HOUSTON -- Windmill blades could be seen on a loading dock at one of the nation's busiest ports during a recent visit to the offices of the Port of Houston Authority to discuss major petrochemical investments coming their way. The blades weren't entering the port, the staff explained, but rather leaving it. Though the details were fuzzy, the explanation was that a canceled wind energy project in central Texas was reselling them to another buyer, perhaps in Latin America. This scene more or less epitomizes the past six-year swing in the future outlook of energy in the United States: renewable wind power headed out as oil- and natural-gas-fueled development moved in.