The road from my home in San Antonio down to the beach at Port Aransas passes right through Taft Texas in San Patricio County and a wind farm that has 196 towers. In addition to being one of the largest producers of oil and gas in Texas, San Patricio County is a center for farming. The towers built by Siemens are 398 feet tall and have a maximum capacity of 2.3 megawatts. They produce a total of 380 megawatts – enough electricity to power 115,00 homes. North of Taft, banks of oil tanks and oil wells dot the landscape. Natural gas terminals and pipeline junctions may also be seen from the highway. In my last trip down, I decided to photograph some of these to make the point that wind farms, agriculture and oil and gas production, can and do work side by side in San Patricio County. In the photographs you see oil wells and tanks, and a natural gas junction, all in the midst of the towering windmills. Also in the photos is a freshly picked cotton field with a tower right in the center and shots of bailed cotton waiting to be shipped. In addition to these, I have also posted a video taken about 600 yards away from a group of windmills to show the sound level on my Web site: http://www.osageffr.com. The oil and gas producers of San Patricio County have partnered with the wind farm companies to work together for their mutual benefit. As I was taking some of these pictures, a county sheriff stopped and asked if we needed any assistance. In our conversation he mentioned that there had not been a single complaint to the county against the wind farm companies from the farmers, or the oil and gas producers. In the end the people of Osage county will make the decision about wind farms there. However, it would be wise for us to contact all the participants in San Patricio County to ask how they accomplished the successful synergy of the concerned parties. In future meetings between the Osage Nation and the wind farm company, we should be offering our assistance in an effort to partner with them to address our common concerns. Instead of building walls through litigation, we should be building a bridge to the future by working with the county, landowners, oil and gas producers and the wind farm company to achieve our common goals. It is sad to think that we would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to stop wind farms in Osage County, when there is a real need for better medical facilities, elder care and jobs there. Let’s start a positive dialogue with the involved parties and build a bridge to a better future for everyone in Osage County. Jim Ryan San Antonio, Texas Copyright © 2011 James R Ryan
