HOME          CATEGORIES          OUR TAKE

Gulf Coast wind farms spring up, as do worries

Texas is the leading producer of wind power in the United States.  Most of the wind farms are located in West Texas, where the highest winds blow and land is plentiful.  In the last few years, wind farms have been springing up along the Gulf Coast in Southern Texas.  Compared to West Texas, these coastal farms supply power that matches more closely with peak demand times.  Also, power is more easily transmitted to customers because the infrastructure already exists.  However, there are a couple of concerns with the coastal location of these newer wind farms.  First, environmental groups such as the Audubon Society argue that the farms may damage coastal wetlands and wildlife; for example, the turbines intersect birds’ migration path and thus the spinning blades may threaten their lives.  Second, a nearby Naval air station is concerned that the turbines may show up on radar appearing as airplanes and interfere with pilot training.  Market competitiveness will also be an issue, as the Public Utility Commission of Texas has approved a 5 billion dollar plan to build transmission lines to wind farms in West Texas between now and 2013.  SC

Comment on this article

ClimateYou moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SHARE THIS ARTICLE


More Posts Like This

CITY TECH BLOG

Understanding the Urgency of Climate Change By City Tech Blogger Michalis Photiou

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges humanity is currently facing. The consequences of climate changes have already begun to affect every aspect of our lives. In this essay, we will explore two of the many impacts of climate change. First, one of the most significant impact

CITY TECH BLOG

My Take on Climate Change By City Tech Blogger Yikai Wu

What changes have I seen in our climate? A very noticeable change that I have seen is the lack of snow. Since the start of the winter season, we have probably received snow around 4-5 times. And even during these “snow days”, all evidence of it having snowed

Take action in the fight against climate change