Winds of Change

SOUTH OF SARITA - They aren't visible from the nearest highway, but starting at about 11 miles from the road, more than 100 turbines now dot 8,000 acres of Kenedy Ranch.

The turbines, each taller than the Statue of Liberty from base to tip, were motionless Wednesday afternoon, but soon the massive, gleaming blades will be spinning and generating enough electricity to power 80,000 homes, officials said at a ribbon cutting Wednesday.

"We realized there is a great natural resource here," said John Calaway, chief development officer for Australia-based Babcock & Brown, which developed the Gulf Wind project nestled at Kenedy Ranch. "We're delighted that the whole project has come together like this."

The developers, with state and county officials, acknowledged that they faced opposition from some environmental groups and King Ranch to bring the wind farm to fruition.

The groups, who formed the Coastal Habitat Alliance, filed a federal lawsuit last year seeking to halt the wind farms' construction, as well as filing protests with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration. The lawsuit was
dismissed, and the federal agencies haven't responded to the alliance's complaints.

The alliance has asserted that the wind-energy projects are in a major migratory pathway for birds, and therefore the large, spinning turbines could lead to major bird kills.

Concerns that the wind farms could harm birds are unfounded, Babcock & Brown representatives said Wednesday.

"It's something we've carefully studied, and we designed the project to mitigate any (environmental) impacts," Chris Shugart, project developer, said.

The company spent three years conducting environmental assessments, tracking bird migration and monitoring endangered species in the area, Calaway said.

To address concerns about risks to birds, the company is using a precision radar system to track bird movement, and will shut down turbines during high-risk times, officials said. Few other wind farms use this type of technology, they said.

"It's going to set the example for environmental stewardship," Calaway said.

State and local officials said they were surprised by the alliance's persistence to stop the project, despite the wind developers' promises to monitor bird migration and minimize impact to wetlands.

"I was sued last year ... they said I deliberately violated the Coastal Zone Management Act," Texas General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Patterson was one of the defendants in the alliance's lawsuit. "That's calling me out as a liar, and I don't cotton to that."

Babcock & Brown is planning to build more turbines, adding an additional 200 megawatts of power to the existing 283 megawatts' worth of turbines already in place, officials said.

Combined with the other wind farm, owned by Portland, Ore.-based Iberdrola Renewables, Kenedy Ranch's wind project will eventually be the largest in the world, Calaway said.