Yes, wind farm opponents DO have gas leases

A couple of months ago, I called out Meredith Baxter Birney, I mean Meredith Lawrence, of the Dallas Observer for writing a piece about a proposed new wind farm in Cooke County, a piece that had a high ignorance level, IMO. I followed up a month later with a second article touching on tangental and additional issues.

I had speculated at the time that part of the issue was that some opponents have natural-gas leases and are afraid yet another wind farm (there's two in the Muenster portion of the area already) would further drive down the lease money they get. (Southwest Cooke County and southeast Montague County, the Saint Jo area, are the northern end of the Barnett Shale.)

Well, multiple things have added to that.

Following up on an addition I had to that original piece, for the next two months since October, Comptroller Glenn Hegar has shows production taxes from natural gas continue to fall. That means prices are down in general. Plus, production in Cooke County's been off slightly since last spring.

And, there's more.

One independent driller would like to see the RRC do its job on natural gas flaring, with the hope that would slow drilling enough on oil to prop the price up more, and also help natural gas prices. That said, if the indy gets his wish, MORE natural gas from the Permian means gas prices elsewhere (as in the Barnett Shale) go even deeper in the terlet. Per page 4 of the Dallas Fed's quarterly report, spot prices for gas aren't expected to get much better next year. (Neither is oil.) That said, one commenter on page 7 says that much of this is one-time flaring and that more Permian gas WILL come onstream later this year. At the Houston Chronicle, though focused more on oil, Chris Tomlinson had a recent business column about this same issue. He said a "mini-slump" is probably the best that producers should hope for this year. He notes the Permian is overproducing, that many CEOs are being paid for wells drilled and so have financial incentives to overproduce, and more.

In addition, as of earlier this month, for four months in a row, Comptroller Glenn Hegar's office reported that year-over-year monthly natural gas production taxes were down in the range of 30 percent.

So, the fears are there.

And, I have confirmed that at least one of the more vocal Muenster-area opponents does have gas leases, and at a substantial level.

As I said before, it's all about whose ox is being gored.

That said, other opponents, like Jared Groce, may be right on the land value issue.

EDP claims that the wind farms actually can boost land value. Well, sure, if you're taking in the value of the turbines, even though they're owned by EDP. But, at the same time, it may indeed depress the value on some other parcels in the area, while leaving yet others basically unchanged, with the result that overall value is actually up slightly.

But? That's capitalism, ain't it? And, as for tax breaks for wind turbines? What about the tax breaks for oil, and for the gas that's in the terlet?

So, my guess is that, like Caesar's Gaul, opposition is divided into three parts: one-third gas leaseholders, one-third a mix of developers and the people buying country sprawl from them, and one-third actual farmers and ranchers. Each has its own kind and degree of hypocrisy and fatted calves cum gored oxen.

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As for Ms. Lawrence, a new piece of hers where she talks about renewables passing coal in Texas energy production does give a small bit of indication that she now knows a small bit about natural gas. Next, perhaps you can talk about how Texas' tax laws and other issues are anti-solar, especially anti-rooftop solar, even as you tout solar's growth.

Further thoughts on moar wind farms bloviating

To follow up on a piece I wrote about the Dallas Observer doing something that looked like a hit job on a proposed wind farm in North Texas, there are a few additional observations to make, versus it, some of the nutters who commented, and the reporter who ain't in Oz or Portlandia any more.

No, this wind turbine has not caused two-headed calves to be born,
abortion mills or pot shops to spring up, nor a lot of other alleged
problems with wind farms.

First, are there tax abatements for wind? Yes, some federal ones

Are there tax abatements for solar? Yes, federal.

Are there tax abatements for oil and gas? Yes, a HUGE one called the depletion allowance. And a second, quasi-abatement called US soldiers and sailors in the Persian Gulf. Not to mention wars and wars by proxy.

Have you stopped driving your car in response? No, you "support our troops American exceptionalist right to cheap oil."

(Also, as I said before, how many of you have natural gas leases and so don't want wind turbines ANY where because it will cut into your royalties?)

Related to that?

