Friday, May 24, 2013

End of an Era for Panhandle Wind Program

by Kate Galbraith
July 27, 2011
10 Comments

BUSHLAND — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday that federal assistance would go to four projects around the country, including one in Oklahoma and Kansas, dedicated to producing biofuels. The effort, Vilsack said, will "create jobs and stimulate rural economies across the nation."

But as Vilsack pushes those renewable energy research projects to the fore, his office is ending another, deep in the Texas Panhandle. Next summer, a Department of Agriculture research site in this tiny hamlet is expected to cease testing wind turbines and solar panels, something it has done for 35 years. It is the only place in the ...

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Comments (10)

July 27, 2011 @ 10:26 a.m.

Irene Solnik via Texas Tribune on Facebook

sometimes there is nothing to say
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July 27, 2011 @ 10:32 a.m.

Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook

and they say they make educated , well thought out choices , that are in the best interests for their people ... LIARS !
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July 27, 2011 @ 10:35 a.m.

MaryEllen Ford via Texas Tribune on Facebook

that's crazy, what are they thinking:??????
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July 27, 2011 @ 10:53 a.m.

Jack Suggs via Texas Tribune on Facebook

Sold out to the corn producers.
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July 27, 2011 @ 10:53 a.m.

LuAnn Ferguson via Texas Tribune on Facebook

Continuing the push for bio-fuels, using corn to make fuel, seems a little cruel, considering the pictures and news coming out of East Africa. It takes a lot of fuel to plant and harvest the corn, then turn it into a substance that can be used for fuel. DOE probably should be the ones doing the research on solar and wind, but a transfer rather than a shut-down seems to make more sense.
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July 27, 2011 @ 10:54 a.m.

Jeanne Wingate via Texas Tribune on Facebook

Insanity!
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July 27, 2011 @ 11:07 a.m.

Gary Denton via Texas Tribune on Facebook

Part of the GOP budget cutbacks.
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July 27, 2011 @ 11:28 a.m.

Ruth Hill Pieper via Texas Tribune on Facebook

Just follow the money.
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July 27, 2011 @ 1:37 p.m.

Frank Mills

Yet, according to the government's own studies, biofuels use more energy than they save and drive the cost of food up. With a downward spiraling economy and growing drought in this country, people starving from famine in Africa, one would think that the government would want to increase food production to keep costs down rather than to use edible crops for biofuel.
July 29, 2011 @ 4:21 p.m.

James Williams

Just curious - If a program requires subsidies to survive, then how viable is it? Another question - How is it the GOP's fault that this is happening when it is an Obama cabinet member that runs the Department of Agriculture?