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Washington, D.C. — Television ads set to run this week in Colorado and Iowa will thank members of Congress who are some of American wind power's biggest champions. The television ads thank U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and U.S. Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa and Senator Mark Udall of Colorado for their legislative leadership and their frequent, strong and proactive public support for wind energy.

These champions demonstrate wind's strong bipartisan support in Congress. It is because of their leadership that American wind power is the mainstream source of electricity it is today and one of the biggest, fastest, cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions while creating good-paying jobs and saving consumers money.

The television ads are available at the following YouTube links:

- Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) – http://bit.ly/1rjm5aR

- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) – http://bit.ly/1tqIwKx

- Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) – http://bit.ly/1nawqE1

The Colorado television ad features wind technology instructor Shawn Lamb of Aurora, Colorado, who trains students seeking to join the wind and renewable energy workforce. Both of the Iowa television ads feature Rob Hach of Anemometry Specialists in Alta, Iowa. Anemometry Specialists helps provide their customers with technology capable of measuring where wind power is the strongest.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is responsible for creating the ads and will follow these TV ads with additional initiatives to thank the many other Republican and Democratic wind champions.

Supporters can show their support for these wind champions by sharing these YouTube video links on Twitter with the following Tweets:

- "Wind champions in Congress, "Thank you" for your support for American #windpower http://bit.ly/1p28ekB"

- "#Colorado thanks @MarkUdall for his leadership in supporting American #windpower http://bit.ly/1rjm5aR"

- "#Iowa thanks both @ChuckGrassley and @BruceBraley for supporting American #windpower http://bit.ly/1p28ekB"

Wind power supports up to 8,000 jobs in Iowa and Colorado combined and has attracted $14.3 billion in capital investment to these states' local economies. American wind power attracts as much as $25 billion a year in private investment and supports as many as 85,000 jobs.

AWEA is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry, with 1,000 member companies, including global leaders in wind power and energy development, wind turbine manufacturing, component and service suppliers, and the world's largest wind power trade show, the AWEA WINDPOWER Conference & Exhibition, which takes place next in Orlando, FL, May 18-21, 2015. AWEA is the voice of wind energy in the U.S., promoting renewable energy to power a cleaner, stronger America. Look up information on wind energy at the AWEA website. Find insight on industry issues at AWEA's blog Into the Wind. Join AWEA on Facebook. Follow AWEA on Twitter.