PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Port Arthur City Council want more feasibility studies and further research before it gives the greenlight to begin construction on a wind farm in Port Arthur.
However, the President of Diligence Offshore Services, Harry Crawford, remains confident that the project will be approved.
"We've selected Port Arthur because of all the opportunity here, it has the wind, and it has the acreage we needed," said Crawford.
Crawford says his company wants to begin construction on a new offshore wind hub on Pleasure Island and Sabine Lake, but they need the city's backing.
"We had some setbacks on some policies and procedures with the city. The city has made a correction to what we needed to do in order to get started," Crawford said.
Crawford says that a new energy source is needed, not just to reduce Port Arthur's carbon footprint, but to keep the lights on in even the harshest of storms.
"You need to be able to get the city back up and running. We're adding a source that would be a cheaper and more viable option for the people," Crawford said.
Diligence executive Vice President Paulette Crawford says that the wind hub would work hand-in-hand with the growing LNG presence in Port Arthur.
"With infrastructure currently in place with us coming in, we think it'll be a great asset to the city. We'd like to see the city grow from it as well," said Crawford.
Paulette says the original plan was to get a lease lease offshore, but they've decided with the city of Port Arthur to set up in Pleasure Island and Sabine Lake.
"for reasons out of our control, we didn't have anything to do with it, we decided to move it where the local government has more authority and say-so. The windfarm itself will be in Sabine lake. The 600-acre hub itself will be on pleasure island on land," said Crawford.
The Crawfords are confident that the city will approve the resolution so that planning and breaking ground can follow.
"We can say the problems got fixed," said Crawford.
If the city approves the plan, Crawford says that it will bring thousands of construction jobs and roughly 150 permanent jobs.