Nortex Times

Residents in north Texas are campaigning against property tax breaks for potential wind farms in Jack, Montague and Clay counties, according to a report by KFDX-TV.

According to George Clay, a resident who is actively involved with all of the counties on this issue, more wind farms would have a detrimental impact on the region's property values.

"When counties grant abatements, the county loses millions of tax dollars per year over the bribe they guarantee the county and ISD's," Clay told Nortex Times.

Additionally, Clay argued that wind farm subsidies disrupt the energy market, are visually unappealing to people and have a negative effect on the environment.

"[Wind farms] turn beautiful landscapes into an industrial complex," Clay continued, "Where is the waste going to go when these things become obsolete?"

While residents have succeeded in persuading Clay and Montague County Commissioners to reject wind farm industrial plant tax abatements, Jack County is still on schedule to approve these tax abatements for a new wind farm on July 12.

Additionally, two Jack County Commissioners have submitted recusal affidavits due to the fact that they had already signed wind leases, leaving only three members to vote on the abatements.

"Right now, we think the judge and one commissioner will support the subsidy and one commissioner will oppose it," Clay told Nortex Times.

The campaign to reject the wind farm tax abatements was led by the North Texas Heritage Association, who demonstrated their opposition to the proposal by packing courthouses for the vote, according to a report by News Channel 6.

Currently, the association has enlisted about 700 individuals who together own over 450,000 acres of property across the region.