State Regulators to consider emergency wind farm rulemaking to comply with new law

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is apparently taking emergency moves to enforce a new state law that might have been violated by NexEra Energy in development of two wind farms near Hinton, Oklahoma.

The law was designed to protect military installations and their runway space from the encroachment of wind farms. The Corporation Commission has scheduled an emergency rulemaking step on Tuesday, Oct. 2. It will consider amending the the Wind Energy Rules after the legislature amended the Oklahoma Wind Energy Development Act in May.

The proposed changes include adding definitions for “Determination of No Hazard” as well as “FAA” and “Local Base Commander.”

The meeting notice stated the Public Utilities Division at the OCC “Believes it is necessary to adopt these rules on an emergency basis due to the passage of S.B.1576, which modified the Oklahoma Wind Energy Development act.”

The notice indicated the PUD believes the “Proposed changes are necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare, avoid serious prejudice to the public interest and protect our national security.”

At the heart of the issue is whether NextEra violated the amended law by moving ahead with further construction at its Minco IV and Minco V wind farms near Hinton. The law requires wind farm operators to notify the Oklahoma Military Planning Commission of their projects, and for the commission to share those plans with local base commanders.

It also bars developers from starting any construction on a proposed turbine or associated structure until they get a no flight hazard determination.

Under the proposed emergency rules, there will be definitions of “Determination of No Hazard” as well as a detailed explanation of annual reporting requirements. The proposed rules include changes in the notification of intent by a developer to build a wind energy facility.

Initially when the issue was raised about the possible violation by NextEra, Natasha M. Scott, the Commission’s managing deputy general indicated there was no violation. She wrote that NextEra had originally informed the Commission of its intent in 2016 to build Minco IV and Minco V and regulators found no violations.

The wind farms sit near Interstate 40 with Vance Air Force Base in Enid to the north and Altus Air Force Base and Fort Sill to the south.