mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
this amendment is part of our continuing effort to diversify our supplies of energy by increasing the amount of wind power we can generate off of our department of the interior lands , principally , our bureau of land management lands . 
it will do so by cutting in half the royalty that is scheduled to be applied under the blm criteria . 
we are actually quite high , probably in the neighborhood of almost twice sometimes what the private sector and private lands charge . 
reduce it from about $ 2 , 300 on average to about $ 1 , 100 per megawatt . 
this is very similar to a provision we passed last year in the energy bill , and it really follows the tremendous growth of wind energy we are experiencing . 
well , actually wind energy is growing about 30 percent a year , which is rather a herculean growth rate that we are having , and that is because we have abundant wind energy , thankfully , in this great land of ours . 
now , we want to maximize it on our public lands . 
i know in many places we are having success with wind . 
in washington state we are proud of the largest wind farm in the north american hemisphere , at state line , washington , which has about 263 megawatts , powers about 25 , 000 homes . 
we have several projects in washington state , in fact , on public land in washington state we have at least 600 acres very eligible for economically efficient production of wind energy . 
so we think this is a way to help boost wind because what we have found is that every time we increase the number of units of wind energy we use , we decrease its price . 
there is a very clear correlation . 
every time the number of units go up by a factor of 10 , prices come down by 20 percent . 
actually , wind energy has been reduced in price this decade by 80 percent . 
it is a pretty spectacular success story . 
wind is not without any impacts . 
it has aesthetic impacts , of course , but we think this is one way to give a boost to an infant , nascent industry that can go up to a place where right now is very close to market-based , really is market-based rates at this time . 
the gentleman from california ( mr. pombo ) xz4003220 was good enough to agree to an amendment in the resources committee to state a national goal of generating 10 , 000 megawatts of renewable energy from our federal lands within the decade . 
this is one small step in that direction . 
so we hope that we will continue the growth of wind . 
this is one very small part of a larger project i am championing called the new apollo energy project , which really will spur the development of high technology . 
let me lastly state that other countries are having successes as well . 
denmark hopes to have 50 percent of their electrical content generated by wind and other renewables in 2025 . 
they are at about 30 percent now . 
this is not pie in the sky ; it is very achievable . 
we want to grow those jobs here in america , eventually have a domestic wind turbine job base , industrial base ; and we have a lot of jobs to create , hooking up those wind turbines . 
we hope that we can pass this amendment . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
