November 2, 2015
Texas

‘Clay County Against Wind Farms’ to meet about more wind farms

11/02/2015 | www.texomashomepage.com

‘Clay County Against Wind Farms’ is meeting on Tuesday at 7p.m. at The Rock Barn in Henrietta to discuss their reasons for opposition on additional wind farms in Clay County.

Currently, crews continue to work on constructing the Shannon Wind Farm in Clay County.

Officials said the energy produced will power a massive Facebook center that will soon be built in north Fort Worth.

“Before or about the time that construction actually started, Facebook bought the energy from the farm,” said Clay County Judge Kenneth Liggett, said. “Now I’ve been asked how can they buy energy from the farm but actually they’re buying energy from the grid, about the same amount that the farm produces.”

Judge Liggett said the wind farm will bring $8 million to the county.

“For a county as small as Clay County, 8 million dollars over that would be the same as two years worth of taxes,” Judge Liggett said.

The Shannon Wind Farm will be completed in December, but a local wind farm opposition group said there is discussion of two additional wind farms within the county.

‘Clay County Against Wind Farms’ will meet on Tuesday night in Henrietta to educate the community and commissioners on what this group says are the negative impacts of wind farms.

So what are those negative impacts?

“Put yourself in some logical shoes on this and ask yourself: If you and your significant other were buying a home right now… Would you want to buy one sitting underneath a wind turbine?” ‘Clay County Against Wind Farms,’ John Greer, said. Or within eye shot of a wind turbine? It doesn’t make any sense at all. And so land values are the ones most significantly affected by this.”

Greer said the group is not here to tell landowners what to do with their land.

“But where we draw the line… is where the commissioners come in and grant a tax abatement zone for these wind farms that basically encourages and endorses this type of thing that is beneficial for one or two or three different landowners and detrimental in terms of a variety of things to all of the surrounding land owners within a five mile radius,” Greer said.

When they grant these tax abatement zones (in order for the wind farms to be built), then the county commissioner’s court is inviting Eminent Domain on the properties nearby the wind farms, according to Greer.

Because it takes power lines to run the wind farms.

“So we look at it is … if a commissioner’s court grants a tax abatement zone they are basically inviting Eminent Domain into the outside, which we do not want and that is kind of where we stand against it,” Greer said.

They expect a few commissioners, who said they want to learn more about those negative impacts, to attend the meeting.

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[This article has been modified slightly to correct a typographical error in the original ~NWW ed.]

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/11/02/clay-county-against-wind-farms-to-meet-about-more-wind-farms/