As we’ve traveled across the country on the Veterans for American Power tour, we’ve talked a lot about the budding clean energy industry, and the possibilities for major expansion of that industry with passage of comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.  But we haven’t had much chance to see the clean energy revolution up close and personal.

Until now.

Last Saturday, on a beautiful early Spring day, we braved the winding backcountry roads of rural New Hampshire to visit the Lempster Mountain Wind Power Project and meet the Onnelas, the family that owns the land.  These 12 wind turbines produce a full 24 megawatts of energy — enough to power 10,000 homes.  And all without disrupting the lives of the Onnelas, who live just a few hundred feet away from one of the windmills.

Just as interesting as the wind turbines themselves are the folks who own the land.  Much like the generals and analysts at the Pentagon and CIA who have identified climate change and oil dependency as a security threat, land owner Kevin Onnela is not your typical clean energy advocate.  He drives a well-used pickup truck, drinks Coors Light from the can, and pointedly refers to himself politically as “somewhere between Republican and middle-of-the-road Tea Party.”

But at his heart, Kevin basically wants what most Americans, liberal and conservative, want:  to maintain his self-reliance and live the way he wants to live.

In a larger sense, this should be our goal as a nation as well.  We need to stop relying on petro-dictators who don’t have America’s best interests at heart.  America needs to stand up, take back control, and put together an energy policy that strengthens our security through clean, American power.

In Lempster, on the top of a mountain in rural New Hampshire, we saw the future — the leading edge of a movement towards clean energy that will help us defeat terrorism and make America great again.

So call your Senators now and urge them to support clean energy and climate legislation.

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