Florida Power & Light moving ahead with building plans

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.”

The petition will not be formally presented to the commissioners, Wells said, as the company had a change of plans in regard to how it plans to request tax abatements.

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.

Spokesman Edwin Giraldo said following the Nov. 26 meeting the lack of action may have jeopardized the deal.

Several western Cooke County residents spoke at the meeting opposing the plan and questioned the economic benefits predicted by FPL Energy.

County Judge Bill Freeman explained the lack of action in an interview Wednesday.

“This is a particularly divided issue,” Freeman said. “I don’t believe county government should be involved in something that, at best, would divide the community. Let the fair market process solve this.”

Wells said she was uncertain where the petitions were distributed in Cooke County.

The text of the petition is as follows:

“The undersigned resident, taxpayer, and/or concerned citizen of Cooke County, Texas, hereby petitions the Cooke County Commissioners’ Court to support our community, schools, college, and hospitals and to otherwise support increasing our tax base by adopting a tax abatement relating to the investment in the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm in Cooke County at the very earliest possible time. The wind farm, in addition to expected revenue of from $15 million to $25 million to landowners over the next twenty years, will result in substantial taxes to numerous entities. The granting of the tax abatement will insure the wind farm will be constructed, and will create over the next twenty years the taxes for the various entities ...”

The petition projected to following tax revenues for the following taxing entities: Muenster ISD, $23-25 million; Saint Jo ISD, $4-5 million; Cooke County, $10-13 million; Muenster Hospital District, $4-5 million; North Central Texas Community College District, $1-2 million.

“Cooke County cannot afford to lose this tax revenue,” the text of the petition concluded, with space for a signature and printed name.

Wells said FPL Energy has received no other tax abatements in Cooke or Montague counties, though Muenster ISD approved FPL Energy’s application for an appraised value limitation on certain properties during its Sept. 12 meeting.

Critics have said in previous Register reports that the generators themselves are intended to abate taxes — federal taxes, at that. The U.S. government offers tax credits and “accelerated depreciation” to companies which invest in alternative energy technologies, including wind power.

Regardless of the setback, Wells said, FPL Energy is moving forward with plans to build the series of 260-feet tall turbine towers with 150-foot-long blades.

She said FPL Energy has purchased no property for the generators specifically, and the company is leasing all the land from the people who own it. Wells said FPL Energy plans to purchase about three acres for a substation, to be deeded to the Brazos Electric Cooperative.

No construction has begun as of last week, Wells said, but minor work has begun and equipment brought to the leased areas.

“For some time, we’ve had contractors in the county doing geological work in anticipation of the project going forward,” she said. “We expect construction to begin early in the year.”

A lawsuit filed by Joe O’dell, Giles Walterscheid, Wayne Klement, Stoneledge Management LLC. and Jane Lucas, et al., for a temporary injunction to halt wind farm production is still pending in the 235th District Court. It was filed in September 2006.

According to previous Register reports, the proposed Wolf Ridge Wind Farm, is planned to be situated in an intermittent line from north of Myra and Marysville through Saint Jo to east of Montague.

The project would be owned and operated by an FPL Energy subsidiary company, Wells said. FPL Energy, a “sister company” of Florida Power and Light, claims to be the largest developer, owner and operator of wind turbines in the U.S. FPL has been in Texas since 1998 and they have 11 wind energy farms operating. There are about 50 wind farms owned by FPL throughout the U.S.

The farm could power 44,000 homes, based on FPL’s data. Most of the electricity is earmarked for the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and surrounding areas, using existing power lines. Wells said the power would not go to Florida.

About 10 permanent local jobs would be created for maintaining the wind farm, but Giraldo said in a previous interview there would be many more contractor opportunities and temporary jobs offered.

On the Net:

FPL Energy, LLP: www.fplenergy.com

Group opposing wind farms: www.nortexwind.org

Reporter Andy Hogue may be contacted at andyhoguegdr@ntin.net