Oklahoma City, Okla. (KOKH) — A bill aiming to regulate how close wind turbines in certain counties in Oklahoma can be to someone’s home is moving forward. Affected counties would have to have a certain population density and average wind speed.
Lawmakers are looking at the issue this session in an effort to address safety, health and property value concerns.
“I truly believe that this bill right here is a compromise between the property right owners of the private property that want wind, as well as neighboring property owners that have public safety concerns or environmental concerns,” State Rep. Brad Boles R-Marlow said.
It’s a bill lawmakers say they have spent many hours working on. House Bill 2751 would establish a setback requirement if a wind turbine is going to be constructed within a half a mile from someone’s home.
“This is trying to establish a baseline of a foundational level of regulation on two competing and compelling property rights and trying to navigate that path and giving the entirety of the state of Oklahoma a baseline and say this is a baseline. This is the standard if you’re gonna do business in Oklahoma,” author of the bill, State Rep. Trey Caldwell R-Faxon said.
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson D-OKC was one of the lawmakers opposed to the bill.
“The author of the legislation says it’s not a ban. That may be true in this legislation, but we’re sending the message that it is a ban. Don’t come do business in our state because we will change the rules of engagement at some point, when the political pressure arises,” she said.
The bill passed in the House in a 68 to 22 vote. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.
Oklahoma Power Alliance’s Executive Director, Mark Yates released a statement on the legislation saying:
Oklahoma’s power generation market is one of the most competitive in the country, and the low cost, reliable energy it provides is one of our state’s strongest economic development tools. Carving out different regulations for different areas of the state creates an unfair playing field and goes against the core values of personal freedom and private property rights that so many Oklahomans hold dearly. If these unnecessary government mandates become law, they will drive up energy costs to Oklahomans and hurt our state’s competitiveness.
