The Oklahoma Chapter of the Sierra Club is critical of some anti-wind bills floating through the legislature.
“This legislative session has been a doozy,” said Chapter Director Johnson Bridgwater in an email alert to followers. “While many attacks against the wind industry have been defeated, there are still a few bad bills making their way towards becoming law.”
He cited House Bills 3710 and 3711 which would cut and restrict current tax credit programs for the state’s renewable energy industry after Jan. 1, 2019.
“Jerking around the tax code and taking away promised tax credit programs is no way to grow the economy,” said Bridgwater. “These bills are red flags for the wind and solar industry who would otherwise continue to invest billions of dollars in Oklahoma.”
Another bill criticized by Bridgwater is one that would put restrictions on locating wind farms close to military bases. In his email he incorrectly described it as SB 1567. It actually is HB3561.
“In reality, it’s just the first step by anti-wind lobbyists and their funders in the coal and oil business to wall off areas of Oklahoma from future development of renewable energy,” he said. “The truth of the matter is there are already stringent processes in place at the Pentagon and the FAA for approving any project within military and ground space.”
Bridgwater maintained there has never been a problem between the wind farms and military activities in Oklahoma.
“Trying to invent a new problem where it doesn’t exist is a cheap excuse to attack renewable energy.
All three measures have been voted out of committees in the House and Senate. HB3561, the bill restricting wind farms from military installations won approval last week in the State Senate on a 43-0 vote.