Texas orders cleanup of thousands of dumped wind turbine blades

A Texas court granted the state a temporary injunction to prevent wind turbine recycling companies from accepting shipments of wind turbine blades and required them to begin cleaning two wind turbine blades. West Texas facilities where knives are illegally disposed of.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton He announced Tuesday that his office had received a permit interim measure Global Fiberglass Solutions, Inc. and against other affiliates. The injunction also requires the company to clean up thousands of discarded turbine blades at two facilities in Sweetwater, Texas.

“No new shipments of wind turbine blades will be accepted at these illegal sites, and the defendants are now legally required to begin cleaning up the thousands of discarded blades they irresponsibly abandoned at Sweetwater,” Paxton said in a statement. he said. “We will not allow Texas lands to be used as illegal dumping grounds.”

The injunction comes after Paxton sued Global Fiberglass Solutions in February, claiming the wind turbine recycling company failed to properly dispose of waste and instead created a stockpile of more than 3,000 wind turbine blades and parts.

According to Paxton’s office, these stockpiles created unpermitted, illegal landfills that impacted the landscape and threatened nearby communities. The case is scheduled to be heard on September 13, 2027.

USA TODAY reached out to Global Fiberglass Solutions for comment but did not hear back.

What does an injunction do?

The injunction stipulates a timeline for what Global Fiberglass Solutions must do.

Here’s a brief overview of it:

• 10 June: Global Fiberglass Solutions must stop accepting shipments of wind turbine blades and destroying them.

• 30 days After June 10: Global Fiberglass Solutions must post a bond of at least $3.5 million with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality as financial security.

• 180 days After June 10:

  • The company must obtain all necessary permits from TCEQ to process the blades in its own facilities and then process and issue the blades.

  • Or, identify a TCEQ-approved secondary waste disposal facility that can properly accept, process and dispose of knives.

• 270 days after June 10: The company must dismantle 25% of the blades.

• One year after June 10: The company must dismantle 50% of the blades.

• 460 days after June 10: The company needs to dismantle 75% of the blades.

• 550 days after June 10: The company must dismantle all the blades.

Mateo Rosiles is a Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and regional newspapers in Texas. Do you have any news for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.

This article first appeared on USA TODAY: Texas orders cleanup of thousands of discarded wind turbine blades