St. Lucie County Commission Chairman Joe Smith climbed, looked at and listened to windmills in Texas on Wednesday and said afterward, "nothing I saw made me nervous." ...He compared the noise to the sound of an airplane flying overhead. But the sound isn't loud enough to prevent conversation. "Standing at the base, there was a hum from the windmill," he said. "When the wind blows, you hear it more than the hum." The wind was blowing 8 miles per hour, so he couldn't tell if they're noisier at higher wind speeds.

A contingent of landowners voiced opposition to the proposed Roadrunner Windfarm project during the Brown County Commissioners Court meeting Monday. Proposed abatement agreements for the wind farm project were up for approval Monday, but Commissioners tabled the item so they could determine exactly how much tax revenue the project could mean for Brown County. "We have to look at this from all sides," said Brown County Judge Ray West. "Whether we have input from six or eight landowners or not, we have to consider the other 35,000 taxpayers (in Brown County) -- especially if it means tax dollars for the county." The Roadrunner Windfarm is a $450 million project proposed in Comanche, Brown and Mills counties. Construction on the 150-turbine project, proposed by Renewable Energy Systems, Americas, Inc., could begin as early as 2009. Several Brown County landowners are opposed to the project.

County Administrator Doug Anderson and Commission Chairman Joe Smith, along with a videographer, will travel to Abilene, Texas, next week to view Florida Power & Light's Horse Hollow Wind Energy Centers, which have more than 400 wind turbines on almost 60,000 acres in two counties. Other commissioners have not committed to going, but may still join the trip, according to a county spokesman. FPL's proposal to put nine wind turbines on Hutchinson Island in St. Lucie County - four potentially on public land - has been a divisive issue. Those against the project protested during a tour of the possible sites in December and have been vocal in meetings and in letters and e-mails to county commissioners.

Though corporate spokesmen say they will not formally present them to the Cooke County Commissioners Court, FPL Energy recently collected about 1,000 signed petitions favoring a proposed development of 60-100 industrial wind generators in northwest Cooke and northeastern Montague counties. “There is a petition — the purpose of which was to show the county commissioners that, despite what they hear from a handful of vocal opponents, there is strong support among their constituents for the wind project,” said Mary Wells, a spokesperson for FPL Energy, a division of FPL Group which also owns Florida Power and Light and about 50 wind farms in the nation. “In two days, more than 1,000 signatures were gathered.” ...On Nov. 26 the Cooke County Commissioners Court took no action to grant or deny FPL Energy an abatement of county taxes for about 10,200 acres in western Cooke County north of Muenster where the generators would be situated.

But what happens when a good idea is put in the wrong place? "You've gotta look at the ecological setting. And some settings are wrong for it," said Jim Blackburn, a Houston-based environmental lawyer working for the Coastal Habitat Alliance, CHA. Projects by two companies now underway would put 600 wind turbines about 400 feet tall along the South Texas coast. That's where millions of migratory birds must pass through to fly south for the winter. "It's a world-class worst site," said Blackburn. CHA and other coastal environmental groups say the blades will kill the birds, and project threatens valuable Texas wetlands. But the companies behind the wind farms don't need any state permits to build.

NRG Energy has decided to abandon plans to build wind turbines in Gillespie County, a move hailed this week by county residents and local officials. "Based on environmental and economic data, there are more promising sites," said Dave Knox, a spokesman for NRG Texas. "We don't normally say we aren't considering something," Knox added, "but this time we thought it was appropriate to let people in Gillespie County know." NRG and its wind subsidiary, Padoma Wind Power LLC, became the target of criticism this fall after obtaining an undetermined number of leases to build wind turbines in the Fredericksburg area. Local residents fought back by forming a group, Save our Scenic Hill Country.

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and windmills are no exception. One windmill is taller than the Statue of Liberty. Its huge turbine is longer than an 18-wheeler, and each one can generate enough power for more than 500 homes. From the air you can see them on almost every mesa, stretching for miles. ..."I'm offended that my neighbor would sell himself for money and not care what it did to me," Dale Rankin said. "I'm all for people making money. I'm all for people making a profit, having an income, but I think you need to be considerate of your neighbors when you're in that pursuit."

Boone Pickens wants some help building his wind farm, and he's asking taxpayers to provide it. The Gray County Commissioners Court approved a reinvestment zone Friday to cover the northern one third of the county. "It's not just for Mesa Power," said County Judge Richard Peet. But Mesa has asked four other counties to do the same thing. The company has also asked for tax abatements for the sizeable wind farm it wants to build. At 4,000 megawatts, it would be the world's largest. That would be five times the size of Horse Hollow, a 735-megawatt installation near Abilene that currently is the largest.

Two proposed Kenedy County wind energy projects totaling more than $1 billion have received a vital boost -- state approval of a transmission line that would allow them to connect to the state's power grid. ...King Ranch opposes tax abatements for PPM. Ranch company CEO Jack Hunt has asserted that the county and school district could lose as much as $60 million in a 10-year period if PPM received the abatements it has requested. Area environmentalists say the turbines would endanger birds.

Texas public utility regulators have approved plans for a $60 million transmission-line project in South Texas, a victory for two proposed wind farms that have placed two of the nation's biggest ranches at odds. The state's Public Utility Commission on Tuesday OK'd the application of AEP Texas, a division of Ohio-based American Electric Power, to build a 21-mile transmission line and switching stations that would interconnect the two wind farms in Kenedy County, Texas. ...The approval notice says AEP will consult with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before construction begins to ensure compliance with wetland regulations and with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on permit requirements related to the possible effect on endangered and threatened species.

There's a new sound out on the green grid of cotton fields that make up what West Texans affectionately call the "Big Country." Joining the hum of a seemingly ever-present wind is the rhythmic whoosh of spinning carbon-fiber blades on dozens of huge wind turbines. ...Climate change experts say projects like the Roscoe wind farm could be essential to slowing climate change. They note the electricity generated by an 800-megawatt wind farm is essentially pollution-free. But people here aren't spending a lot of time thinking about how they're saving the planet. In fact, a lot of them are dubious of the whole concept of global warming. ...Out here, the excitement over the wind farm is all about another kind of green [money].

Lack of action on a tax abatement for a company looking to build a series of wind generators in western Cooke and eastern Montague counties could send the alternative energy project to other counties, a spokesman said Monday. The Cooke County Commissioners Court took no action in its Monday meeting to give or deny Florida Power and Light a tax abatement for a series of gargantuan wind-powered electric generators on about 10,000 acres in western Cooke County. ...“The lack of action will probably kill this deal, and we’ll now have to reconsider our investment in Cooke County,” Edwin Giraldo, project manager for Florida Power and Light, said in an interview following the meeting. ...“The bottom line is that there is opposition to the windfarm, regardless of the benefits it would provide,” he said.

Wind energy and wind farms are hot topics in Texas, and many hunters are worried. Gary Donohoe of Royse City leases property for deer hunting near Sterling City, and has watched from his deer blinds as the wind turbines get closer each year. "The turbines are coming our way," he said, noting his landowner is talking to wind energy companies. ...Webb, a TWA member, said the energy companies aren't that hunter-friendly. "They don't like hunting, I don't care what they say," he said. If a landowner was silent regarding hunting issues during the negotiations, "the contract would say no hunting," he said.

Tax subsidies have largely been an unchallenged tool for governments seeking to attract businesses, but some public officials say the policies for granting them need to be more sharply drawn and to provide more information to the public. Tax subsidies granted by local school boards, for example, cost the state about $150 million a year, yet the state is just now asking the boards to account for the money they're giving away. The office of Texas Comptroller Susan Combs sent letters Nov. 6 to 38 school districts, asking for financial information on subsidies they have given to companies ranging from wind farm operators to corporate data centers.

But some Gillespie County residents are concerned that their Hill Country idyll is in jeopardy. Their worries focus on a movement that's usually viewed as highly desirable: the building of wind farms to produce electricity. A new organization, Save Our Scenic Hill Country, says an energy company seeks to build wind turbines north of Fredericksburg. ...And members of Save Our Scenic Hill Country have been shocked to learn there are no state or federal rules regarding where wind turbines are built. "How can they have no accountability to any government organization or to anybody?" Tynan said. "In Gillespie you have to jump through more hoops to put a septic tank on your property than a $200 million wind farm. You can't put a septic near your neighbor, but you can put a wind farm along a fence line."

Spencer Jones normally spends his day behind a desk in Garland. This weekend he's visiting Fredericksburg and the hill country. "One of the things I wanted to do was see this place," he said. He's referring to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.The giant granite dome attracts a quarter of a million visitors a year, many hike the trail to the summit. ...Robert Weatherford is the president of Save Our Scenic Hill Country, a group of land owners working to keep wind farms out of the area. "You will literally be able to see them for miles. So we do think that it would destroy the scenic beauty of the Texas hill country," Weatherford said.

A massive wind farm project in Gray County is on hold today because County Commissioners decided more information is needed. The wind farm is proposed by T. Boone Pickens, who would like Northern Gray County to be designated as a reinvestment zone so they can apply for a tax abatement. ..."So many people here that have built Gray County and they've paid their taxes, year, after year, after year. I just feel like Mr. Pickens and his wind farm machine, I think he ought to pay his fair share of taxes if he's going to come in here." said Kathleene Greene of Pampa.

Pickens' wind farm will involve the northern part of Gray County concerning placement of wind generators, and the entire county may be affected by placement of a transmission line to carry the generated electricity to his customers, Peet said at commissioners' Oct. 15 meeting. The proposed wind farm will include about 1,400 generators, compared to 80 at the wind farm near White Deer, Peet said.

An NBC 5 investigation revealed that north Texans who buy wind- and water-generated electricity only receive a very small portion of that clean energy in their homes. Green Mountain Energy customers receive the very same electricity TXU customers do. Once the power is on the grid, there is no way to separate it from one house to another. NBC 5 talked to dozens of people who were all under the impression that if they buy clean energy, they get clean energy. They were surprised to learn that even if they buy green energy, chances are only 2 percent makes it into their homes. "I thought that I was going to be different if I was a Green Mountain user," homeowner Matthew Simpson said.

A provision in the national energy bill that has been stalled by Texas' two senators would probably boost the market for one of the state's fastest-growing sources of power: wind. ...Although wind farms remain expensive to build, they benefit from a federal tax incentive and have become attractive to both traditional utilities and green-power start-ups. But a national standard is opposed by many large utilities and several members of the House from Texas, including Joe Barton of Ennis. ...Skeptics who are against the renewable standard said that wind power doesn't need any more incentives. The technology has taken off so quickly that there is a two-year waiting list to buy wind turbines, said Sen. Pete Domenici, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.