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Saving the planet or making a buck? Why is a fossil fuel tycoon building America’s biggest wind farm

15th September, 2022

By Andrew Buncombe, INDEPENDENT

Work has started on what would be the nation’s biggest wind farm – a $3bn project backed by a fossil fuel tycoon that could deliver clean energy to more than one million customers.

Yet even as workers start clearing patches of ranchland on a remote site in the American West for 3,000 turbines and a power transmission line that will travel more than 700 miles to California, the project continues to attract controversy.

Some allege the massive, utility-scale project, that could purportedly lead to the reduction of 11 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, will destroy critical habitat for species such as sage grouse and golden eagles.

Others question the motives of 82-year-old Philip Anschutz , whose $11bn fortune came in part from exploiting fossil fuels, and…