Related to that? Two pieces of information Meghan Lawrence didn't supply, one easily already available when she wrote her original article and one just updated.

The already available? In three years, according to Wiki, wind electricity will be cheaper than every form of natural gas electricity except an advanced version of combined cycle power plants. It's already cheaper than all non-combined cycle gas power plants.

Second? And reflecting what I said about gas prices being in the terlet otherwise? Oct. 2, Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported natural gas production taxes for September were down 34. 5 percent from a year ago. Oops.

OK, that nonsense is out of the way.

Do wind turbines too close to homes cause some noise and/or light pollution? Yes. Is the would-be developer of the proposed wind farm in question doing as much to address these concerns as it could? I don't know.

As far as noise in general?

Is a wind turbine any more noisy than a High Plains wind? Having relatives and friends with wheat fields in western Kansas, and having stood in them when, per the old joke about Amarillo, "there's only one barbed wire between here and Canada and it's down," the wind itself can be noisy. Now, so far, most wind farms aren't that far west because that puts them further from big cities and they don't need that much wind. But, the wind itself can be noisy.

Is the light from the tower any more light polluting than a pole light on a barn plus a second on a shop? Probably not.

And, if we're talking pollution and we're in places near oil and gas wells? Wind farms don't stink and they don't run the risk of leaking anything into the soil.

As for property issues? If you're not the property owners who could actually get windmills, and especially if you're #MAGA hat wearers, you're pretty hypocritical on property rights. Hypocritical in your selectiveness. Organizations like Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation might say the same. (That said, it was formed earlier this year and is clearly a front group.)

But, do wind turbines cause cancer, two-headed calves or other such things?

Tosh and tommyrot.

And, no, they don't kill a zillion birds, either. But, coal or gas fired power kills 10 times more.

And, if I heard one person right, besides this Trumpian stuff, don't cite from Watt's Up. You just further undermined your credibility.

Are turbines objects you can't avoid 300 feet in the air, or 600 feet if this farm is built and that's the tallest size?

Yes.

You know what else is?

Cropdusters. And ag drones, growing in popularity in the country. Low-flying helicopters, too.

Is EDP renewables, if not yet taken over by Three Gorges, the focus of its acquisition? Yes. Does Three Gorges already hold a minority stake? Yes.

But, for the nationalists saying "China" as you wave your gimme flag? Check what country makes that. Check what country makes your MAGA hat, too.

The energy expended in building, delivering and erecting turbine parts? Real, but less than an oil or gas well, I'll venture.

None of this is blanket support for wind farms in general nor is it support for the particular wind farm in question.

Finally, to wrap this back to Meghan Lawrence? These are the nutters you're dealing with.

Texas Comptroller tells Lege to start favoring oil and gas more

If wind power's not going to get special tax breaks, and never has gotten road repair subsidies or similar, isn't that really Comptroller Susan Combs' actual message, what I put in the header, and not her strident screech that wind power needs to be cut off from the state tax teat?

I'm not alone in saying that, either:

Jeff Clark, executive director of The Wind Coalition, said Combs’ report is unbalanced, misinformed and repeats the “flawed talking points pushed by the anti-renewables lobby.” 

“Texas’ wind energy industry has now invested more than $26 billion in 56 counties across Texas and provides 10 percent of the state’s electricity supply cleanly, reliably, cheaply, and without using water,” Clark said. 

Furthermore, he said, the wind power installed in Texas will avoid 23,103,000 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the equivalent of taking 4,075,000 cars off the road. 

Clark also notes that the state continues to heavily subsidize the oil and gas industry at the same time.

And, that's far more than allegedly "clean" fracked natural gas will do, those green energy figures.

Clark also isn't alone. Note this:

Environmentalists criticized the report, saying it took a blinkered approach to energy policy. 

It understates the subsidies given to natural gas, nuclear and coal plants, said Tom Smith, head of the Austin office of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, and “ignores totally the costs of hidden environmental damages caused by these types of plants — such as the wastes from coal mining, fracking or nuclear power generation.” 

Russel Smith, head of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association, said he had no comment on the Combs report, but in June he told the Statesman that rolling back support for wind power “ignores the obvious — that all energy sources have and continue to receive governmental support.”

