Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is promising to push back against President Joe Biden’s proposed 546,645-acre wind farm 24 miles off the Galveston coast.
Last year, Biden designated the acreage as a “Wind Energy Area” and directed federal officials to lease the expanse to a wind energy company. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a branch of the Department of the Interior, claims the project will produce enough energy to power 2.3 million homes.
The plan also includes a 188,023 acre wind farm 56 miles off the shore of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
In response to this proposed plan, Texas State Sens. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) and Drew Springer (R–Muenster) have advocated for a new measure that would allow Buckingham to deny the Biden Administration permits for burying cables in Texas-controlled waters in an effort to stop the wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the legislative session earlier this year, Middleton filed Senate Bill 1303, which would have required in-depth investigation into potential wind farms and create a permitting process for such facilities. The bill was ultimately not heard in committee.
Middleton also sent a letter to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last year drawing attention to the possible harmful effects of the Galveston wind farm, including the unreliability of renewable energy sources and the project’s potential to interfere with offshore shipping lanes.
In an essay published in the Daily Caller, Buckingham also called out the Biden Administration for “ignoring” federal law.
Buckingham said the administration has failed to publish an Environmental Impact Statement, required under the National Environmental Policy Act. She also asserted that the Galveston wind farm would disrupt commercial fishing and shipping in the area—a violation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
The land commissioner referenced the failure of previous unreliable energy projects.
“As someone who has traveled all across my great state, I have seen firsthand the wind turbine graveyards of West Texas, where old, decommissioned fan blades sit frozen in time—rusting and decaying,” wrote Buckingham. “I cannot imagine a nearly 900 square-mile field of abandoned wind turbines off our coast, degrading and leaching harmful substances into our ocean.”
Buckingham told Texas Scorecard that the Galveston wind farm could impact the country’s self-sustainability and promised to fight back against the project.
“Heavy-handed federal action like what is being proposed by the Biden Administration could have a downstream effect of making our state and nation more reliant on imports from places like China while eliminating high-paying jobs within our own economy,” said Buckingham. “As Texas’ Land Commissioner, I am committed to doing everything in my power to thwart this proposed illegal federal overreach.”
In a reference to the Texas power grid’s repeated failings during extreme weather events, Buckingham doubted the ability of unreliable energy sources to support the state.
“The liberal fantasy around so-called “green” energy is a lie,” said Buckingham. “There is a place for every type of energy generation; however, wind and solar have repeatedly proven to be unreliable when consumers need it most.”
