One Nurse’s Campaign
On power grab. A weekly installment of a photo chronicle by Avi Stachenfeld about a congressional race in California’s Central Valley.
Driving east to San Joaquin County, you’ll cross the Altamont Pass, home to the oldest wind farm in the country. Mesmerized by the sight of majestic turbines towering above grasses and peacefully grazing cattle, you may find yourself “oohing” and “aahing.” And then you may gasp again as you descend from the crest of the mountain and the endless vista of the fertile Central Valley opens up.
Few drivers heading over the pass know that in 2015 the wind farm was purchased by Google to power their Googleplex campus in the heart of the Bay Area. The clean energy these turbines generate does not stay in the San Joaquin Valley. Rather, it is diverted to power up Silicon Valley, across the Bay. Dotty Nygard objects to diverting resources from her district, its residents’ land and air. She wants clean energy research and production to benefit her community.
As a progressive congressional candidate, Nygard was recently endorsed by Our Revolution and participated in their national Ask Me Anything online conversation on Reddit on February 20. A number of questions had to do with her position on fossil fuels and alternative energy sources. Here is what she had to say:
“…You know, I’ve really focused most of my clean energy research on solar, hydroelectric and wind power. Out here in the Central Valley, we are known for our windmills. They’re an iconic part of our landscape…We have to protect our environment because it’s our home, and we have to protect our health because it governs everything in our lives.”
Fertile land is not the only natural resource of the San Joaquin Valley. There is plenty of sun and wind, which, now exported, can be harnessed to bring prosperity to the Valley’s residents.