Per comments in this piece by State Sen. Troy Fraser, the real issues is that the O&G industry has long, and historically well-developed, lobbying tentacles.

Plus, we haven't even talked about solar power, an area where Texas, despite its semi-tropical location, large amounts of sun (especially in West Texas, where higher altitude also helps) and other advantages, lags sadly behind other states.

As for Combs? As Texas Public Citizen showed three years ago, Combs has a long history of fighting renewable energy, speaking of O&G tentacles.

She also has a long history of being subservient to it in anti-environmental ways, as just documented again.

#RickPerry hits new levels of cluelessness on both #gays and #fracking

I don't know if his pain meds are acting up again or what, but his comments out in California are idiotic in several ways.

A lot of people are talking about blogging about his latest comments about "teh gay," of course, namely that it's like being alcoholic. Well, given old rumors about Tricky Ricky, and old facts about Shrub, there's one way to solve this — a confab of idiotic Texas Republican governors.

It's idiotic in other ways, too. Except for the hard liners in the Orange County and San Diego parts of the Southland, most California Republicans aren't Texas mouth-breathers on gay rights, or lack thereof, as demonstrated by this year's Texas GOP confab. So, if Tricky Ricky actually wants to be successful in recruiting California businesses, he'd have brains enough to shut his yap as well as come in from the rain of teh stupidz.

But, he doesn't. And, with Tesla, the California business chickens are coming home, but likely NOT to Texas, to roost.

That said, comments on teh gay were probably overshadowed by something as stupid, and that was his Palinesque frack, baby, frack, which were in turn part of larger energy stupidity:

Perry said he believes Texas is leading the way in achieving energy independence by producing crude oil and electricity in many forms, including solar power.

Perry also suggested that deregulating electricity had started a boom for renewable energy in Texas, which he called the nation's leading developer of wind energy.

Perry said shale drilling techniques had doubled oil production in Texas, and he urged Californians to tap the full energy potential in its Monterey Shale.

Really? On solar?

Texas is a leader on windjamming electricity and everybody knows that. Please show me how Texas is a leader on solar electric, though.

As for the Monterey Shale, he's behind the curve.

Last month, the feds cut the estimated recoverable oil from there by 96 percent. Based on details of the updated estimate, oil would probably have to hit $200/bbl, in today's real dollars, for it to be worthwhile to drill there.

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That said, given that Greg Abbott is using a private plane owned by anti-gay frackers, maybe there's a reason for Perry's twofer stupidity.

Global warming cuts US wind potential?

Yoiks, if true; a study, with preliminary numbers, says average wind speeds in the Midwest and East have fallen 10 percent since 1973, and, worse, says speeds could decline another 10 percent in the next four decades.

So, the wind power industry’s claims that the U.S. is “the Saudi Arabia of wind energy” may be truer than they recognize, assuming Peak Oil pretty much guts the Saudi oil fields in those same four decades.

Listen up, pocketbook anti-greens

Global wind energy grew nearly 30 percent last year, with the growth rate being highest in the U.S. (Germany is still No. 1 in percentage of electric power derived from wind, despite being a less windy country.)

China doubled its wind power. European countries besides Germany saw large increases.

Bottom line is, people wouldn’t be expanding wind power this much if it weren’t viable.

Texas wind transmission lines may lower electric costs

Yes, you and I the electric customers will pay about $4 a month up front for this, but a new wind-transmission project OKed by the state will pipe enough west Texas windpower here to DFW to power up most of the Metroplex on wind alone, even on a hot summer day.

Longer term, we’ll save, in a couple of ways.

First with natural gas prices continuing to rise (state utilities get a fair amount of electricity from NG plants), and not coming down (North America hit Peak Natural Gas earlier this decade), it will ease the burden on fossil fuels.

Second, by reducing greenhouse gases, it could just reduce the load on your AC 20 years from now.

Wind turbines and military radar — a problem?

The British Defense Ministry is objecting to four east-coast sites for wind farms, saying the large generating windmills interfere with radar detection of planes.

I have not yet heard of anything similar in the U.S., but we shall see.