Work begins on first U.S. offshore wind farm

A dedication ceremony in Galveston yesterday marked the beginning of work on the country's first offshore wind energy farm, which will include 50 windmills generating electric power when it's finished. A similar project has been proposed off the coast of Cape Cod, but it's been subject to legal wrangling. Thanks to Texas history, though, that hasn't been a problem here.

The reason dates back to 1836, when Texas won its independence from Mexico. When Gen. Sam Houston defined the boundaries of the new Republic of Texas, he specified that the boundary in the Gulf of Mexico "[begins] at the mouth of the Sabine River, and [runs] west along the Gulf of Mexico three leagues from land." That three leagues, or 10.35 miles, was included when the boundaries were adopted by the First Congress of the Republic on Dec. 19, 1836, and the United States acknowledged it when it recognized the Republic's independence. When negotiations started for Texan statehood, Houston insisted the boundaries be kept — and though the U.S. has since tried to take back some of the land (in the lengthy Tidelands Controversy), Texas won firmly established title to the three leagues in 1960. Which means, basically, that the developers of the wind farm were able to move ahead with approval from regulators in Austin rather than D.C.

There's growing concern about whether wind farms are a menace to birds, bats and shipping — an amendment to a Coast Guard reauthorization bill could ban offshore windmills within 1.5 nautical miles of shipping and ferry lanes, a move aimed at the proposed Massachusetts farm. The developers of the Texas farm say they'll look into stopping the turbines when flocks of birds fly past, but there's no word on how the windmills could affect shipping.