Wind turbines may have lasting effect on county long after their life expectancy
Bosque County Citizens Against Wind Turbines, a recently formed group opposed to the building of wind turbine farms in Bosque County, has been working to provide residents with information regarding the turbine farms.
Bosque County resident Scott McAfee, who spoke during the Feb. 1 Commissioners Court meeting, said one of the primary goals of the organization is to bring awareness to the people of Bosque County of the intentions of the multi-national corporations to develop the county as a wind farm in a manner congruent to those in remote areas of west Texas.
“The response we have received has, quite frankly, been extraordinary enthusiasm on behalf of those against the proposed wind farms,” said McAfee.
“Typical responses ranged anywhere from dismay to outright outrage. Many were dismayed that we would even consider turning what many believe to be one of the most beautiful places in Texas into some kind of dystopian wasteland full of wind turbines,” said McAfee.
McAfee said the Bosque County Citizens Against Wind Turbines has put together a petition to collect names to present to the commissioners to demonstrate the public’s concern with the proposed wind turbine developments.
“It has so far been a great success and will be available in a growing number of locations for people to sign,” said McAfee.
McAfee presented the commissioners with a document called The Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Wind Turbines and has asked them to familiarize themselves with it as it touches on the drawbacks large scale wind turbine farms present to a community.
McAfee plans to go over each point in more detail during future Commissioners Court meetings, and hopes to present an analysis of what the presence of wind turbine farms may do to real estate values in Bosque County.
“This, we think, is one of the biggest problems, not just from the standpoint of the people who are going to see the value of the property they’ve saved their whole lives to own deteriorate dramatically, but the taxation base for the county could be decreased by literally hundreds of millions of dollars,” said McAfee.
During the Announcements or Comments portion of the Feb. 1 meeting, Bosque County resident Harold Lee also spoke out against the proposed wind turbine farms.
Lee cited concerns such as the amount of concrete and steel needed to build roads leading up to the development site as well as the base and foundation of the site itself, and what role erosion on the hillside could possibly play during the 20-to-25-year life expectancy of the turbine farms.
Lee’s biggest issue against the wind turbine development concerned what would happen to the site once it’s life expectancy ran its course.
Turbine blades are made of fiberglass and are non-biodegradable and many are buried in the ground after they are no longer serviceable.
The concrete base, which is around 1800 square feet, could make a foundation for a normal sized house, though it’s not always level and is round.
Lee said the culpability of the corporations to dismantle the farms at the end of their life span is unreliable.
“If each windmill is set up as a project and not an entity, at the end of the life of the farm they will take bankruptcy. It’ll cost you the salvage value to get rid of it,” said Lee.
“What will be left when this is all over with?” Lee asked.
McAfee echoed Lee’s claim, saying that because most companies are set up as a selfliquidating security, there’s no money left at the end to clean up.
“What we want to do as the Bosque County Citizens Against Wind Turbines is build a defense against what they’re going to present to us so that we’re better informed as they come to us and try to sell us their goods,” said McAfee.
During the Feb. 8 Commissioners Court meeting, Bosque County Commissioner-Precinct 1 Billy Hall said he spoke with another county commissioner during a training session and asked him his thoughts on wind turbines.
“His first words were ‘Don’t do it’,” said Hall. He said the commissioner told him they dig a hole 30 feet deep and fill it full of cement and rebar, they leak, and after the contract is up, the company files bankruptcy and leaves the county to clean up the site.
Also during the Feb. 8 meeting, Ranch Broker Stefanie Cobb of Cobb Properties said she and her bought their first piece of property in Bosque County in 1984 in part because of the beautiful countryside.
“Location, location, location. That’s what we have here,” said Cobb.
Cobb calls the wind turbines monsters.
She said building wind turbine farms here would decrease the value of property in Bosque County. Some of her clients do not have the budget to purchase land in the county, and when asked about land towards Mills County and Comanche County, buyers are put off by the blinking lights on the wind turbines.
“I’m looking to aesthetics and view, and that’s what we have,” said Cobb. “We are at the beginning of Hill Country, so it makes it so desirable.”
McAfee said Monday one of the reasons wind turbines have had such a huge push recently is because Former President of the United States Donald Trump said they affect real estate values and the media has gone out in force to prove him wrong.
“We’re starting to see a little more of the negatives now because they’re no longer trying to prove him wrong,” said McAfee.
“What I hope to do over the next couple of weeks is to bring that information to you all,” McAfee said.