Texas should meet its growing electricity demand by encouraging more power plants fueled by coal and nuclear power, maximizing use of the state's vast wind resources and reducing dependence on expensive natural gas, according to recommendations by a task force appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. The report was issued Thursday by the Competitiveness Council, consisting of more than two dozen business, consumer and government representatives. It made 36 energy-related recommendations aimed at achieving "long-term sustained economic success." A public hearing on its conclusions is scheduled for Monday in Austin.

With the Panhandle targeted for increased wind power development, many landowners already have signed or are considering signing contracts with energy companies. But questions remain, especially about wildlife. ...The Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Taylor and Nolan counties was the single largest wind farm in operation in the nation in 2007, Cearley said. With four of the five largest U.S. wind farms now located in Texas, it is necessary to study the impact on wildlife.

By year's end, developers expect to have about 250 huge wind turbines in place on Kenedy Ranch north of Raymondville, generating enough electricity to power approximately 90,000 homes. And more could be on the way. ...In May, the alliance filed a court petition seeking to stop the development. The federal judge who heard the case has not yet made a decision. The groups say that the ranch is on a major migratory pathway for birds, and they believe that tall, fast-spinning turbines on that pathway could lead to trouble. "We think there's a very high likelihood of catastrophic bird kills," said Elyse Yates, spokeswoman for the alliance.

Construction is well under way on two wind farms that, in the first phase, would cover about 20,000 acres of the historic ranch, the developers - Australia-based Babcock & Brown and Portland, Ore.-based Iberdrola Renewables, formerly PPM Energy - confirmed late last year. Still, environmental groups and the King Ranch haven't given up the fight to stop them. ...The Coastal Habitat Alliance is dogged in its efforts to stop the projects because the groups say they want more studies to be done, and for the public to have a say - even though the farms are on privately owned land. In its lawsuit, the alliance says the project should be subject to federal coastal-management rules, which call for environmental reviews of any electricity-generating plants.

Members of the Texas Public Utility Commission are struggling to decide how much new transmission should be built to take advantage of the state's abundant wind resource. Major power lines are needed to transfer wind generation from sparsely populated West Texas to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, where electric demand is highest. Commissioners are weighing the benefits and costs of four transmission-route scenarios proposed by the Texas electric grid operator to accommodate from about 12,000 MW to as much as 25,000 MW over the next four years. ...Attorneys for residential and industrial customers urged the panel to look hard at promised cost benefits versus rising costs to build power lines. Transmission costs are paid by customers in areas with the most electric demand.

[Gary] Key said as a community where newcomers flock to the countryside in search of escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life, they need to look toward the future. "After 38 years in real estate, I can say we have to think about what Erath County has to offer. We have to think about the future and quality housing," Key said. "Those moving from more populated metropolitan areas looking for an escape and quality housing will likely not want that in the shadows of the turbines. Let's not hurt our property values" ...Key said transforming the face of Erath to an industrial county, moving away from the rural/residential image people are escaping to, would likely be detrimental to future development and possibly do more harm than good in the long run. "In 20 or 30 years, we would be looking more like an industrial park," Key said. "No longer the community we once were."

A federal court judge said Tuesday he needs time to sort through a complicated legal challenge brought by the King Ranch and several environmental groups that want to stop a massive wind farm near the South Texas Gulf Coast. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel will have to decide if a mid-1990s federal Coastal Zone Management Act requires the state to conduct public hearings before a wind farm can be approved - if it affects private property and if the environmental groups have a right to sue. ...Lawyers for the wind farm developers said wind farms are not like electric utilities, which are subject to regulation.

Colorado has lost out on a bid for a Vestas Wind Systems research center. Vestas, which opened a major blade-manufacturing plant earlier this year in Windsor, announced Monday it will locate the research facility in Houston. Colorado was the other finalist, according to Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

Thousands of wind turbines in the US are sitting idle or failing to meet their full generating capacity because of a shortage of power lines able to transmit their electricity to the rest of the grid. The issue of transmission capacity will be high up the agenda as 10,000 wind power industry executives descend this week on Houston, Texas, where the shortage of power lines is hampering the state's alternative energy plans. ... A proposal for $6.4bn of new power lines linking new wind farms with the state's public electricity grid, whose cost will be borne mainly by consumers, is proving politically controversial. Wind farm developers are examining building their own private lines.

Wind power in Texas was mostly a curiosity in 2000 when the state first opened its wholesale electric markets to competition. About 300 turbines were spinning away in rural West Texas, creating a mere 200 megawatts of power. Today the state has 5,300 megawatts on line, 25 times more than in 2000 and enough power to light more than 1.5 million homes. ...With another 44,000 megawatts in wind projects on the drawing board, the forecast is for continued growth for years. But challenges, both economic and environmental, may be looming.

State regulators welcomed wind farms into Texas' unfettered wholesale power market through a special process to designate the best wind-power production zones and to accelerate construction of power lines -- costing from $3 billion to $6 billion -- needed to link those remote areas to more populated areas of the state. However, problems that surfaced in the Texas wholesale market as wind's influence reached a critical level this spring should be a warning for the rest of the nation, said Lawrence Makovich, vice president and senior power adviser at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. "Wind is not a direct substitute for conventional power supply," said Makovich. ...Wind is attractive if added in moderation, Makovich said. "It has a desirable environmental profile, but you want to incorporate a smart amount of wind," he said. "If you add too much, you may impose too much additional cost."

