Wind Energy Companies In Texas - Deep in the heart of Texas A Chinese wind farm raises eyebrows members of Congress fear that Beijing could use the facility for espionage and economic warfare. But the Trump administration is determined to let it go ahead.
Wind turbines soar above a building on a farm in Colorado City, Texas on January 21, 2016. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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A source familiar with the decision said the Trump administration would not prevent a Chinese company from building a wind farm in Texas near the Air Force's largest pilot training base.
Allowing the progress of a project that lawmakers fear could be used to spy on American soldiers, disrupt flight paths, and give Beijing a foothold on the American power grid.
The decision came after an analysis by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US. Anxiety. But GH America Energy, the US it. Equipment from a Chinese company still needs to mitigate the impact of wind turbines that could interfere with low-altitude flight training routes at Laughlin Air Force Base. The plans are now being reviewed in a separate process led by the Air Force and Department of Defense's military aviation and installation assurance placement clearinghouse.
The Trump administration has been on a collision course with China for years over trade, geopolitics and now the coronavirus pandemic. Amid rising anti-Chinese sentiment in Washington, senior administration officials began bashing other countries, including close allies, for allowing China to invest in critical infrastructure and other industries related to national security.
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Now, just a few dozen miles from the U.S. The US-Mexico border and the limestone brough of the Edwards Plateau, the prospect of turbines revealing the Blue Hills wind project has brought the US it. Rivalry with China in an unexpected place: home to the small town of Laughlin and Egypt. Del Rio, Texas, a dry haven for nature lovers and hunters that boasts ancient rock art dating back to the days of the Pharaohs.
The project would place wind turbines at the Blue Hills Wind development located just a few dozen miles from the US. US-Mexico border and near Laughlin Air Force Base.
Developer GH America Energy, a former Chinese military officer and a subsidiary of Guanghui Energy Company, a company owned by the richest man in China's embattled Xinjiang province, declined requests for comment for this story. A Treasury Department spokesperson declined to comment, citing policy that prevents the agency from speaking publicly about individual CFIUS cases.
According to the CFIUS Act, the US Meanwhile, members of Congress and local officials fear that the foreign company could interfere with the airbase, invade the untouched wilderness, break into the power grid and even use the project as a platform for espionage by the Chinese government.
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"Why this place and why this project?" Republican Representative Will Hurd, who represents a district that includes the project and stretches west across Texas from San Antonio to El Paso, said:
. "Why do we allow a Chinese company to do this in the U.S. A former American general could not carry out such a project in China."
In this undated photo, members of Arizona's 48th Rescue Squadron participate in an exercise near Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas. Some have expressed concern that a proposed Chinese wind farm near the Texas military base could pose a national security risk.
In this undated photo, members of Arizona's 48th Rescue Squadron participate in an exercise near Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas. Some have expressed concern that a proposed Chinese wind farm near the Texas military base could pose a national security risk. Master Sergeant Heather Cabral/U.S. it. Air Force
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This is a question that has puzzled military officials, local leaders, activists and lawmakers who have been following the case for two years. The problem of wind farms emerging near military flight routes is not new: Then-Lt. Gen. Steven Quast had been grappling with the problem for more than a decade when he took over the Air Force's San Antonio-based Education and Training Command, which oversees Laughlin, in November 2017. But while Quast believed the military's advancing technology could Prevent wind-powered turbines from interfering with radar signals When he learned that a Chinese company had bought land near Laughlin Air Force Base just one year into his tenure, it alerted him to a potential national company. Security risk.
"It raised alarms when we found evidence that it was Chinese money," said Quast, who is now retired. "If the power goes out or the water flow stops, the bases stop working."
Even more surprising was that the business relationship for the new enterprise did not make any sense to Quast and local officials. How can property turn a profit, which lawmakers and district attorneys say is in the middle of nowhere and has no significant road access at the time?
The Del Rio community also began to worry. Local leaders are determined to save Air Force training routes that could be compromised by the construction of large wind turbines. According to a 2018 statement, Laughlin graduates more than 350 student pilots each year, and flight routes are critical to the region's economy. The base contributed $2 billion to the state's economy last year and provided more than 10,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, according to estimates from the Texas Treasurer's Office.
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But the forces that allowed Guangzhou to buy the land near Laughlin and Del Rio have been brewing for over two decades. Project developers like the lack of bureaucracy; Foreign buyers began to like Texas' air of deregulation and lax rules on property purchases. (About 95 percent of the state's land is privately owned.) The federal government has some legal authority to review and block foreign investment due to national security concerns, such as the CFIUS process.
But in Texas, there is a high bar for authorities to step in and stop development on wind farms. Since the Texas legislature passed a mandate in 1999, which called for the state's utilities to obtain more power from renewable sources, it has been difficult to stop the initiatives from increasing.
"At the state and federal level, there are no regulations regarding the development of the wind farms," Jack Hession, senior vice president of Madison State Affairs, a Washington lobbying shop that represents the Del Rio community, told Foreign Policy. "There is no way to deny it as it was bought. The proposal to build a wind farm was a viable option for the owner.
The issue first came to the attention of local authorities in early 2018, after Guangzhou purchased properties, including nine farms, under the name Brazos Highland Properties LP, environmentalists say. According to estimates provided by local officials to the Trump administration, the company proposed building 50 to 130 wind turbines that could reach up to 700 feet above the ground.
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Beyond geopolitical and national security concerns, the project also angered local environmentalists, who worry that the wind farm could destroy the clean waters loved by boaters, nature lovers and hunters from across the state.
"Houston, Dallas, hunters don't want to look at tall turbines all night and see red lights flashing on the horizon," said Randy Nunns, a landowner and chairman of the board of the Devils River Conservancy, a local company. Environmental advocacy group against the wind farm.
Part of the Amistad National Recreation Area outside Del Rio in Val Verde County, Texas, pictured in 2014. Local environmental advocates worry that the wind farm could damage the area's pristine aquifers and migration routes for eagles, bats and butterflies.
Part of the Amistad National Recreation Area outside Del Rio in Val Verde County, Texas, pictured in 2014. Local environmental advocates worry that the wind farm could damage the area's pristine aquifers and migration routes for eagles, bats and butterflies. Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images
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Hession said Guanghui has now barely talked about the Air Force's biggest potential hurdle outside of CFIUS, which is the requirement to clear turbines from the proposed low-level training route. The agreement is in effect. An Air Force spokesperson told Foreign Policy that a deal has not been finalized, but is currently under review by both the service and the Pentagon's Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Placement Clearinghouse.
But that didn't entirely satisfy local officials or Congress, who feared the worst was yet to come, as Guanghui oversees the continued development of wind and solar projects in the region that could cross flight routes.
Letters received by Foreign Policy show that
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