West Texas News

A proposed wind farm in West Texas is being opposed by local residents concerned about the environmental impact — and by a former CIA officer over national security issues.

A Chinese company, the GH America Investment Group, started buying land in Val Verde County in 2015 and now owns 130,000 acres. The county is located upon the American-Mexican border with both the Devils River and Pecos River flow through it.

Like much of West Texas, wind is a reliable part of life in Val Verde County, and that drew the interest of GH America, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Xinjiang-based Guanghui Industry Investment Group. 

Wind Turbines | File Photo

Locals worry that the massive wind farm would damage the fragile ecosystem, obstruct migratory birds and bats, disrupt groundwater flows and degrade water quality.

That’s why the Devils River Conservancy has launched its "Don’t Blow It Texas" campaign to oppose the Blue Hills Wind project. Its president, Randy Nunns, a retired San Antonio businessman and Val Verde County property owner, told West Texas News that the local government, the business community and ranchers are united in opposition to the development. He said when people say it’s a case of NIMBY — Not In My Back Yard — they are right.

“Yeah, we don’t want that there,” he said.

The Devils River Conservancy website makes the case against it.

“DRC strongly supports renewable energy and development by design. However, it is opposed to any wind power in the immediate region around the Devils River in Val Verde County,” it states. “Not only will 700-foot wind turbines obstruct the view and destroy the natural beauty of the land, but they will also impact local and migrating populations of bats and birds, as well as disrupt the delicate and rich biodiverse ecosystem of the region. The Devils River is a true national treasure and wind farms would destroy the region’s natural beauty and environmental values.”

Nunns said tourism is increasingly a major part of the local economy. Bird-watchers, hunters and people eager to enjoy rural scenery have become major revenue sources for ranchers.

“People in big urban areas, they want to get away from urbanization,” he said.

Having scores of giants wind turbines in the area would seriously distract from the view and the vibe.

Nunns, 67, said the conservancy, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has led the opposition. He said it served as a “rallying point” and convinced people to notice what was happening and to speak up and register their opposition.

Dell Dickinson’s family has lived in the region for more than a century.

Dickinson, 76, raises sheep and goats at his Skyline Ranch. He has lived there full-time for 15 years and Is proud to be where “my kinfolks” came in the 19th century.

“My family has been in and around this river ever since then,” he told West Texas News. “This is one of the last vestiges of wild Texas left for the public to see what things used to be like.”

Dickinson said people come there to experience it and imagine what life was like for early settlers. It’s “hard to picture that” with massive wind turbines dominating the skyline.

“It’s an abomination,” he said. “It takes away the history and heritage we have to here to offer to the public. It’s not simply the river, it’s everything else Val Verde County has to offer to the public.

“It’s a very unique area, one that we should all be striving to protect for generations to come.”

Former CIA station chief Daniel N. Hoffman has raised national security concerns.

The Laughlin Air Force Base is nearby, which he said is the Air Force’s premier training facility, graduating 350 pilots annually. In an essay he wrote for Fox News, he said he wanted to “loudly ring alarm bells” about national security threats.

“Sun Guangxin, the founder and director of Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group, served in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and was the vice chairman of the Xinjiang Provincial Youth Federation,” Hoffman wrote. “Having long maintained a close relationship with China’s Communist Party leadership, Sun is one of the 200 wealthiest businessmen in China.

Xi might allow Sun the independence to earn a staggeringly high income, but if Sun is like any other Chinese businessman, then he is also on the hook to serve as a surrogate against China’s adversaries, especially the U.S.”

He said it appears the Chinese company overpaid for the land and being located there allows it to collect intelligence on U.S. border security operations while connecting to Texas’ electrical grid.

He called on National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to look into the proposed wind farm near a crucial military installation.

“In addition, Congress should determine whether Sun or any of his associates might fall into the category of Chinese officials, for whom President Trump just signed legislation calling for sanctions over their repression of Uighurs,” he wrote. “Xinjiang is notorious for its so-called ‘re-education’ camps, where China detains Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities against their will and violates their human rights.”

However, a June 25 article in Foreign Affairs said the Trump administration will not block the wind farm.

“The decision comes after an analysis from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a panel of different federal agencies that examines the impact of foreign investments in the United States, found that the wind farm does not currently pose a national security concern,” the article states. “But GH America Energy, the U.S. unit of a Chinese firm, must still mitigate the impact of wind turbines that could interfere with low-level flight training routes at Laughlin Air Force Base. Those plans are currently under review in a separate process led by the Air Force and the Defense Department’s Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse.”

Nunns said the wind farm won’t start construction soon.

“It’s a long process,” he said. “They have a lot of hoops to jump through.”

However, Dickinson says wind farm opponents are up against a formidable foe. It won’t be an easy battle to win.

“Money talks,” he said.

The DRC is asking people to contact their local, state, and national representatives and register their concern.

“You can also direct your representatives to the Don’t Blow It Texas website to learn more,” the DRC states. “Finally, ask them to raise the issue publicly and write to the Treasury Department with their concerns.”