[Vogelzang]

Some farmers and land owners have gotten rich recently from oil and natural gas on their properties. link and link

[emersonbiggins]

Mineral wealth does wonders for the towns located in and around the basin. We could be witnessing a renaissance in this part of the country, and it seems nowhere is it more sorely needed.

[Plantagenet]

Same deal with wind power. T. Boone Pickens makes a big point of the positive effect his giant wind power plan can have on farms and small towns in the development areas.

[smallpoxgirl]

Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed. A poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed.

[Eli]

Had a chance to buy my Grandfathers old stripper wells, they were only producing about 3,000 a month.

Now those same wells would be producing about 20,000.

[joeltrout]

Stripper wells were given away in the 80s and 90s, literally given away. Now those who took them are making a ton of money.

One person's trash is another's treasure.

joeltrout

[f2tornado]

Not just mineral owners. An article in Fortune recently noted how scrub land in the Mojave Desert that was going for as little as $500/acre a few years ago can now fetch $10k or more if the land is near electric transmission lines.
[url=http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/07/technology/woody_solar.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008071104]The solar land grab is on.
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