It was a bold statement Tuesday in Gray County when oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens announced that Pampa would be the wind energy capital of the world. That was shortly followed by another statement. The billionaire said, when he's going to do something, it gets done. Pickens was talking about his $10.4 billion wind farm set to sprawl across 200,000 Panhandle counties.

Six wind tower sections left DMI Industries, located at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, on Tuesday en route to a wind farm site in northern Texas. ...Less than a year ago, DMI Industries, an Otter Tail company, bought a plant built for Griffin Wheel -- a railcar manufacturer that never moved in -- to extend its geographic reach and meet the growing demand for wind towers in the southwestern states.

San Antonio is part of the growth, as the city's CPS Energy is ranked No. 1 among municipal utilities in the amount of wind power it buys. "I can see 2,000 wind turbines outside my window, some twice as high as the Statue of Liberty," said Greg Wortham, founder of the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium in Sweetwater. "There's multiple billions of dollars worth of wind farm development going on. The growth is all so much more than people realize." But wind farm developers face three obstacles as they plan expansions. Texas lacks adequate transmission capacity to get power from Panhandle and West Texas wind farms to cities along Interstate 35, from Dallas south to San Antonio, and east to Houston. Also, the federal tax credit that some say has spurred much of the wind farm construction is set to expire at the end of this year. And, too, some property owners are objecting to wind farm construction and transmission lines that would cross their property.

Muted anger and a rustle of frustration moseyed through the Twin Lakes Community Activity Center in Jacksboro Wednesday night. Around 75 area landowners attended an open house sponsored by billionaire T. Boone Pickens' company Mesa Power in an effort to learn more about the company's right-of-way project that will run a water pipeline and electric transmission lines through the heart of several North Texas counties. ... Jack County landowner Drexel West smoked a cigarette with noticeable aggravation outside the building after discussing the project with representatives of Harris Deville & Associates, an issues management firm hired by Pickens to handle the public relations end of the project. West's assessment of the issue echoed many in the building. "They are coming through, one way or the other, whether I like it or not," he said.

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens may face a tough crowd this week in North Texas. Officials with Pickens' company Mesa Power will be in two local cities to hold informational sessions about the company's plans to build a water pipeline and electricity transmission lines from the Panhandle to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, cutting through several area counties. ...Beesinger said property owners seem to be most concerned with the way the project was designed without their knowledge or input. "(Pickens) didn't say, ‘Let's go explore the issue with these people first,' " Beesinger said. "When you start throwing out those words (eminent domain), people are going to stand up and say, ‘Hey! Whoa! Wait a minute!' That's the way we as Texans and Americans are. We like to protect what's ours." ...many people will view the open houses as a too little, too late approach. "I think the biggest thing (Mesa) has to overcome is the private landowners saying, ‘You didn't even come and talk to me,' " Beesinger said. "(The company is saying), ‘Now, you can attend this meeting if you want to, but we're going to do the project anyway.' "

Nearly all of some 175 landowners raised their hands during a meeting here Friday when a West Texas lawmaker asked how many wanted legislators to oppose billionaire T. Boone Pickens' efforts to obtain rights of way for water pipeline and electricity transmission lines. The lines would also pass through parts of Archer, Hardeman, Jack, Wichita and Wilbarger counties. A similar meeting has been scheduled Thursday in Holliday. One landowner shouted "Do it," during the show of hands urging lawmakers fight Pickens' attempts to obtain rights of way to build the world's largest wind farm and to ship water from the Panhandle to thirsty areas downstate. No one - not even Pickens' representatives - raised their hands when state Sen. Bob Duncan asked who wanted lawmakers to support the projects.

Maverick oilman T. Boone Pickens' plan for a mammoth wind farm in the Texas Panhandle is a $2 billion bet that Congress will extend a tax credit critical to the environmentally friendly industry. ...But the [wind] industry has relied on federal tax credits to survive, a point Pickens made Thursday. "I believe that Congress will recognize that it is critical not only to this project, but to renewable energy in this country, that they enact a long-term extension of the Production Tax Credits," he said.

Nearly all of the some 175 landowners raised their hands during a meeting here Friday when a West Texas lawmaker asked how many wanted legislators to oppose billionaire T. Boone Pickens' efforts to obtain rights of way for water pipeline and electricity transmission lines. One landowner shouted "Do it," during the show of hands urging lawmakers fight Pickens' attempts to obtain rights of way to build the world's largest wind farm and to ship water from the Panhandle to thirsty areas downstate. No one - not even Pickens' representatives - raised their hands when state Sen. Bob Duncan asked who wanted lawmakers to support the projects.

Cecil Martin is none too pleased at the prospect of losing part of his home in the Texas Panhandle to make way for billionaire T. Boone Pickens' water and wind energy projects. ..."The state of Texas has for over 100 years authorized the use of eminent domain to permit the common necessities of life, water, electricity, telephone service, oil and gas for use in the big cities," said Humble, Pickens' attorney. Until last year, though, the wind project couldn't not have been included in the process of obtaining rights of way. Lawmakers in the last legislative session voted to allow renewable and clean-coal energy projects to piggyback obtaining rights of way with a district like the one Pickens formed last year to "construct, maintain, and operate transmission lines."