Catching Power

[Tigermike 3,066]

This is great, but how will these machines hold up in hurricane conditions?

What about the birds? Do you think environmentalists can or will they even try to block this project?

Giant wind farm planned for gulf

South Padre Island, Texas

Texas officials announced plans Thursday for the nation's largest offshore wind farm, consisting of up to 170 windmills in the Gulf of Mexico.

Superior Renewable Energy of Houston will build and operate the project, which will be within about 10 miles of Padre Island. It is predicted to cost $1 billion to $2 billion and is expected to be ready in five years.

Its 400-foot turbines would generate a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, or enough for 125,000 homes.

Some environmentalists said the spinning blades could kill countless rare birds that migrate through the area each year on their way to and from winter grounds in Mexico and Central America.

John Calaway, Superior's chief executive, said the company would do everything possible to reduce the threat to migrating birds.

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Catching Power

Nation’s largest wind farm planned for coast

BY ELIZABETH PIERSON

The Brownsville Herald

AUSTIN — The north end of Padre Island will soon be home to the nation’s largest offshore wind farm that will generate enough electricity for about 125,000 homes.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.p...=70728_0_10_0_C

Texas sells lease for a major wind farm

Offshore plot purchase may set US precedent

By Kelley Shannon, Associated Press  |  October 25, 2005

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas has sold a lease for an 11,000-acre tract in the Gulf of Mexico that backers say may become the first major wind energy farm on the US coast, state officials said yesterday.

''Coastal wind power has . . . found a home in Texas," said the state land commissioner, Jerry Patterson.

Officials say the proposed $300 million project in Texas should go more smoothly than plans for a wind farm proposed off Massachusetts. That project has been delayed by local residents, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy and former CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite.

''This is Texas. We don't have Walter Cronkite and Ted Kennedy whining about their backyards," Patterson said.

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You know, if its not the birds, its the caribou. When will we quit listenting to the tree huggers every time we try to become indpendent of foriegn fuels?

I sure wish all these brilliant savers of the environment woudl put their genious together and create cold fusion. That would save all of us from having to listen to all their moaning.