MILWAUKEE – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) sent a letter urging the U.S. Department of Defense to either terminate or suspend the environmental permit for the Blue Hills Wind Farm site in northern Val Verde County, Texas. The letter cites security concerns related to the purchase of 130,000 acres of land in proximity to Laughlin Air Force Base (AFB) by Sun Guangxin, an oligarch whose ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are worth further consideration:

He wrote: “Over the past few years, I have been monitoring the ongoing saga of the Blue Hills Wind Farm located in Val Verde County Texas.” 

“The Air Force and other military branches use this area’s low level training routes, and the project is associated with members of the Chinese Communist Party.” 

“Extending the current mitigation agreement without fully understanding any ongoing connection to the Chinese is unwise and short-sighted.”

The full text of this letter is here and below.

July 10, 2024

Dear Mr. Sample, 

As you are aware, protecting our military’s mission which includes the training of the next generation of men and women to defend our country is of utmost importance to my office, the people of the United States, and my constituents in the State of Texas.   Over the past few years, I have been monitoring the ongoing saga of the Blue Hills Wind Farm located in Val Verde County Texas.   I am requesting that the mitigation agreement (attached) for this project be terminated, or at a bare minimum, be suspended indefinitely until my office and other interested parties in and outside of the United States Senate can effectively investigate this project’s threat to the critical training mission of Laughlin Air Force Base.  The Air Force and other military branches use this area’s low level training routes, and the project is associated with members of the Chinese Communist Party, negatively impacting our Texas constituents. 

My justification for this request is anchored in the following key areas:   

Long-term association with a known party that is hostile to the United States: 

For the past seven years, legacy and new landowners, conservation groups, and community leaders in Del Rio have been fighting the incursion of Sun Guangxin, a Chinese oligarch who originally acquired 130,000 acres very near Laughlin Air Force Base (AFB) and in the heart of multiple, low-level training routes.  He intends to erect hundreds of 700 foot wind turbines, impeding the military’s mission, presenting a national security threat, and threatening a historical conservation corridor adjacent to and in between the Devils and Lower Pecos Rivers. The combination of wide open, wilderness areas with this scale of landowners who both support preserving their open space and support the military’s need for that same open space to maintain its training mission is rare in a rapidly growing state like Texas. 

For background, Mr. Sun is the wealthiest businessman in Xinjiang Province, home to widespread mistreatment of the minority Uyghur population. Mr. Sun is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), former senior leader in the Chinese Military and likely had other plans concerning surveillance of Laughlin AFB or interfering with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) at the behest of the Chinese government.  

Subsequently, the Texas Legislature took action toward Xinjiang Industry Investment Corporation and its Texas subsidiaries GH America, GHA Energy, Harvest Texas LLC, and Brazos Highlands Properties (all controlled by Chairman Sun Guangxin) to divest his energy projects in Val Verde County.  

The most environmentally sensitive of the “Chinese Lands” is the site for the Blue Hills Wind farm in northern Val Verde County and along the direct path of Laughlin AFB flight missions. This 15,000-acre parcel is locally known as the Carma Ranch. Mr. Sun sold the property to Greenalia, a Spanish renewable energy developer, never disclosing to them that there was widespread opposition to the forty-six 700-foot tall wind turbines located at one of the highest elevations in Val Verde County. Val Verde County is one of the few places in our country where activities, like fighter pilot training missions, can occur in the open wilderness. The planned wind energy development is opposed by the County Commissioners Court, the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce, the Nature Conservancy of Texas, and all adjacent neighbors. It creates a clear threat to the long-term viability of Laughlin AFB.  Laughlin is the largest employer in Val Verde County.

Additional information that we think is important is the belief that the Chinese are still involved in the proposed Carma Ranch (Land Underlying Blue Hills Project) with Greenalia. We believe Mr. Sun has owner-financed the land purchase with Greenalia and likely has influence and involvement in the project. Extending the current mitigation agreement without fully understanding any ongoing connection to the Chinese is unwise and short-sighted.     

Additional Due Diligence Required 

If the DOD clearinghouse is not willing to terminate this agreement based on the above information, the existing agreement should be suspended indefinitely so that the following items along with any additional items that are discovered through this initial due diligence investigation can be effectively investigated to justify this project’s mitigation agreement and its threats to national security. 

• Secure copies of all transactional and current operating agreements that fully detail the current relationship for land and project ownership between Guanghui American Energy’s organizational structure in the United States and Greenalia.
• Update on CIFIUS review status of the project in light of the unclear current ownership structure.  
• Investigate Greenalia’s compliance with AFIDA.
• Obtain copies of all past and current transmission studies completed by the Electric Reliability of Texas “ERCOT” for the Blue Hills Wind Energy Project (ERCOT Study #20INR0271).
• Obtain copies of all communications between ERCOT (and or the Public Utility Commission of Texas) regarding past and current compliance with the Lone Star Infrastructure Act.  
• Obtain copies of all transmission economic viability studies (locational marginal pricing analysis “LMP Analysis”) performed internally by GHA, Greenalia or third-party consultants, taking into account additional generation facilities (all sources) that are coming online in 2024, 2025, 2026 and beyond as well as any assumptions used in the modeling regarding future natural gas prices or impacts to the price of energy from known or proposed energy storage facilities in the area.  
• Obtain copies of the project pro-forma that illustrates the expected financial return of the project taking into account transmission interconnection capacity constraints and locational marginal price challenges and other project liens.
• Obtain copies of all communications between the project or its consultant and Laughlin Air Force Base, United States Military and the Department of Defense from the original mitigation agreement as well as subsequent communications to date.
• Secure an explanation of how the project plans to complete the necessary milestones to qualify for the federal production tax credit and at which tax credit level it will be eligible for by an objective, third party consultant.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. My office looks forward to your response.  

Sincerely,

/s/