September 29, 2007
Texas
Texas
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has agreed to consider at its Oct. 17 meeting whether a coalition of conservation organizations can fight two wind farms proposed for the Texas Coast.
“We’re very pleased that they will listen to our point of view,” said Winnie Burkett of the Houston Audubon Society. “We think there should be public input to this kind of decision. We’re worried because these wind farms and this transmission line are in the middle of a major migratory corridor.”
Australian-based Babcock & Brown Ltd and PPM Energy, which is owned by the Spanish company Iberdrola, want to build the first wind farms on the Texas Coast in Kenedy County.
The Coastal Habitat Alliance, a combination of the King Ranch and local and national environmental organizations, is fighting the plans. Because permits are not needed to site power generation facilities in Texas, the group is fighting the transmission line that would serve the farms’ 241 turbines.
An administrative law judge has already denied the alliance status to protest the project. The alliance asked the PUC to overturn that ruling, which the PUC has now agreed to consider.
“If this hadn’t happened, we would be out of luck,” said alliance attorney James Blackburn.
By Anton Caputo
Express-News Staff Writer
29 September 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/09/29/wind-farm-opponents-to-appeal-to-puc/