Posted on 05/11/2006 1:22:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
AUSTIN, Texas - The nation's largest offshore wind farm will be built off the Padre Island seashore, a critical migratory bird flyway, Texas officials announced Thursday.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson lauded what he said would be an 40,000-acre span of turbines about 400 feet tall able to generate energy to power 125,000 homes.
"The wind rush is on," Patterson said. "We want to be number one. We want to attract the businesses that build the turbines, that build the blades. ... We want to be the leader in the United States, if not the world."
Superior Renewable Energy Inc., based in Houston, would build the farm and pay the estimated $1 billion to $2 billion construction costs.
But some environmentalists say the promise of clean energy may not be worth the deaths of countless birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.
"You probably couldn't pick a worse location, unless you're trying to settle the issue as to how damaging they are to migratory birds," said Walter Kittelberger, chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation. Laguna Madre is the strip of water between the mainland and Padre Island.
The offshore wind farm is the second announced in less than a year for the Texas Coast, joining 50 wind turbines planned off Galveston.
It would have up to 500 turbines looming off Texas ranch land and spinning up to 500 megawatts of electricity.
The nation's largest currently operating wind farm is on the Stateline Wind Energy Center on the Oregon-Washington border, which produces about 300 megawatts of electricity. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. produces 9,149 megawatts of wind power, enough to power 2.3 million homes annually. President Bush has said wind energy could produce 20 percent of the nation's electricity.
Wind farm plans have also sparked disputes, including a bitter fight over a proposed 130-turbine wind farm off Cape Cod, Mass., where the residents fear the turbines will be unsightly.
In Texas, the state controls waters up to 10.3 miles off the coast and can make quick deals with developers, Patterson said. He said this project would be located off a remote, unpopulated part of Padre Island National Seashore.
"Those who are concerned about view sheds shouldn't have a problem," he said. "There's nobody there to look at it."
A wind farm off the coast of Scotland. The Bush administration has weighed in against a plan advancing in Congress that would empower the Massachusetts governor to block the nation's first offshore wind farm from being built in Nantucket Sound. (File/Reuters)
"a critical migratory bird flyway"
It's not about the birds; it's about hurting America.
a critical migratory bird flyway
I like this guy's spirit and guts.
I wonder what the output will be when a hurricane blows through.
Indeed! Animals are tasty treats - just don't eat my dog.
I hope this article is accurate - funded by private sources.
I also hope that PETA (all of them) ties themselves to one of the fans after it's built. The birds could pick their bones before being sliced for dinner. Feast then provide one :-)
1.21 Gigiwatts!
Probably zero ...
Padre Island is sure one windy place, even when teenage boys are not there for spring break or post graduation celebrations, gulping all of those brewskies and scarfing tacos.
Then it really get's windy but that's not off shore wind and you certainly don't want to be down wind from them.
If the Kennedies steer boats as badly as they do planes and cars, I don't think I would want to build anything valuable near where they drink.
"But some environmentalists say the promise of clean energy may not be worth the deaths of countless birds ..."
These morons will never be satisfied.
I can think of plenty of reasons to oppose wind farms...but this is not one of them.
Most environmentalist's feet never leave the concrete. ...much less seen how high migrating birds fly.
I bet the fishing will be great around these man-made "reefs".
The "environmentalists" would block a damn windfarm on the moon. A bunch a blowhards that should all be forced to live in caves.
As slow as these things turn any bird that can't get out of the way should be subject to the forces of Darwinism.
bttt
I would think that birds would learn to recognize and avoid a threat within a generation or two.
I don't know what migratory birds they are talking about but if it was a danger to seagulls I wouldn't be worried. Anyone who has had a house on the Texas coast knows we could do with fewer flying poop factories. And pigeons!!!!!! don't get me started on them!!
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