Dell Dickinson on his porch at the Skyline Ranch - Val Verde County, Texas

John MacCormack June 26, 2020 Updated: June 28, 2020 2:35 p.m.

COMSTOCK — Exactly how the Devils River got its forbidding name is lost to history, but there is little doubt the harsh terrain and fierce natives who once reigned here played a role.

“It is far from any habitation, in a barren waste surrounded by hostile Comanches, but it is a beautiful place,” noted one early visitor.

A century and a half later, the natural beauty remains and the rushing, spring-fed Devils owns the reputation as the last unspoiled river in Texas.

It’s milky-green currents slide through a wilderness unmarred by settlements or commerce. The only disturbance is the occasional blast of a low-flying Air Force training jet.

But all is not well here. A plan by a billionaire Chinese industrialist named Sun Guangxin to build a huge wind farm is causing seismic upset among longtime landowners.

“It’s a total crisis. We depend on ecotourism. The turbines will affect the deer. They kill birds. And we’re on the flyway for the monarch butterflies,” said Alice Ball Strunk, 63, whose great-grandfather Claude Hudspeth began acquiring the ranch in 1905.

The project by Sun’s GH America Energy also threatens to disrupt critical pilot training missions at Laughlin AFB in nearby Del Rio.

Last week, the obscure West Texas energy project was thrust into the national spotlight when a right-wing news commentator denounced it as a threat to national security.

Since 2015, Sun, who made much of his wealth in Chinese real estate and energy, has purchased about 140,000 acres in the back country northwest of Del Rio.

It is unclear how many turbines Sun could potentially build there. He is already moving forward with the first phase, called the Blue Hills Wind Farm, a 51-turbine project on one northern holding.

His company is also exploring using some of the land for solar power projects.

Sun declined to respond to a list of questions sent to his representative in Texas.