http://www.statesman.com/business/content/...5/1205wind.html

 

The famed King Ranch and a coalition of environmental groups sued Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson in federal court Tuesday, seeking to require extensive environmental review and public comment on two planned wind power projects along the Gulf Coast in Kenedy County.

 

The coalition, the Coastal Habitat Alliance, also sued over the wind project in state District Court in Travis County. That suit claims that the state's Public Utility Commission illegally denied the alliance's request to participate in permit hearings for the wind project's transmission line.

 

The lawsuits threaten to delay or stop the two massive wind projects, which could place more than 600 turbines on 60,000 acres near Laguna Madre, south of Corpus Christi. Part of the wind projects would place about 250 turbines just east of a portion of the sprawling King Ranch.

 

The federal suit, filed in U.S. Western District Court in Austin, said the turbines could kill untold numbers of migratory birds and damage the bay. It seeks to overturn the decision by the Texas General Land office, which Patterson heads, to allow the projects to be built without environmental review or input from the public. The suit contends that the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 and the Texas Coastal Management Program require a permit process for any energy generation facility on the coast, including wind farms.

 

Besides King Ranch Inc., the coastal alliance includes four Gulf Coast-area Aubudon societies and several local environmental organizations.

 

The land office said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

 

The federal suit also names the wind project developers: PPM Energy Inc., a Portland, Ore.-based subsidiary of Spanish utility Iberdrola SA; and Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown Ltd. PPM officials did not return a call for comment; Babcock & Brown could not be reached for comment.

 

Houston lawyer Jim Blackburn, the coastal alliance's lead lawyer, said the federal coastal management act "mandates that Texas must conduct environmental assessments of all energy projects, including wind, in order to receive federal money."

 

King Ranch backed unsuccessful legislation earlier this year that would have required the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to establish a permit process to take into account the environmental consequences of wind turbines.

Environmentalists suing to stop a wind farm?! What's more important, the occasional bird carcass or stopping "man-made global warming"?

Environmentalists just have contempt for humanity. They think fossil fuels are evil though they are the reason we don't live in rags anymore. And they hate dams because they make sendiment pile up. And they hate windmills because birds die.

 

These people should not be given so much attention from the press.

First off Jerry Patterson is a freaking moron in so many ways.

 

 

Anytime that idiot can get sued is great, and the sooner his stupid self it out of office the better for Texas.

 

 

Secondly, there have supposedly been environmental studies done on this.

 

Thirdly, this is all because the King Ranch is mad, as I believe they are a major benefactor behind this entire organization.

 

 

I wouldnt exactly call these people environmentalists, they use that as a mask for what they truly are. They think it harms King Ranch and dont want this to gain any steam, I forget the reasons, other than the Kenedy Ranch stands to make a lot of money off this.

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/...5/1205wind.html

 

The federal suit, filed in U.S. Western District Court in Austin, said the turbines could kill untold numbers of migratory birds and damage the bay.

It's true. This is a serious problem. The birds are attracted to the magical whooshing sounds of the windmills and are unable to resist the tempting beauty of the 40' blades travelling at speeds upwards of 20 rotations per minute. Damn things are like booby trapped cuisinarts. :|