As a Republican state lawmaker for 16 years, a Texas rancher and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, John Davis’s conservative credentials are impeccable. But Davis has become horrified at his party’s assault upon an increasingly vital lifeline to many rural, conservative areas of the US – clean energy development.
Davis allowed seven wind turbines to be situated on his ranch, in the rolling hill country near Menard, west of Austin, and has seen the income provide opportunities not only for his family but also his local community in what is one of the poorest counties in Texas.
But a barrage of bills working their way through the Republican-held Texas legislature threaten to reverse the state’s position as the US’s clean energy superpower, even curtailing cherished private property rights by limiting a landowner’s ability to host wind and solar farms.
