TRENT, Texas, Dec. 2, 2007
Winds Of Change Blow In Texas
Once Known For Its Oil And Gas, West Texas Is At The Center Of The Wind Energy Boom
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Signs of a new energy revolution in West Texas: Wind turbines sprouting up as fast as wildflowers. But windmills are also setting neighbor against neighbor. (CBS)
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Dry, dusty towns are dotted with reminders of hard times: vacant motels; rusted cars parked at drive-in theaters that have long stood silent - theaters where crowds once flocked to see films that reflected their lives, like "Giant."
Set in West Texas, "Giant" told the real-life story of cattle barons refusing to change with the times.
That resistance to change and the desire to preserve a way of life, still remains. But today, the cause of concern is different - with rusted and retired pump jacks standing as witnesses of booms and busts gone by, a new "giant" looms on the horizon: wind turbines. They're sprouting as fast as Texas wildflowers.
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and windmills are no exception. One windmill is taller than the Statue of Liberty. Its huge turbine is longer than an 18-wheeler, and each one can generate enough power for more than 500 homes.
From the air you can see them on almost every mesa, stretching for miles.
"You can look back over here, and keep seein' 'em, another run and another run and another run," rancher Raymond McDaniel, who has more than 50 wind turbines on his land, told CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.
For most ranchers in these parts, McDaniel says it was a struggle just to break even in the cattle business.
"There was no water, there was no grass, there was no market," he said. "So everything went downhill pretty good."
But the money they receive from leasing land to power companies and their turbines, he says, has given ranchers some breathing room - money to better tend to their land and their cattle.
But not everyone is happy about the use of wind. In some cases, it is setting neighbor against neighbor.
"I'm offended that my neighbor would sell himself for money and not care what it did to me," Dale Rankin said. "I'm all for people making money. I'm all for people making a profit, having an income, but I think you need to be considerate of your neighbors when you're in that pursuit."
Greg Wortham is one of a new breed of prospectors pursuing wind-energy riches. He cashed in his retirement savings to start the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium and is trying to rally local support for renewable energy. He says the turbines are multiplying.
"West Texas is the 4th largest nation in wind energy today," Wortham said. "There's Germany, Spain, India, and West Texas."
And he's no carpet-bagger: Wortham grew up in Sweetwater, Texas and walked its streets back when it was an oil and gas town. "You could always tell you were home even if you were sleepin' in the car on the way home because you begin to smell oil, which was a beautiful smell," he said.
After high school he headed off to college and the big city where he worked as an energy attorney in New York and Washington, D.C. Now he's back, living in a renovated house just off Main Street, and he was recently elected mayor.
"I didn't come back here to be mayor, that wasn't the plan, but part of it is having been in N.Y. on Sept. 11th and realizing that you have one country, one hometown, and one lifetime to do something," he said.
For him, that something is helping to spark a wind energy gold rush - so far more than $6 billion has been invested in 120 West Texas counties.
"We hear nationally that people are being laid off by tens of thousands. Well, they need to come here. We hear nationally that housing starts are down. Well, West Texas needs hundreds of new, very high quality homes," he said.
To meet hiring demands, the community college has added courses in wind technology. Students are shifting gears to train for careers in wind-farming because the pay is two to three times above the local average.
The industry has given the entire region a second wind - generating new businesses and new construction. Schools are scoring as well. Tiny Trent, Texas has only 60 students in its high school, what used to be one of the poorest schools in the state. It is now state of the art.
"We've got two computer labs - one for the elementary and one for high school," Trent school superintendent Greg Priddy said. "We're getting projectors for every class room."
Priddy says none of this would have been possible without a healthy new tax base fueled by the turbines on the mesa behind the school.
But opponents like Dale Rankin worry all that income may be short-lived. He wonders what might happen if tax subsidies the companies rely on, come to an end.
"They'll shut 'em off and walk away, and we'll be left with thousands and thousands of these monsters littering the landscape," he said.
But that's not the way ranchers like Raymond McDaniel see it. When he looks at all the windmills he has one simple thought:
"A changing world," he said. "Changing world."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 66 CommentsThe energy that the windmills produce in rural areas doesn''t stay there. It''s too expensive therefore, it gets shipped off to cities (my area over 200 miles away) so city folks can pay a premium for it and feel better when they take that 1/2 hour hot shower because it''s "green".
Another problem is the staggaring amt of money that goes into these things. It''s the cool thing without a lot of competition so money is no object. There''s no one out there that''s trying to make a more cost efficient model. Everyone''s trying to get a piece of the pie and noones looking at the cost; (sort of like the internet buzz in the late 90''s). The companies that are making these things aren''t American companies either. Suzlon is India, Vestas is denmark. Aren''t american''s smart enough to figure this out?
And finally, coal and nuclear plants still need to run because wind can''t be depended on nor do we have ways to store energy so that it can get us through the times when the wind doesn''t blow.
We can make this work but we need to think through the storage problems and quit with the greed.
So if someone puts a windmill on their property, tough ******* west Texans, that''s how your do business there. So suck it up.
You sure are full of sheeyit! So stuff a sock in it, *************.
Secondly, current Wind Energy has many aspects and the present boom in this arena is funded by federal subsidies for the wind mills (the machinery) themselves and a Texas agreement to run power lines (at the state%u2019s expense) to anyone who will put up an energy creating windmill. Thus, any reasonable wind energy company would put up a windmill that is subsidized by the federal government. As a bonus, the state pays for the line to take the power to a plant. What a great deal!
The problem in wind energy comes with the lack of legislation and judicial review in this relatively new area. Land adjacent to oil production is compensated for the devaluing of their land because they are near an industrial zone. There is no legislation as such on windmills.
When is comes to the power grid and the efficiency of windmills, there are problems with fluctuating speeds and rates of input from the sources. Coal plants must fire up and down to compensate for this changeability thus burning more coal than without the wind energy source and decreasing their overall efficiency as a coal plant.
Though catch phrases like %u201CHarvesting the Wind%u201D and %u201CFree Energy%u201D sound good. Reality doesn%u2019t always match up to marketing.
Every time I am on the highway (like yesterday) I see two windmills worth of blades go by. Lot of money and capacity going in out there. Texas lead the nation in alternative energy and those blades I see go right by the old oil fields in NW Texas that are still pumping......
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Posted by nameverify
On what are you basing this? Did the political bedbugs tell you to write this?
Posted by radiob at 06:12 PM : Dec 02, 2007
How about if we ''compost'' them?
Posted by ToolMangler
As long as the plant is thousands of miles away from me where I do not have to smell it, why not?
Yours is a old argument, my grandfather leased some of his land over 80 years ago for oil and it is still paying dividends to the remainding members of the family. The oil is no longer drilled out, the pumps are abandon and have been for decades. Difference is my grandfather was smart enough to have the oil company sign a 100 year lease regardless of production. So he made some money off of it, his children have and now with both grandparents deaths the remainding living children sold the property which appreciated in value over the years.
Texas is full of hot air and that will help a lot.
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Posted by nameverify
You were the one complaining about the conglomerates leasing the land.
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Posted by nameverify
What is the cost of this? What is the cost of producing electricty by this method that upsets you?
You have never answered my question about the cost of this. Do you have figures that are verifiable from a reliable source?
Really because there is a fairly new water plant about 30 miles from me and no one protested it but they did stop the nuclear powered plant. Again where are your figures, your data to support your claims?
Sites for new water dams should be chosen carefully with due respect for socio- economic and environmental concerns. In Canada, major projects are subject to an environmental impact assessment.
People who have to relocate because of the project or have other economic losses caused by the project should be treated fairly.
Water Management Plans should balance the use of water resources.
Fish passage / diversion / by-pass structures, such as fish ladders, louvres, downstream fishways, have been used to facilitate the migration of fish around barriers. Structures or other deterrent measures can be used to prevent fish from entering turbines, spillways and canals. Trucks and barges have also been used to move fish around barriers.
