SOCORRO, N.M. - Federal land managers have finished an environmental review of a planned 100-megawatt wind farm near the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The Bureau of Land Management says anyone with concerns about the Borderlands Wind project has until May 11 to file a protest.
Residents are worried about the lack of economic benefits to the rural area as well as the degradation of property values, views, the night sky and negative effects on eagles, bats, and other avian species.
Under the agency’s preferred alternative, the wind farm would include 34 turbines on more than two dozen square miles of federal land southwest of Quemado, New Mexico. Aside from turbines that will be limited to a height of 630 feet, the wind farm will include access roads, transmission lines, and a substation.
The developer — Borderlands Wind LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy — proposed building the wind farm near the state line to meet the needs of Tucson Electric Power, which is looking to add more power generated from renewable resources as it works to meet standards in Arizona.
Borderlands Wind has said the wind farm will generate tax revenue for Catron County and create five permanent jobs.