Hill Country Chronicle

Two bills largely aimed at blocking the construction of a wind farm close to the Mexican border have been filed in the Texas Legislature.

The bills were filed in the Texas House in response to the plan to develop the Blue Hills Wind Farm, with a proposed 50 turbines, in Val Verde County.

Concerns have been raised over the project's proximity to Laughlin Air Force Base and a nature reserve, and that it is owned by a subsidiary of a Chinese conglomerate. Other wind farms are in place in the county, but opponents believe no more should be built close to the Devils River.

GH America Energy, owned by China-based Guanghui Energy Co., part of Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group, plans to build the farm on thousands of acres of purchased land around the Devils River State Natural Area.

House Bill 783 authorizes the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to ban construction of new wind farms in the Devils River area, while HB 623 requires county officials to work with military bases to decide where farms can be constructed.

Opponents say opposition to the wind farm is broad.

"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 Owens Jr. said in a July Reform Austin report. "And then you’ve got the wind farm on the other side."

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 training routes of the base's pilots.

Cruz told Del Rio News-Herald in March 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.

GH America Energy told E&E News last August that the company "has and continues to follow the applicable regulatory review process for onshore wind turbine development projects."