Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has written U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials to say that changing wind farm policies based on the chance that migrating whooping cranes might be hurt would send a bad message.

Interest by California-based AES Wind Generation in establishing a large-scale wind energy operation in Gillespie County is being reconsidered, it was learned here Monday. According to a City of Fredericksburg official who asked not to be identified, a letter from a company officer stated that AES SeaWest Inc. of San Diego has decided to discontinue pursuing wind energy in an area north of Fredericksburg that generally stretches between U.S. Highway 87 and RM 965. Instead, the city official related, the company has decided to focus on other areas in Texas. Prompting the decision, he added, was AES' concerns that sensitive species and bat colonies living in the area could be incompatible with large-scale wind energy.

It’s being billed as clean energy technology said Stehn, whose agency initially endorsed wind farms as an alternative to fossil fuels but is “starting to think more and learn more about the potential impact” to migrating species. ....“We’re concerned. These turbine companies need to comply with the Endangered Species Act,” he said, but “apparently they don’t need a federal permit to build wind turbines in many situations so they don’t even have to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service.” The ESA “says you will not take a whooping crane, you will not kill a whooping crane, so they have to figure out how to comply with that.”

Sarita, Texas - After a century and a half as cordial neighbors, two of the nation's biggest ranches find themselves feuding like the Hatfields and McCoys over wind energy and wildlife and whether the two can coexist. The storied King and Kenedy ranches, which together cover nearly 1.3 million acres in sparsely populated south Texas, are at odds over plans to erect 240-plus wind-powered turbines on the smaller Kenedy property. The structures and their massive blades can stand 400 feet tall - taller than most 30-story buildings. The King Ranch, with 825,000 acres near the Texas Gulf Coast, says the turbines will interfere with migratory birds' flight patterns, threaten other wildlife and create an eyesore.

Plans to build what would have been the nation's largest offshore wind farm in South Texas have been called off because the multibillion-dollar project didn't make economic sense, the developer said Monday...Babcock & Brown Ltd. is moving on with an onshore wind farm in South Texas' Kenedy County, a $700 million-plus venture that calls for 157 turbines on thousands of acres, Calaway said. He noted the expense of building an offshore farm can be more than double the cost of one on land.

The state's first coastal wind turbine industrial park is set for construction later this year in South Texas and is likely to generate a storm of controversy when the impact on migrating birds becomes clear. The site is Kenedy Ranch property between Corpus Christi and Raymondville. The initial project backed by Spanish utility giant Iberdrola calls for the installation of 87 huge wind turbines with blades reaching some 400 feet skyward. Australian investment firm Babcock and Brown is also said to be planning to build 157 turbines in the coastal county.

WASHINGTON - An unusual coalition of conservationists and coal advocates told Congress on Tuesday that before the nation continues its rapid expansion of wind power, an assessment is needed of how many bats and birds are maimed and killed by wind turbines' blades. That study should be followed up with regulations to protect those species, witnesses told a House Natural Resources subcommittee.

...the Gulf of Mexico along the Texas and Western Louisiana coast hosts the largest concentration of Neotropical migratory birds in the Western Hemisphere. These birds move by the billions between Latin America and North America.

Fifty miles south of Corpus Christi, a few miles offshore, as many as 170 wind turbines will tower over the water, generating enough electricity to power 125,000 homes, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said Thursday.

Some want renewable energy fast; others want to slow down to check on birds.

The environmental community is divided over a deal the state`s General Land Office signed with Wind Energy Systems Technology, or WEST. The deal is to develop 50 wind turbines off the coast of Galveston that would power about 40-thousand homes that wouldn`t rely on fossil fuels. The problem is that Galveston is beneath a critical migratory bird path that links North America to Central and South America wintering grounds.

Environmental advocates and officials are divided about the proposed wind farm, which would be the first of its kind near the Texas Gulf Coast. Many don’t want to speak out against the use of wind energy, which is free of the toxic emissions of traditional electric plants, but they have concerns about the farm’s location and the potential for bird kills along a major migratory flyway.