Hill Country Chronicle

A standoff over a Chinese-owned wind farm in Val Verde County, which congressional representatives for months have warned threatens nearby Laughlin Air Force Base, remains at a stalemate.

In addition to congressional representatives who say the wind farm could have connections to the Chinese Communist Party that will threaten U.S. national security, others are lining up to voice opposition to this project as well.

"You’ve got environmentalists, you got ranchers, you have everybody that sort of would be at odds with each other on different sides of the aisle, we’re all on one side now," Val Verde County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said in a Reform Austin report published July 29. "And then you’ve got the wind farm on the other side."

At issue is the Blue Hills Wind Farm development with about 50 wind turbines, by GH America Energy, owned by China-based Guanghui Energy Company, which is part of Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group.

In February, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said during a trip to Laughlin Air Force Base that the wind farm project is a threat to the base's pilot training routes.

Cruz told Del Rio News-Herald at the time that Laughlin is a "critically important base for training our airmen and maintaining the ability to defend our nation," making the nearby Chinese-developed wind farm a clear and present threat.

"The question of wind farms threatening the ability to train our pilots is a question raised by a number of bases in Texas, but Laughlin is dealing with the distinct problem of a Chinese-owned company threatening to imperil those training routes," Cruz said in the Del Rio News-Herald story published March 1.

In June, U.S. House Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) questioned why the project should be allowed to continue despite concerns it would "sully the pristine wilderness, burrow into the electrical grid, or even use the project as a platform for Chinese government-directed espionage."

"Why this location and why this project?" Hurd continued in his statement issued June 25. "Why are we allowing a Chinese company to do that in the U.S.?"

On July 10, Cruz announced that he, Hurd and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) had signed off on a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about the wind farm. In their letter the three lawmakers argued that the wind farm "has connections to the Chinese Communist Party, potentially undermining American national security," the Cruz's announcement said.

Three days later, China sanctioned Cruz and other lawmakers and officials.

While the Trump administration has banned three Chinese Communist Party senior officials from entering the U.S., the White House has declined to block the wind farm project.