Monday's Commissioner's Court meeting began as usual with public forum, but a lengthy, animated discussion with members of the gallery regarding action on a proposed county tax abatement for the Senate Wind Project lasted in excess of 90 minutes.

A portion of a wind farm project in Kenedy County has been sold while the rest is up for sale. Australia-based Babcock and Brown is keeping the operation part of the Gulf Wind project, but has sold the rights to its expansion. Initial plans called for a total of 157 wind turbines and thus far 118 are spinning.

County commissioners plan to tackle concerns about the construction of wind farms out near Chapman Ranch. A concerned resident went before commissioners Wednesday saying he's concerned that wind farm companies are signing contracts with private land owners; that type of deal is not regulated by the state and would not require a public hearing.

About 400 landowners from Bell, Burnet, Coryell and Lampasas Counties showed up for a meeting Saturday night hoping to protect their land from an Oncor Electric Delivery Company transmission line project planned in their areas. Oncor's project, dubbed the Newton-Killeen 345 kV Transmission Line, would require clear-cutting an approximately 20-mile long, 160-foot-wide trail to accommodate towers that would transport wind energy through Central Texas.

Millions of birds funnel through the Texas coast before they head north along the Central Flyway, one of the great bird migration routes between South America and the Arctic. This was the first year that wind farms were operating there during the spring migration. One study near the coastal wind farms in Kenedy County, near the Laguna Madre, found that at the peak of fall migration in 2007, 4,000 birds an hour passed in a 1-kilometer-wide band.

Several Maxdale and Ding Dong residents are opposing a proposed power line project for aesthetic and financial reasons. "I live in the country; nobody out here wants this," said Sherry Fisher, a landowner with 450 acres of pristine ranch land that may be disturbed by the new towers. Two weeks ago, Oncor sent newsletters to landowners whose land could be crossed by towers.

Wind on the Texas coast is tempting for energy companies. Unlike other parts of Texas -- the nation's No. 1 wind energy state -- the coast has breezes that blow consistently on summer days, when energy demand peaks. But there's risk, too. Millions of birds funnel through the Texas coast before they head north along the Central Flyway.

Young County commissioners moved a step closer to reaching a tax abatement agreement with Gamesa Energy on Monday by creating a tax reinvestment zone. The zone is a necessary step toward an abatement agreement. Games has announced it plans to build a wind farm that would be mostly in Jack County with 12 turbines extending into Young County.

Despite the attraction of wind as a nearly pollution-free power source, a Texas Tech University wildlife ecologist cautions that a tsunami of modern wind turbines dotting the South Plains of Texas could have as yet unknown ecological consequences on criti And there are plenty of playas on the Texas High Plains and in Eastern New Mexico - approximately 22,000, in fact. Indeed, it's the largest concentration in the world. Playas act as natural water storage sites, providing irrigation water and seasonally recharging the Ogallala, the nation's largest aquifer.

Gamesa Energy asked Young County to expedite its proposal to put a wind farm in the county, with a representative saying getting a tax abatement in place quickly could greatly benefit the school districts. Colin Kelly with Gamesa told commissioners the Texas Legislature was considering a bill that would cap the amount of revenue school districts can get due to wind farms.

The conflict between President Barack Obama's vision and Texas' reality boils down to a mix of politics and industry. While Obama has staked his economic recovery agenda on creating millions of green jobs, Texas depends on carbon dioxide jobs. Texas Republicans, out of power in Washington but still ruling Austin, oppose much of the Democratic energy agenda. Gov. Rick Perry says the policies would "have a devastating impact on the use of fossil fuels" and put "downward pressure on jobs, on our ability to create wealth."

Not in my backyard. That was the sentiment of residents Thursday night when LCRA hosted an open house on the campus of Tally Elementary School. Several hundred residents looked at maps and renderings of proposed transmission lines that might run through Kerr County to a proposed lift station north of Kerrville.

Jack County commissioners received official notice Monday of a new wind energy project during a regular meeting of the court. Representatives from Gamesa Energy were present to detail Senate Wind LLC and lay the groundwork for a request for a re-investment zone. ...Larry Guyton, who owns property in the Senate area, approached the court with concerns about the new project. He said he was representing seven of his neighbors who, because of the lack of notice of the Gamesa presentation, could not attend the meeting.

Some residents who live along one of the proposed paths are concerned about how the power lines will affect the appearance of their natural landscape. Some also are concerned about the preservation of historical sites in the area. Oncor Electric Delivery is one of 13 entities that will be part of this transmission line project, as 850 miles of the project falls in their coverage area. Company officials held area public meetings recently to explain the project. They said feedback was important for them, and they would take that under consideration in choosing routes for the lines.

The Lower Colorado River Authority plans to build, own and operate about 600 miles of new and rebuilt existing transmission lines and facilities ...The project is one of the system improvements deemed necessary by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas and ordered by the PUC to be constructed to meet the mandate of Senate Bill 20, that requires energy production in Texas include 5,000 megawatts of renewable wind generation by 2015.

Predicting that a debate among constituents on property rights versus preserving Gillespie County's scenic beauty would be non-productive, county commissioners are ditching their quest for legislation to let them decide whether wind turbines could be erected here.

US wind farms kill about 7,000 birds a year, according to a recent study. Other studies of individual wind farms suggest a higher toll on bats and birds, which crash into towers, blades, power lines and other installations. Estimates from a single wind farm in Altamont, California showed as many as 1,300 birds of prey killed each year - or about three a day. Such direct threats to wildlife, and concern for habitats, have increasingly pitted conservationists against the renewable energy industry. A handful of wind power projects in the US have been shelved because of wildlife concerns.

If you want a wind turbine for your home, it better be quiet and on a patch of open land. If not, the city won't allow it under the latest draft of the city's wind energy ordinance. The proposed changes, which the City Council will discuss Tuesday, don't bring the sweeping reforms alternative energy advocates wanted.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are trying to pass House Bill 1273 and the bill says that money given by wind energy farms to wealthy districts need to be part of "Robin Hood." "Robin Hood" will then distribute the money through out other districts. Now some school districts in the Big Country can be heavily affected if House Bill 1273 passes.