Excuse me if I'm not quite as excited about a cap and trade tax on my electricity as wind enthusiast Joe Richardson is. I believe I'll side with the North Dakota Legislature and the Industrial Commission, who want to see hard-and-fast numbers about what the true cost of a cap and trade tax is to the North Dakota economy.

My business is among the millions that have been impacted by the downturn in the American economy and the last things I need are 1) a new tax on energy; 2) higher priced energy; and 3) less reliable electricity if too much of my power is generated by a wind farm.

Electricity from wind can supplement baseload sources of power such as our state's coal-based power plants, but it can't replace them. Paying more for less reliable electricity seems like a huge inconvenience - especially for the patients at our local hospitals who rely on electricity for breathing machines, dialysis and other fine-tuned technology.

I think we all need to remember that there's a huge difference between the size of a wind farm and the energy capacity the wind farm is able to deliver. At best, North Dakota wind farms are able to produce energy at a 40 percent capacity factor. That means if you have a 100-megawatt wind farm, you will generate 40 megawatts of electricity. And, of course, if the wind is not blowing, the energy isn't flowing. So, the next time you read about the abundance of wind in North Dakota, question how much of the wind can be captured and at what cost.