Does anyone else hear an echo of the ethanol boom from three summers ago?

You remember. Every couple of weeks the state touted another plant to make the ethanol that would help free us from dependence on foreign oil. At one point developers had plans for enough refineries to produce nearly 1 billion gallons of ethanol a year in Indiana.

Along the way to energy independence, everyone would benefit: Farmers would get higher prices for their corn, people near the plants would get jobs and Indiana would reap the benefit from both.

Alas, we were drunk on the corn liquor, and things didn't turn out quite that way. Money dried up and tax breaks weren't as effective as hoped. Indiana is at least 200 million gallons short of the hoped-for annual capacity.

Gov. Mitch Daniels this week joined other Midwest governors asking the federal government to boost the ethanol blended into gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent to spur the market.

All of this makes the effort to erect two giant wind farms in Boone County, the state's second-windiest locale, worth watching. Putting in the 300-foot turbines is one thing in sparsely populated Benton County, but as Boone County's executive director of the area plan commission, Steve Niblick, said: "We are different than other counties with wind farms."

Changing the county's zoning will be hard enough, but if wealthy opponents appear -- and that's likely -- the two companies trying to assemble at least 14,000 acres for the turbines will have to adjust their plans.

If all 260 of the proposed turbines are put up, they will produce about 400 megawatts of power, or about as much as a midsize coal-burning plant. That's if the wind is blowing and there is an effective way to transport that power from the windmills to the grid.

Reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil makes perfect sense. The gold-rush mentality of alternative energy developers does not.

When investments implode

Dozens of Hoosier investors who lost money in Morgan Keegan & Co. accounts may have their cases against the Regions Financial Corp. subsidiary bolstered by the federal government.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Atlanta office issued so-called Wells notices last week to two Regions investment companies and three unnamed employees. The notices indicate the SEC "intends to recommend that the commission bring enforcement action for possible violations of the federal securities laws."

Usually that means the government is ready to start settlement talks. Regions disputes the SEC's assertions, spokesman Tim Deighton said, but is "cooperating fully."

Three local investors have won arbitration cases against Morgan Keegan after their investments tanked, including Jo Harmon, Whitestown, who got $18,000. Attorney Mark Maddox has about 75 more pending cases.

The funds were heavily invested in securities backed by subprime loans and were devastated when the market melted down. "If Wall Street didn't understand the nature of these investments, there is no way that Joe Lunchpail investor could," Maddox said.

Just don't expect a bailout.