The Biden Administration has been trying to pull the wool over people's eyes the last four years. They have tried jamming massive Ukraine funding packages into border bills and managed to push through tons of climate agenda measures without saying anything. Because they know people do not want them. Well, they are at it again. The administration's newest soup they want us to eat is offshore wind farms, specifically in the Gulf of Mexico.
They have proposed a lease of about 142,000 acres off the coast of Texas, which would go to Hecate Energy Gulf Wind LLC, that would lay the groundwork for their clean energy movement. It has prompted Texas Land Commissioner to send a letter to the Biden administration, opposing the rule. Her first letter was met with zero response, so she has now sent another.
For starters, Hecate has zero experience with construction of offshore wind farms, which is just the first of many potential hurdles. But Buckingham says the problems go well beyond that. They have virtually ignored any environmental study, and federal laws, to try and make this happen.
"They are not taking into account economic or environmental impacts...it is estimated it could be a negative impact of $800 billion a year to the Houston Ship channel...it is also right in line with where birds from North America fly to migrate to the Caribbean," she says.
For context, the Houston Ship Channel generated about $906 billion in economic value in 2022, which was up 13 percent from 2018.
But as we are all too familiar with in the gulf, storms moving across the area can have tremendous impacts economically. Oil rigs are always subject to a beating out in the open waters. That would be no different with these gigantic wind farms.
"With hurricanes and all in the gulf...there is absolutely no safety record for these windmills in the event of a hurricane...and I think these pose a significant risk to the coast," she says.
On top of that, there have already been bad stories coming out of areas like Massachusetts, where propellers have fallen off these and into the ocean, which has caused environmental issues there.
But as the famous salesman Billy Mays would say, 'wait, there is more!' The costs of these farms would be staggering, and once again, this company has no proven record of building these offshore.
"We see it as all negative...no positive. It is much more expensive to build windmills in the ocean than it is to build them on dry land," she says.
As we know with government projects, not only will they take possibly years longer than expected to be built, but they will also cost more than anticipated. In this case, that could result in billions of wasted dollars.
Buckingham adds that they will block transmission lines that would aid the project. However, that will only go so far, and people need to voice their concerns with it. That is the only way to stop being force fed yet another toxic soup from the Biden administration.