The wind was knocked out of anti-wind turbine supporters last week when the Senate Energy Committee failed to pass House Bill 2751, which would have mandated setbacks and other restrictions for the controversial turbines.
But supporters of the bill consider it to only be a temporary delay and are confident of its eventual passage.
The House has until May 8 to amend the bill and send it back to the Senate for reconsideration. The Senate then has until May 30 to accept or reject the changes.
House Bill 2751 proposed a setback based on population density and geographic areas of the state. Under the bill, the setback from property lines and homes would amount to one and one-half times the height of the tower or onehalf mile from property lines.
District 13 Rep. Neil Hays, R-Checotah, said the issue of property rights was the primary impediment to the Bill.
Landowners believe they have the right to do what they want with their property, even place wind turbines on it.
Hays says that argument is a fallacy.
“There were a dozen lobbyists in the Senate last week spreading scare tactics – like energy rates will be going up and it impinges on property rights,” he said.
He is a strong advocate of property rights, but those rights don’t give you the right to do anything you want with your property.
If you illegally grow marijuana on your land, it can be confiscated he said.
He noted that there are many things you can’t do with your land and regulating dangerous wind turbines should be one of them.
Where does one property owner’s rights begin and the other ends?
“The ½-mile setback proposal is reasonable,” he said.
McIntosh County opponents of wind turbines have been up in arms for months over the issue.
In January, TransAlta, a Canadian-based turbine company, pulled out of its plans to build 121 turbines in western McIntosh County.
Perhaps they realized they were fighting a losing battle after the vociferous protests from many county landowners and the announcement that President Trump opposed the turbines and would no longer provide tax incentives to build them.
The company earlier reported it was in the very early stages of the project and was still completing environmental and economic feasibility studies. The project was more than likely two to three years from beginning construction, officials said.
There was talk that as many as 900 turbines, some over 700 feet tall, would be erected in the vicinity of Lake Eufaula in McIntosh and Pittsburg counties.
“I am very disappointed in this bill failing,” Turner said. “I will stay committed to work through this process, and I assure the citizens in House District 15 that I will continue to listen to you and fight for your property rights while fighting against 720–foot wind turbines and subsidies that fall on the backs of each taxpayer.”
Turner said though this bill failed, the fight to secure similar legislation is not over.
HB2751 would have created setback requirements of 1.5x the windmill tower height from the point on the property line of the windmill parcel nearest to the point on a property line of any parcel of real property affected; or 1/2 nautical mile away from the nearest point of a “dwelling,” which is defined as a structure that is occupied by at least one person for at least half of the year in counties with a population density greater than 8.5 people per square mile, and those with an average wind speed of less than 9.5 miles per hour.
Turner previously successfully opposed a proposed wind farm project in McIntosh County on behalf of the citizens of House Districts 15 and the surrounding area who voiced concerns about the potential impact the project would have had on their local communities. The project was stopped.
Both Turner and Hays said the issue goes beyond the aesthetics of wind turbines and instead represents their interests in protecting their communities, which overwhelmingly do not support the turbines. They listed potential effects on water resources, infrastructure, public safety, wildlife and tourism as being among the biggest concerns.
