Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a temporary injunction requiring a company accused of illegally stockpiling thousands of wind turbine blades in West Texas to stop accepting additional shipments and begin cleaning up the sites.
The temporary injunction, signed Tuesday by a Travis County district judge, applies to Global Fiberglass Solutions of Texas LLC, its affiliated companies, and company official Donald Lilly. It prohibits the defendants from accepting or disposing of additional industrial or municipal solid waste at two Sweetwater facilities while requiring them to begin removing the existing stockpiles.
Paxton sued the company in February, alleging it had illegally accumulated more than 3,000 discarded wind turbine blades, nacelles, and other materials at two facilities in Sweetwater in violation of Texas solid waste laws.
“This is a victory for protecting the land, health, and safety of the people of Texas,” said Paxton.
“No new wind turbine blade shipments will be accepted at these illegal sites and the defendants are now legally required to begin cleaning up the thousands of discarded blades they irresponsibly abandoned in Sweetwater. We will not allow Texas land to be used as an illegal dumping ground.”
According to the attorney general’s office, Global Fiberglass Solutions was hired by multiple companies to break down and recycle wind turbine blades but instead created massive stockpiles at the Nolan County sites.
The company first came under scrutiny in 2018 after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality received an anonymous complaint. Investigators found the company was conducting recycling operations without notifying the agency and was accumulating wind turbine blades beyond the threshold allowed to remain exempt from solid waste permitting requirements.
Although TCEQ entered into an agreed order with the company in 2022 requiring it to obtain permits or remove the waste, investigators later found additional turbine parts had been delivered to one of the abandoned facilities without the required permits.
Under the temporary injunction, the defendants must immediately stop accepting additional waste and cease processing solid waste except as authorized by the order. They must also submit a detailed inventory of all wind turbine blades and related materials within 30 days, including serial numbers and transportation records.
The order further requires the defendants to begin removing the material within 180 days. If they receive the necessary permits from TCEQ, they must cut the blades into manageable sections, shred them, and recycle or lawfully dispose of the material. If they are unable to obtain the permits within 180 days, they must transport the waste to another approved disposal facility.
The injunction establishes a cleanup timeline requiring one-quarter of the material to be removed within 270 days, half within 365 days, three-quarters within 460 days, and all remaining waste within 530 days. The defendants must also provide monthly progress reports to TCEQ and the Office of the Attorney General documenting the cleanup efforts.
Paxton’s lawsuit seeking civil penalties and a permanent injunction remains pending, with a trial currently scheduled for September 13, 2027.
