Where Loving, New Mex. and Pecos, Tex. meet the high winds do blow. West Texas is a region known for its oil wells, tiny towns and high winds. Some have said the winds trick up your left sleeve then scurry down your right pant leg before you've even felt their sharp lick.

Texas's Public Utility Commission will build several transmission lines that will cost $4.9 billion dollars and will feed power to urban areas. Nearly 4,000 wind turbines are in the region, by the end of the year PUC will begin construction on transmission lines to make more use of the turbines already there. Texas already leads the nation in wind energy production. Officials say the energy output will be greater than all 13 of the trailing states.

The project will likely be complete in three to four years.

In the next few years customers will be paying $3 to $4 more a month for electricity, but advocates believes that initial fee for the new transmission lines will soon be replaced by lower electricity expenses.



[via MSNBC and AP]