Group pushes for lawsuit against wind farm

SARITA - An environmental group may try to push the federal government to file a lawsuit against the state, arguing that it failed to stop developers from building a wind farm in Kenedy County, an attorney said Friday.

Jim Blackburn, a Houston attorney who represents the Coastal Habitat Alliance, said the group had not decided whether it will appeal a judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit against Texas General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson, wind developers PPM Energy and Babcock & Brown and the Public Utility Commission.

Now, the group may request that the federal government sue the Land Office, arguing it failed to stop the development of the wind farm that it claims threatens migratory birds, Blackburn said.

The Lower Laguna Madre Foundation plans to file a lawsuit against the wind farm, said Walt Littelberger, president of the environmental group.

The Coastal Habitat Alliance, a group of organizations that includes the King Ranch, will wait for U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel to issue a written order before it decides whether it will appeal the ruling, Blackburn said.

Monday, Yeakel informed the parties that he would dismiss the case - two weeks before it was set to go to trial.

"The question is what is the next step to be taken," Blackburn said. "(We can) focus on the General Land Office and the absence of an effective coastal management program in Texas. There's no doubt that under federal law Texas is required to have a program that regulates the citing of electrical generation capacity within the coastal zone. We don't think there's effective protection of the Texas coast and the wind farms are one example."

The GLO disputed the charge that it failed to follow federal laws to protect the coast.

"That's what they've contended and we disagree. The land office has not failed to do anything," said Jim Suydam, the agency's spokesman in Austin. "What we're trying to do is encourage the growth of wind energy in Texas because it makes sense."

The Lower Laguna Madre Foundation plans to file a lawsuit under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act to shut down the wind farm, Kittelberger said.

Under the law, the group has to prove the wind farm's towering turbines kill birds, he said.

"We still believe they're located in an area that will do great harm to migratory birds," Kittelberger said, referring to the international flyway route used by birds across much of the Western Hemisphere.

John Calaway, Babcock & Brown's chief development officer for North America, said the project that's two-thirds complete will be in operation by Dec. 1.

Calaway called the project a model that "will set the standard for the rest of the country as far as an environmentally sensitive approach."

"I think renewable and none-depleting energy is the way of the future," Calaway said. "We personally believe wind energy is by far the most benign energy source ... compared to coal-fired or nuclear energy.

"Our project doesn't use fresh water and does not release emissions."