Long before a Chinese spy balloon captivated the U.S. last month, Kyle Bass foresaw a foreign danger planned for the skies above his Texas property. Dozens of massive wind turbines were set to span 15,000 thousand acres near the Devils River in Del Rio on the border with Mexico. Protests to protect one of the state’s cleanest waterways flopped. But when attention turned to a Chinese businessman behind the project, Texas lawmakers raced to stop him. Now the Chinese company has sold its stake, and politicians seem to have lost interest in Val Verde, even as they work to block other renewable energy projects. Some locals are still fighting.
And with that, state politicians vanished from the fight. Without legislation to protect Devils River, the project could get underway later this year.
"If you look at the proliferation of wind farms across Texas, we haven't said a word about 99% of it," said Jeff Francell, a director of land protection for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, which has come out against the project known as Blue Hills on Carma Ranch. "They don't offend me and they don't bother me," said Beau Nettleton, an elected Val Verde County commissioner whose own property would be adjacent to the wind farm."I personally think they look kind of neat."
U.S. officials reviewed concerns about the location being too near Laughlin Air Force Base and determined it wasn't a threat. Devils River headwaters run up against the property of Alice Ball Strunk, who owns nearly 50 square miles of land split between two parcels. She's also president of the Devils River Conservancy, which has led opposition to wind turbines in Val Verde County for years.
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