HoustonChronicle.com - Gulf wind farm may yield windfall for Texans

HoustonChronicle.com - Gulf wind farm may yield windfall for Texans: "Paving the way for Texas to be home to the first wind farm along the U.S. coast, the state has leased an 11,000-acre swath of the Gulf of Mexico, seven miles off Galveston Island, for gigantic wind turbines that could eventually power 40,000 homes and generate millions of dollars for state schools.

The lease, the first granted by any government agency in the nation for an offshore wind project, marks a new era of pollution-free energy production for the Gulf, which for decades has been the site of thousands of wells and platforms tapping the Earth's depths for air-polluting natural gas and oil.

It also signals the migration of Texas' wind industry, which ranks second in the nation behind California in kilowatt hours produced by breezes and gusts, from the Panhandle and western parts of the state to the coast, where winds are more consistent during peak daylight hours and large population centers such as Houston aren't as far away. [...]"