Texas firm has plans for first Erie-area wind farm

NORTH EAST, Pa. (AP) — A Texas company wants to build the first wind farm near Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Officials with Pioneer Green Energy, of Austin, Texas, say they’ve begun leasing property for the planned 7,000-acre wind farm that will include between 50 and 75 turbines.

The company wants to build the wind farm in North East Township, about 10 miles northeast of Erie, between Interstate 90 and the New York border.

Environmentalists have already begun raising objections to the plan, saying the area includes a migration corridor for birds, bats and butterflies identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Adam Cohen, the company’s vice president and co-founder, says all such objections will be answered before the plans go forward.