According to the Duke Energy managing director of business development, Graham Furlong, 105 locations for the turbines have been approved by the FAA. The plan is to narrow it down to a more specific plan by the summer, and begin installation by the fall. However, many residents who are nestled in between the proposed sites or live in the surrounding area are finding out about the planned farm for the first time.

Impact on People Oklahoma

Impact on People Transmission 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

HINTON, Oklahoma - Homeowners in Western Oklahoma are divided over wind energy. While many property owners are leasing their land for wind turbines, others are trying to escape their shadow.

Impact on People Property Values Oklahoma

Legislation to cut off the subsidy on July 1 passed the Oklahoma House and a Senate committee, potentially saving the state billions of dollars, but lawmakers still must contend with an army of pro-wind lobbyists before casting the decisive votes. Our state has many other needs, from education to infrastructure repairs, more important than subsidizing the mature wind industry. Please reach out to your legislators to make sure they make the right decision on this critical issue.

Impact on People Impact on Economy Oklahoma

Bratcher said he doesn't mind the sight of the turbines now dotting the landscape, but he wants lawmakers to mandate a sound barrier or a minimum distance turbines and substations must stay away from homes.

Impact on People Oklahoma

The residents said the wind turbines were built too close to their homes and they have become an unwanted nuisance.

Impact on People Oklahoma

Homeowners describe their experiences with Oklahoma wind turbines 2016.Apex Clean Energy constructed the Kingfisher wind facility within 1500-feet of homes. The project consists of 120 turbines for a total installed capacity of 300 megawatts. After exhausting all attempts to work with Apex, the residents filed a lawsuit seeking protection from adverse health effects, and loss of use and value of their property. The trial date is slated for April 2016. Kingfisher Wind began construction on May 18, 2015 despite repeated requests from non-participating landowners to reconsider turbine placement. The now operating project impacts at least 128 nearby property owners. The suit refers to the irreparable harm caused by nuisance and unavoidable negative health impacts caused to people by the noise, infrasound and shadow flicker generated by turbines.

Impact on Landscape Impact on People Oklahoma

“They’re eating up the landscape,” he said. “They’re devouring our history and culture.” ...“We are pitiful and humble people, asking for your help,” Cameron Pratt prayed out loud, first in the Osage language and then in English, his voice nearly drowned out by the constant drone of the whirling blades. They sound like an aircraft passing high overhead, except the aircraft never flies away.

Impact on Landscape Impact on People USA Oklahoma

The developer of a $452 million wind farm in rural Oklahoma has asked a federal court to dismiss a class action opposing the project, asserting a lack of scientific support for plaintiffs’ trespass and nuisance claims.

Impact on People Legal Oklahoma

“Industrial wind energy in Oklahoma is unregulated, allowing companies to build wind farms wherever they can make deals with landowners without any required notice to those impacted,” said Brent Robinson, the president of Oklahoma Wind Action Association. “Research shows a negative impact to health for people within three miles of a turbine.

Impact on People Legal Oklahoma

“Despite working tirelessly with local officials and the wind company to request a reasonable setback of wind turbines from our property, our only recourse now is litigation,” said Terra Walker, a plaintiff and property owner in Okarche, Okla. “There are real health concerns when turbines are placed too close to homes. This is about requiring safe setbacks to protect the health and safety of our families.”

Impact on People Legal Oklahoma

Apex Clean Energy wants to bring a $470 [million] dollar project with a promise of 200 jobs. But some residents weren’t hypnotized by the idea of five hundred foot units around town, possibly creating noise and an eye sore. Those concerns launched a 15 month battle.

Impact on Landscape Impact on People Oklahoma

Huffstutlar has a dangerous heart condition that can cause an irregular heartbeat. Ricks says medication kept it in check for eight years, until the wind turbines appeared. ...The Huffstutlar's say they're selling their home and are moving away.

Impact on People Oklahoma

A wind energy company that has proposed a wind farm project in north Canadian County made its most aggressive move yet to win over the community. But after hosting two public information sessions Apex Wind Energy was left with the assurance that many still don't want wind turbines built anywhere near them.

Impact on People Oklahoma

Nine landowners concerned about OG&E putting transmission lines in bar ditches along their land voiced complaints to the Woodward County Commission Monday, saying the county needed to hold the energy company accountable. ...According to another land owner, concrete bases 20 feet deep are being constructed to hold the poles for the transmission lines. Klick said, "These poles are 80 feet tall. They have a detrimental value to everybody's land."

Impact on People Impact on Landscape Oklahoma

Purvine and John Oler, a landowner near Watonga, dispute that there was much negotiation. "They came to us and made an offer and said we would either take that offer or they would file eminent domain," Purvine said. "There was no recourse. That's the way it was." Oler, 64, said the OG&E representative essentially told him, "Do it our way, or we condemn you."

Impact on People Impact on Landscape Oklahoma

Roger Mills County resident Scott Shillingstad said the noises emitted by wind turbines on a neighbor's property are worse than annoying. They're unbearable. "It sounds like we have an international airport next door to us," Shillingstad said. "Our health is being threatened. We're about ready to abandon our property."

Noise Impact on People Oklahoma

[W]ind farm neighbors are worried, however, about the safety of the turbines, which can leak chemicals if they aren't maintained properly. Those who live in the hills say it happens, and they are worried that the chemicals could leak into their watershed. Bill Cunningham says he has contacted Horizon Wind Energy, and they have been extremely cooperative. He says they hired a private research company to study the wind turbines, and found they indeed were leaking. Although the company says it wasn't a large enough amount to be concerned with, they still hired private crews to clean up. Now, with more turbines being erected, locals continue to worry about future maintenance.

Impact on People Safety Oklahoma

About 400 people gathered Monday night at Piedmont First Baptist Church to voice their concerns over a proposed power transmission line scheduled to cut through the community's fastest growing area. Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. officials plan to build a 120-mile-long power line from wind farms south of Woodward to northwest Oklahoma City. OG&E officials attended the town hall meeting and fielded questions from residents.

Impact on People Zoning/Planning Oklahoma