Corpusfishing.com

[kweber]

as some know, the Kenedy Ranch is negotiating putting in a large wind farm just west of the Laguna. the Pres. of the King Ranch is opposed to this. old and historic entities are now at odds over this. any thoughts...
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the creepy uncle that scares the kids....

[rabbit]

They have been unloading them at the port by whattaburger field and shipping them to west texas for the last 6 months or more. Great for tourism. I really enjoy driving on I-10 and looking at the bluffs and mesas and now I can enjoy it more by watching all the windmills also.
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Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

[kingtender]

Whats the function of them. Electricity?

[Bud]

[Lost Cajun]

Living in West Texas I'm pretty use to them now. They really aren't bad to look at and the beneficial aspects of them more than out weigh their negatives.

For starters they are a tremendous economic stimulator the utilities companies employ folks. Next, they are fantastic county government revenue generators because they pay property tax. At $2 million each they can help out with the county tax burden. (Schackleford County will have like 3500 of them when they finish building them out). And of course they produce energy without burning fossile fuels, which helps the enviornment.

[The Trash Heap]

The fear is that multiple tall, fast-moving blades and the migration of birds and bats may not mix well. The wind farm industry in Texas has little regulation so far and no experience in the Central Flyway. Fixed towers, the closest thing to these, already cause a lot of bird mortality in the flyway.

The bats I think will be able to take care of themselves, based on a book, The White Lady, written by naturalist named Dubkin in '52. Time magazine wrote in a review:

[Tailwalk watcher]

One large US investment bank led the effort to raise $1.5 billion of equity for the wind power market in 2006, with approximately $650 million allocated to it's own portfolio. The firm's renewable energy portfolio now comprises approximately $1 billion of equity investments in 26 wind farms since its inception in 2003.

Also, there is the "Federal Production Tax Credit, which is worth "nominally" $18/MWh for the first 10 years of a project has also facilitated the wind energy business. West Texas landowners are also benefiting from wind farms; many are receiving more royalties from leasing their land to wind-energy companies than from oil and gas leases. And cattle producers in West Texas might consider the $50 net revenue per acre for wind, as compared to a $5.00 profit per acre for West Texas cattle.* A landowner can receive $2000 to $5000 per year per wind turbine".

http://www.texasep.org/html/nrg/nrg_3rnw.html
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Become a part of the food chain, wade fish.

Native Texan for more than 5 decades, so not one of those Liberal "cactus huggers".

[Lost Cajun]

I'll get some video next time I'm around some of them, but I don't think anyone would ever consider them fast moving. They may kill a few bats, ducks and geese every now and then, but I'd be amazed if the mortality rate is significant to the population.

In my experience in the radio systems business (13 years), radio towers kill birds because they fly into the thin, hard to see guy wires, almost never towers. Wind generators are much wider and easier for them to see.

There have been wind turbines in West Central Texas for at least a decade. I could be wrong, but that is right in the middle of the Central Flyway that I'm familiar with, (Big Spring to Abilene to Albany). Maybe TPWD would have some data on this?

[iflyabeech]

There are also lots of them in California. Its quite an awesome sight to see.

I agree, these things turn so slowly. You should see birds dodge an airplane. They are not that dumb! If they can see, they won't fly into them. I am sure someone can find a fault with darn near anything we do nowadays!!!
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http://www.thirdcoastoutdoors.com

[steve78412]

The big ones I have seen, the blades turn very slowly.

Steve

[Tarpon_tamer]

I am in abilene where there is a huge wind farm about 20 or so miles outside of town. Those damn things are HUGE . I will try and get some pics of them and post them possibly this weekend.


Mike

Here is a pic of one of the windfarms close to here. Just to give a little perspective as to the size of these things. The blades are over 100' long and the towers stand at roughly 300' feet. Like I said before HUGE.


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www.southbaycustomrods.com

[Big John]

What we have is the need for electricity which does not rely on fossil fule sources, which pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink and fish from, and are running in shorter and shorter supplies.

Our alternatives are few. Solar, but one good hails sotrm knocks them out and they are costly to make and replace.

There is nuclear, but the drawbacks there are very obvious. FYI, nuclear is now cheaper than natural gas per kilowatt produced. But what to do with all the waste, and what if Homer is manning the switches. We'd have another three mile island episode.

So windfarms are clean, efficient and cheap. Over 20% of San Antonio energy is now being produced using windfarms, and the number is climbing.

The blades move really slow. Any birds that are hit by them must be slow themselves, and would have ended up as dinner for some lucky coyote anyway. I would think the mortality rate would be really low, or you'd have piles of dead birds under all of the fans.
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[iflyabeech]

This discussion on birds makes me think of the Darwin Awards.
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http://www.thirdcoastoutdoors.com

[OIL FIELD TRASH]

[Lost Cajun]