Discharge facilities can be designed for mitigation if there is a concern about the release water.
Opportunities for recreational and other uses in similar areas have been improved to compensate for losses due to projects.
Hydroelectric power is a clean, renewable form of energy that accounts for about 2/3 of the power produced in Canada. Canada produces a surplus of power that is exported and helps to keep the cost of electricity low. The use of hydropower reduces air emissions by reducing the amount of coal and oil that is burned to produce power.
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Posted by nameverify
You have danced around the question now for quite a while and provided nothing more than your opinion to support it instead of data.
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Posted by nameverify
How very intelligent of a response from you with all of the name calling which is again your opinion and not based in fact or reality. What and where was a liberal comment posted on this board by anyone on this subject? Put up or shut up time!!!!
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Posted by cfin5
Thank you cfin5. I have always tried to look at the entire picture before commenting.
In Texas, you have your choice of electricity providers and you can choose green and pay "more".
Also, with fossil fuel costs going up I suspect we are close to a positive business case for wind.
Posted by radiob at 07:26 PM : Dec 02, 2007--------------------I know you do. I''ve been here long enough to take note of the ones who think things through on a matter. Sometimes it seems as if new posters have a "break in " period that they go through. I know I learned a few things. :)
In Texas, you have your choice of electricity providers and you can choose green and pay "more".
Also, with fossil fuel costs going up I suspect we are close to a positive business case for wind.
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Posted by donbl1
I have been trying to get a answer out of nameverify on this for over a hour. The cost of wind vs coal,natural gas vs wind, water vs wind etc. do you know of any figures for this Don?
The cost disparity may go away as the new 12 power plants Texas requires go on line.
Texas is a little unique as it is not connected to the National grid and is not regulated by the US government.
I read once that the investment/kwh is more than a steam powered plant because each windmill has a a failry small output (500 homes).
That is the windmill, power lines, land leases and etc.
I understand initial investment and the things entailed in it, the technology is here now and doesn''t have to be developed, the only cost is that of the generators and towers plus the land. the powerlines exist already so they are moot. My question is why do they require subsidation. the product is a no-brainer and there ''should'' be investors coming out of the woodwork, but no, somebody is causing problems because they do not want the competition from free stuff (wind) to interfere with the price of Oil or whatever.
The amortorized investment required to get (1) KWH is more than the operating costs for existing plants.
Should government subsidize? If the "community" goal is improved air quality and reduced reliance on foriegn oil, then subidization is understandable.
If you deal with it as an eternal cost per unit it is prohibitive. But it isn''t the initial cost might be 1 billion USD to start, but after the initial start the cost per unit drops to near zero (Minus maintainence). I mean you dont have to make the wind blow, you don''t have to do anything to generate all the kilowats a generator is capable of (not even dam the river. where is the giant cost now, (Please, I am not being mean and bear no ill-will to you or any of the posters) this is a No Brainer, get rid of the crooks and drop foreign oil use our shale oil and coal until we get the Hydrogen motor working properly.
Here''s a link that I found that answers a few questions.
They''re saying ~4million to build a 1.5megawatt windmill. This is a little one by the standards in my community. Most of the new ones going up now are 3megawatt and a 3 megawatt one will serve 700 to 800 homes (this is another figure that''s kind of hard to pin down).
This article was saying 30 to 50 years useful life. That''s a lot longer than what they''re saying around here. They tell me 8-10 years. But that may be the guts of the thing rather than the whole structure. I would imagine maintenance can be pretty costly for something like this, especially since you put them out where the elements are windy and rough.
WE need to look at this industry and figure out how it''s going to be run. Right now it''s looking like the medical industry. Inflated costs everywhere you look and it''s going to kill the industry in it''s infancy. Competition and inovation will save it. WE really have to figure out the storage issues.
Again, i believe wind can be used, but we need to work out the bugs.
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