A commission administrative law judge who considered PSO's proposal has recommended the commission deny the utility's request. The judge recommended denial because the utility did not seek competitive construction bids for the farm and because that work had started before PSO filed its request.

General Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is holding a hearing Monday concerning PSO's Wind Catcher project. The Corporation Commission says the meeting concerns proposed settlements and motions for PSO's Wind Catcher project. 

General Oklahoma

General Louisiana Oklahoma

The Bixby City Council withdrew its opposition to the Wind Catcher Energy Connection power line project Monday evening after Public Service Co. of Oklahoma presented an alternate plan to not only use existing right-of-way through the southern part of the town but to rebuild that route with smaller towers.

General Oklahoma

Renewable energy developer, Innergex, will not be building wind farms near Sheppard Air Force Base ...[wind energy development] continues to be an ongoing issue in Texas and Oklahoma. In fact, Sheppard Air Force Base has already lost three low-level training routes in Oklahoma due to wind turbines.

Safety Oklahoma Texas

After information campaigns from the base and Sheppard Military Affairs Committee (SMAC) about how the developments would negatively impact Sheppard’s training routes, the company removing themselves from the permitting process – meaning their interest in the area is essentially over.

Safety Oklahoma Texas

“I am all for adding clean, renewable power generation to our power grid, but the project has to serve a need, and it has to make sense financially,” Greene said. “I could not vote to have SWEPCO customers finance an unneeded generation project that might only save them money if the price of natural gas increases significantly."

General Louisiana Oklahoma

I’m not opposed to wind energy, but I can tell you I am opposed to this line,” said Bixby Mayor John Easton. “I really am opposed to how PSO has represented itself to the city of Bixby. “No one on this council had any idea about this line, at all, until the meeting in May in Glenpool, on the night of a City Council meeting when none of us could attend. This is why we are going to the Corporation Commission to ask them to, please, represent us.”

Transmission Oklahoma

General Oklahoma

Impact on People Transmission Oklahoma

Hinton Mayor Shelly Newton is still upset about the planned wind farm construction near her town.

Safety Zoning/Planning Oklahoma

A decision on the project’s cost-recovery plan is pending before the Corporation Commission, which last held a hearing on the subject March 14. ...Bixby Mayor John Easton told the PSO representatives that the southern route plan would cripple city expansion to the south. “You’re pulling the rug out from underneath the future of this city,” he said.

Impact on People Oklahoma

“The Military Aviation and Installation Assurance Siting Clearinghouse established a mitigation response team in April to assess the impacts and any reasonable and affordable mitigation strategies,” Sample stated in an email. "NextEra is a partner in this effort and is working with the Air Force to identify solutions. The Clearinghouse and the Air Force will coordinate the progress with both Federal and State authorities, although any prediction of the outcome is premature.”

General Oklahoma

WICHITA FALLS, Tx (RNN Texoma) - Hinton, Oklahoma, just west of Oklahoma City, has been sued by a wind energy group to build wind turbines in their town because of an ordinance they passed that they thought was unconstitutional.

General Oklahoma Texas

The Oklahoma Attorney General and the director of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission's Public Utility Division stated in a regulatory filing late Monday they remain opposed to Public Service Co. of Oklahoma's request to obtain preapproval to recover costs to build the Wind Catcher Connection project.

General Oklahoma

The OSBI has found new evidence linking a wind energy group to the political consultant who had a state legislator tracked, The Oklahoman has learned. ...McBride, R-Moore, has blamed the wind industry ever since finding a GPS tracker on his pickup the evening of Dec. 4. McBride has been an outspoken critic of the wind industry and has called for wind farms in Oklahoma to pay more in taxes. 

General Oklahoma

With SB 888 failing to advance Monday, lawmakers committed to ending the wind tax credit refundability could turn their attention to HB 3716, a bill that surfaced Friday. HB 3716 eliminates the refundability but allows companies to retain the credits for 20 years to decrease their Oklahoma tax liabilities.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

Senate Bill 888 would not abolish zero emission tax credits, but would make them no longer refundable. That means wind companies could still use the income tax credits to offset taxes they might owe. However, once that tax liability goes down to zero, they would no longer be able to turn the remaining tax credits back to the Tax Commission and receive 85 cents on the dollar from the state treasury.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

SB 888 eliminates the refundability of tax credits for renewable energy generation. The state stopped issuing new credits several years ago, and the state is already scheduled to phase out the program altogether by 2027. Zeroing out the refundability feature could save the state as much as $750 million from 2020, when SB 888 takes effect, until 2027, Coody said.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

What is known so far is that the deal would place a $1 per megawatt hour tax on the production of wind energy, but only for new projects. The proposal also will include what's been dubbed "section nine," a guarantee that the gross production tax will expire if a future Legislature tries to eliminate or cap the industry's incentives.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma