U-S. Senator Jerry Moran toured the Siemens Energy plant and visited with employees and plant management in Hutchinson Monday evening. Accompanying Sen. Moran along the tour was several representatives of British Petroleum, which is building a large wind farm in south central Kansas.

Senator Moran last week introduced an amendment to the highway bill, S. 1813, currently under debate in the senate, to extend the wind energy production tax credit for one year. The tax credit is set to expire at the end of 2012 and if it is not extended soon, new wind energy development projects and an estimated 37,000 jobs associated with those projects are expected to drop significantly after 2012.

Kansas is ranked second in the United States in wind resource potential and leads the nation in wind capacity currently under construction. With hundreds of Kansans employed in manufacturing and installing wind farm components, Kansas is a national leader in wind energy production.

The tour was at the Siemans wind turbine nacelle facility.