Mexico looks for alternative energy

LA VENTOSA, Mexico - Mexico inaugurated one of the world's largest wind farm projects yesterday as the nation looks for alternative energy, in part to compensate for falling oil production.

Mexico is trying to exploit its rich wind and solar potential after relying almost exclusively on petroleum for decades. With oil production down by 9.2 percent in 2008, Mexico is turning to foreign companies, mainly Spanish, to tap its renewable riches.

"If we don't do something about this problem of climate change it probably could become - I'm sure it already is - one of the biggest threats to humanity," said President Felipe Calderón at the inaugural ceremony attended by about 1,000 residents, many of whom held on to their cowboy hats on this wind-swept day.

The new, $550 million project is in a region so breezy that the main town is named La Ventosa, or "Windy." It's on the narrow isthmus between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.

ASSOCIATED PRESS