Nortex Times

For months, wind energy has been at the center of conversations for Jack County officials. 

The controversy began in July when area residents campaigned against tax breaks for new wind farms. This was followed by the July meeting where the Jack County commissioners postponed a vote to grant French wind energy company Lasso Wind LLC a tax reduction through the declaration of a “reinvestment zone” and numerous community members and business officials emerging with anti-wind-farm stances. 

The cautions against wind farms are numerous. 

Gary Oliver, the Jack County commissioner who forced a postponement of the vote by walking out of the July 12 public hearing, told NorTex Times that the whole ordeal has frustrated him. The problems, he said, started back in late April when an unelected commissioner who had already been vocally in favor of the wind farm tax abatements was appointed to a vacant commissioner's seat by a judge. 

There are four commissioner precincts in Jack County. Two of the commissioners had to abstain from voting regarding the tax abatements due to having land signed up for wind turbine installment. This left only Oliver, the unelected commissioner and the judge that appointed him to vote, who also has a history of being in favor of the abatements, according to Oliver. 

“I told the judge that we need to wait until there’s an elected official in there,” Oliver said. “I said that this is not right.”

Oliver knew he was walking into a losing argument. Despite only three hours’ worth of debate from both sides at the July meeting and more than half of Jack County opposing the creation of new wind farms, the people with voting power were stacked in favor of the abatements from the beginning, he said.

“I knew they were fixing to force it on the county,” Oliver recalled. “So I said, ‘I’m not going to be a pawn in this activity,’ and I left. I said, ‘It’s nothing against you, but this is not right.’”

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. 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%.

“The judge let two hours of testimony be heard and put his own people in to talk," observed George Clay, an eyewitness to the July 12 hearing. "They took another hour and then said it's time to vote. 

“That's when Commissioner Gary Oliver stood up and said he's not going to hang around and allow a vote for something with the potential for a longstanding effect on Jack County, with an unelected Commissioner,” Clay continued. “Oliver walked out to a standing ovation [and the judge] “got red-faced mad.”

Oliver said he does feel that the judge allowed opportunity for every testimony to be heard and gave everyone an opportunity to speak, but that the judge had already made up his mind despite the county constituents’ majority opinion. 

“It’s kind of overwhelming the number of people that have responded to me that are against the wind farms," he said. "What it boils down to is that anybody who has the capability of profiting financially from the wind farms are in support of an abatement.”  

According to the Anderson Williams Research survey, 41% of respondents said 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 supporting tax breaks.

Keep the Country reports that if Lasso Wind receives tax breaks and is granted its business proposal, it will result in $4.5 million 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.

The wind farm abatements have caused months of division and turned relationships hateful in what used to be a nice neighborhood, Oliver believes. As an owner of a portable toilet company, the commissioner says he could see profit in the installation of wind farms even for himself. However, even with that in mind, the idea of the tax abatements don’t sit well with him. 

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. 

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.

“There’s just no reason to be rolling out the red carpet for them," Oliver said. "We don’t give our oilfield companies tax abatements. If they want to come, they can, but they need to pay for the full ride. They’re already getting enough money from the government. They just need to pay their full property taxes. We need to have something to regulate [the wind farms].”