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

Once the five years of exemptions are over, wind companies have been sending lawyers to county courthouses to file tax protests and lawsuits contending the value of their equipment is worth hundreds of millions of dollars less than the values assigned to them by county assessors. Wind industry representative claim they have good cause for their tax protests. 

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

Two controversial wind energy bills that could be heard this legislative session calls for stripping companies' tax incentives and making them pay a new tax. Critics say the bills raise red flags for future business in Oklahoma.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

The legislator has always suspected the president of The Wind Coalition, a trade organization. McBride has been an outspoken critic of the wind industry and has called for wind farms in Oklahoma to pay more in taxes. The Wind Coalition president, Jeff Clark, has denied any involvement in the tracking.

Legal Oklahoma

OSMPC contends the wind farm violates a recent amendment to the Wind Energy Development Act. The changes to the law require a determination by the federal government that planned wind turbine construction has no military impact, or the company must have an approved mitigation plan from the Defense Department, before a wind farm is constructed or expanded.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

The federal government later joined the legal battle on behalf of the tribe, claiming the excavation work was mining and therefore required a lease. It lost its original case but won in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found Osage Wind was engaged in mining without a lease.

General Oklahoma

While people like the idea of wind power, few are eager to have wind farms near their homes. This is true not only in conservative rural Oklahoma, but locations across the nation. Writing at City Journal, Robert Bryce notes that the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates this year in “deep-blue Vermont” favored renewable energy “in principle” but opposed new wind energy development. 

General USA Oklahoma

Officials say the wind farm was being constructed along a route of airspace used by the United State Air Force for training.  Now, the Federal Aviation Administration will complete an investigation to make sure there will be no hazards to anyone involved.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

OSMPC contends the wind farm violates a recent amendment to the Wind Energy Development Act. The changes to the law require a determination by the federal government that planned wind turbine construction has no military impact, or the company must have an approved mitigation plan from the Defense Department, before a wind farm is constructed or expanded.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

Brian Hermanson, the Kay County district attorney, said he was shocked that Rock Falls Wind Farm and Blackwell Economic Development Authority officials came up with the tax avoidance plan in secret and then sprang it on county officials at the last minute. “They didn’t tell us about it until it was all over and the wind farm was built and it was time to assess,” he said. “I was shocked at the manner they did it. I was shocked that they would try to cut the school systems from the money they had coming and the county health system from what they had coming and county government, for that matter.”

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

Pending lawsuits over a northern Oklahoma wind farm’s property tax liability could have more than $1 million worth of implications for state education funding, according to Brady Barnes, superintendent of Newkirk Public Schools. But while the suits await action in court, leaders of Kay and Grant counties, the Oklahoma State Department of Education and a subsidiary of Électricité de France are attempting to strike some sort of agreement that would prevent what Barnes says could be a $550,000 impact on his district come January.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

Energy company EDF Renewables intends to reverse its controversial Rock Falls Wind Farm bond agreement that had complicated school financial situations for northern Oklahoma districts, according to company representatives. The decision was made after an Oct. 24 meeting with school superintendents and will likely preserve revenues for those districts.

Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma

A deadline for a mitigation plan for a proposed wind farm near Hinton has been extended a fourth time. Last month, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced an agreement between NextEra Energy Resources and the Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission to halt construction of a wind farm at the moment.

Safety Oklahoma

A deadline for a mitigation plan for a proposed wind farm near Hinton has been extended a third time.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

The state will extend the deadline for NextEra Energy Resources and the Department of Defense to reach an agreement on a mitigation plan regarding a wind farm near Hinton that is along a route of airspace the military uses for training.  ...Hunter announced Oct. 2 that NextEra Energy Resources and Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission had agreed to halt the work.

Safety Oklahoma

The headwinds one wind developer is facing as it attempts to build a project in western Oklahoma are only getting stiffer. To date, NextEra Energy's proposed Minco IV and Minco V wind farms have prompted the town of Hinton to pass an ordinance that declares commercial wind turbines a nuisance and resulted in the filing of two federal lawsuits..... more  [truncated due to possible copyright]  

General Oklahoma

The Special Aeronautics Commission met about this issue on Sept. 11. A representative from the Attorney General's office was there and they discussed filing civil action to try and stop NextEra from continuing construction of the wind farm. They voted to take action.

Safety Oklahoma

Federal law doesn't force a developer to hold off on construction until they have a 'no hazard' designation, but members of Oklahoma's Congressional delegation say that would be the right thing to do, and say it's sad that a company like NextEra, would take federal renewable energy tax credits with one hand and harm our national security with the other. 

General Oklahoma

NextEra is building more than 160 turbines, and many neighbors say they are do it illegally. “The law is very clear,” said attorney Kim Spady, who represents some neighbors from Hinton.

Legal Safety Oklahoma

Pending litigation over the property tax obligations of Rock Falls Wind Project in Grant and Kay counties could set dramatic new precedents and fundamentally change the way wind-energy projects are incentivized in Oklahoma.  

Legal Taxes & Subsidies Oklahoma