Bee County (KIII News) — Bee County is not part of the Eagle Ford Shale energy play, but they are still getting the attention of energy producers. Several companies want to build wind farms.
Wind farms continue to pop across South Texas as the state continues to lead the nation in wind power production. The American Wind Energy Association said there are now nearly 13,000 turbines across the state.
In Bee County, there are a total of three proposed sites for wind farm projects. One would be built on 20,000 acres of land near Mineral. It's called the Helena Project.
"They're just in the preliminaries," Bee County Commissioner Dennis DeWitt said. "They're doing their measurement studies. If it should occur it's probably two or three years away."
The County expects Lincoln Clean Energy to ask for tax incentives for the mineral site.
"There's a set of procedures they have to jump through with the County," DeWitt said. "We just revised those procedures a few years ago for the one in south Bee County and if they ask for a tax abatement, we go through that process."
The economic benefits of wind farms for our state have included 25,000 jobs created and investments totaling $42 billion. Annual lease payments to property owners right now stand at $60 million a year according to the American Wind Energy Association.
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