the wind turbines, towers, blades, gears and generators installed at U.S. wind farms last year come from domestic manufacturers, doubling from 35 percent in 2005.
• Aberdeen's Molded Fiber Glass manufactures turbine blades in South Dakota.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A South Dakota woman has pleaded guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
• U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson announced that 20-year-old Kenna Young of Parmelee pleaded to the charge during a court appearance Monday.
• During the February incident, Young drove drunk and crashed her car, killing one person and injuring another.

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