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Environment: Wind Farming In Texas – Posted by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)


Finding methods of alternative energy is one of the most important environmental tasks facing our country. So it is interesting (and a bit ironic) that wind farming is sprouting up on the oil fields of Texas.The Care2 News Network reported on this story from an article in The New York Times – Move Over, Oil There’s Money in The Texas Wind Here are some excerpts from the article…

Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.

. . .

The United States recently overtook Spain as the world’s second-largest wind power market, after Germany, with $9 billion invested last year. A recent study by Emerging Energy Research, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., projected $65 billion in investment from 2007 to 2015.

. . .

But the opposition has been limited, and has done little to slow the rapid growth of wind power in Texas. Some Texans see the sleek new turbines as a welcome change in the landscape.

“Texas has been looking at oil and gas rigs for 100 years, and frankly, wind turbines look a little nicer,” said Jerry Patterson, the Texas land commissioner, whose responsibilities include leasing state lands for wind energy development. “We’re No. 1 in wind in the United States, and that will never change.”

From 12 Degrees of Freedom

For all of you who think the nation’s strongest advocates for wind energy are maturing counterculturalists from the 1960’s, wait a second. Take a look at what’s going on in Texas.

Government officials in Texas are taking wind energy very seriously. So are many (current and former) oil developers and investors. The Lone Star State leads the nation in installed wind energy and wind turbines now provide Texas with three percent of its electricity needs.

From The Blue Voice

The mid-Texas town of Sweetwater – heretofore famous as the place where the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup is held, is fast becoming known as the wind-power capital of the USA.

From Huffington Post – Texas Turning Into The Capital of Wind Power

The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks’s ranch are twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he is paid $500 a month apiece to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76 more on the way.

“That’s just money you’re hearing,” he said as they hummed in a brisk breeze recently.

From Solve Climate – Chronicle For a New America Fabled Oilman Sinking $10 Billion in Wind Farms

Say the name T. Boone Pickens and you think: legendary Texas oilman and corporate raider. Think a little more and you might remember he bankrolled the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry with a $3 million contribution. So what are we to make of this soaring leap into green energy by a Texas money man with impeccable right wing credentials?

Also See:

The Fireside – Money Blowing in the Wind

Nuclear Green – Responses of the Reliability of WindWind Power Racing Past Oil In Texas

Behold the Power of Wind

So, is wind power are future? What do you think?