Area rancher against wind farm near his May property
KTXS 12|Gabriella Hernandez|Apr 7, 2015
With wind farms being built closer and closer to Brown County, those opposed are stepping forward. Rancher Paul Burns and his family have owned their ranch for more than 140 years. Seven years ago, Burns says he was approached and asked for his land to be used for wind turbines.
With wind farms being built closer and closer to Brown County, those opposed are stepping forward. Rancher Paul Burns and his family have owned their ranch for more than 140 years. Seven years ago, Burns says he was approached and asked for his land to be used for wind turbines.
MAY, Texas - With wind farms being built closer and closer to Brown County, those opposed are stepping forward.
Rancher Paul Burns and his family have owned their ranch for more than 140 years. Seven years ago, Burns says he was approached and asked for his land to be used for wind turbines.
"I spent two years studying and going to international conferences to see if it was financially the right thing to do for our family and after studying it I realized that it was financially a disaster for our family," Paul said.
Recently, construction has started on 87 wind turbines going up in Comanche County.
So what are the pros for these wind farms?
"It will be an economic benefit to the county through taxes and school taxes,” said Steve …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]MAY, Texas - With wind farms being built closer and closer to Brown County, those opposed are stepping forward.
Rancher Paul Burns and his family have owned their ranch for more than 140 years. Seven years ago, Burns says he was approached and asked for his land to be used for wind turbines.
"I spent two years studying and going to international conferences to see if it was financially the right thing to do for our family and after studying it I realized that it was financially a disaster for our family," Paul said.
Recently, construction has started on 87 wind turbines going up in Comanche County.
So what are the pros for these wind farms?
"It will be an economic benefit to the county through taxes and school taxes,” said Steve Miller, construction site manager for the project. “In other projects that I've been on, the communities have benefited by new schools and new computer systems within that school district so it is a wealth of income to the counties that they're installed in."
Paul and his brother Pierce don’t agree.
Paul said it wouldn’t be fair for his neighbors who don’t get a tower and the value of their land decreases from, if they have a $100,000 house on a piece of land on the day the wind farm goes up, to property worth $50,000.
"It would hurt a lot of the good people in Brown County if this happens and we just think about it every day and we work on it every day to do our best to keep it from happening," said Pierce.
The Burns have since formed a group called 'Won't Feel Like Home' with over 50 members from the area protesting the wind farms. For more information on this group you can visit their website here.