A decision on Jack County welcoming a new Lasso Wind LLC wind farm installment is long overdue.
The issue has been brewing all year but stalled out again after the Jack County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to take a vote July 12 to determine whether to give tax abatements to the French-owned wind energy company by designating a segment of the county as a “reinvestment zone.”
The vote was postponed by Jack County commissioner Gary Oliver. He said voters were "speaking loud enough" on whether Lasso should get a ticket into Jack County. The commissioners court broke quorum after 3 hours of testimony at the meeting, according to an eyewitness account reported by NorTex Times.
Mike Almond, a local resident, told Lone Star Standard that the overseeing judge knew all along that he wanted to approve Lasso's request.
"Oliver’s decision to not vote thereby delaying the actual vote was a decision that I respect and was shocked to see," Almond said. "I hope the extra time is spent actually working with the community, but the fact that (Judge Keith Umphress) continues to negotiate with Lasso proves he doesn’t really have concern for the fact that the citizens are divided. He appears to only be focused on getting wind farms installed."
Almond implored for an application of common sense.
"Jack County already has wind farms," he said. "One needs to ask, where is this windfall of money today? If there isn't any, [why] add more turbines?"
After Umphress allowed his appointed commissioner and the county attorney to speak, a vote was reportedly called without opportunity to hear the public's positions.
According to a recent survey of Jack County voters conducted by Anderson Williams Research, 58% of Jack County residents oppose building any new wind farms, whereas only 29% support construction.
The poll further found that Jack County doesn't like the idea of wind farm tax breaks. When it comes to tax abatements, 68% of Jack County residents oppose offering tax breaks to wind farms, and only 23% support the abatements. When informed that the parent company of Lasso Wind is a foreign-owned entity, opposition to issuing the tax breaks shot up to more than 76%.
"[We] didn't need a poll to justify this point, but the poll reflects the facts that most are not asking nor desire abatements for Lasso or any other wind farm," Almond said, pointing out that the vast majority of taxpaying Jack County land owners voted no for the abatements.
Public officials who support the wind farm tax abatements could be risking their seat in office. Anderson Williams Research found that 41% of respondents say they would vote to replace elected officials as soon as they cast a vote supporting wind farm tax abatements, and an additional 32% of respondents said they would consider other candidates because of a vote in support of tax breaks.
According to Keep the Country, the revenue lost for Jack County if Lasso Wind is granted its business proposal will run in the millions of dollars. Should the tax breaks pass, the county looks at $4.5 million dollars lost every year for a total of 30 years, requiring a 45% tax rate increase for all county landowners to cover costs. Further, they assert that landowners supporting wind farm tax abatements only comprise .5% of annual taxes paid to Jack County and 2.2% of the county’s land value.
"If wind farms are so prosperous for a community, why is Jack County looking to increase taxes? They have wind farms in place already," Almond continued. "Maybe the judge should be looking into where all that big money is going. Then he could produce evidence of some benefit."
The potential repercussions include more than taxes. Property values and the wellbeing of local wildlife are at stake.
Texas land rights organization TLOW reports that, based on independent studies, the property values decrease by 25% to 40% or more in areas within view of wind or solar farms. According to TLOW, Texas real estate brokers have reported that within the last six months they have had clients decide not to buy land because of the potential of wind turbines being built in proximity to the property. In fact, several brokers who sell property in Brown County and the surrounding area, including Comanche and Mills counties, state that eight of 10 buyers will not even look at a property if there are wind turbines in view.
According to local Jack County group the NTHA, delicate ecosystems are put at risk by wind turbines. Texas Business Daily reported a NTHA statement that said "There are other issues that we believe both APEX and EDF have overlooked, or have decided to ignore, that deeply concern us. One of the major concerns is the danger a wind farm could pose to our environment. We have known for some time that the migratory route of the highly endangered whooping crane flies through the land that APEX and EDF have leased for their turbines."
Most frustrating to Almond is the apparent lack of concern by some Jack County landowners.
"The risk of reducing your neighbors' quality of life and land values is very real, and it appears that isn't being considered," he said. "I am shocked to see this more than anything."
