“Everybody thought I had a duster. Y’all thought ol’ Spindletop Burke and Burnett was all the oil there was, didn’t ya? Well, I’m here to tell you that it ain’t, boy! It’s here, and there ain’t a dang thing you gonna do about it! My well came in big, so big, Bick and there’s more down there and there’s bigger wells. I’m rich, Bick. I’m a rich ‘un. I’m a rich boy. Me, I’m gonna have more money than you ever thought you could have–you and all the rest of you stinkin’ sons of…Benedicts!” — James Dean as Jett Rink in the film Giant (1956)

Reynard Loki, co-curator of our current exhibition Data Deluge, has written an article about wind energy and Ballroom’s commissioned work A Voice in the Desert by Roberto Pugliese for Just Means, a website filled with information and connections for the sustainable business industry. In it, Loki highlights the siren’s call of the nation’s second windiest state to both artists and energy companies. He says, “today, thanks to renewable energy production incentives, a favorable regulatory environment and large expanses of windswept landscapes, Texas has become America’s wind power leader. With over 10GW of installed wind power capacity, it boasts nearly a fourth of the nation’s total.” Exciting and important news for not just us locals but the whole country! But he warns, “if Congress fails to renew the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC), which expires in December, wind energy experts believe that the gale force Texas wind industry will be reduced to a breeze.” To read the complete article, click here.