Mesa Power officials are giving landowners in Carson, Gray, Hemphill, Roberts and Wheeler counties in Texas a firsthand look at the company's proposed 4,000 MW wind farm.
Mesa Power took a group of about 20 landowners on its first organized tour of Sweetwater, Texas, so that they could ‘see firsthand the forest instead of the individual trees,’ says Steve Sykes, Mesa Power's land consultant. ‘They could see how wind farming has affected the ranchers, landowners, citizenry, schools, town, counties and the economies in the Sweetwater area.’
Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham acted as tour guide for the Mesa Power visitors, taking the guests to different wind turbine projects so they could examine individual operational turbines up close and participate in a question-and-answer session with an area landowner who has turbines operating on his property.
After the Sweetwater trip, calls of interest came in to the office from both those who were on the trip and other landowners, according to Mesa Power.
‘One person who went on the trip had been on the fence for about six months,’ says Sykes. ‘Tuesday, he came into the Mesa Power offices and started the lease paperwork process.’
Mesa Power is planning smaller tours, perhaps once a week, for interested landowners.
