Wind energy vs. wildlife

Famed Texas ranches, King and Kenedy, are at odds over wind farm.

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.

Managers of the charitable trust and foundation that oversee the Kenedy Ranch - a mere 400,000 acres - are resisting a public brawl, but the companies leasing their land for the wind farms say the King Ranch essentially ought to mind its own business. Besides, they say, they've spent two years studying migratory birds' flight patterns and are convinced the environmental impact will be minimal.

Already, Texas leads the nation in wind-generated power, and numerous proposed projects are under way. But none has garnered attention like the Kenedy wind farms - in part because of the King vs. Kenedy skirmish.

Wind farms generate electricity by using wind to turn giant blades that rotate on turbines, an alternative to power created by utilities using coal, natural gas and other sources.

King Ranch President Jack Hunt has called for state legislation to regulate the farms - the lack of such laws governing wind farms making Texas a favorite spot for potential wind projects.

Hunt said he met with Kenedy Ranch overseers when the wind farms were first proposed a couple of years ago, hoping to get them to understand they're "sacrificing the long-term value of a rare resource for short-term revenue."

"But it sort of fell on deaf ears," he said.

Marc Cisneros, who runs the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation from nearby Corpus Christi, has declined to shout back. But he said the project on his section of the ranch not only is environmentally sound but will allow the foundation's charitable work to continue in an impoverished part of the state.

With no permitting required, plentiful open spaces and the chance of landing a U.S. Department of Energy blade-testing facility, "Texas is uniquely positioned to lead the nation in wind power," said state land commissioner Jerry Patterson, a wind farm proponent who's bickered publicly with Hunt on the issue.

Besides the skyline of turbines endangering birds, Hunt bristles the most at the lack of regulation. Hunt supported state legislation to require permitting for such sites, but it failed. Congress also considered such requirements, but nothing materialized.

"I don't think (government) agencies are doing their jobs," Hunt said from his Houston office. "These are not farms. They're industrial sites."