The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear the appeal of a wind energy company that has been in a legal fight since 2010 with the Osage Nation in northeast Oklahoma.
Osage Wind LLC has appealed a ruling by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado in which the court sided with the tribe. The tribe had the support of the federal government as it attempted to stop the wind farm company from installing 84 wind turbines in Osage County.
The tribe contended the digging of holes for the wind towers was in essence “mining” and the company needed a lease from the Osage Mineral Council. The case wound up before the Denver federal appeals court which ruled the excavation was mining.
Osage Wind has gone to the Supreme Court contending the “10th circuit contorted a regulatory definition of ‘mining’ ” to reach the conclusion and claimed further the ruling really was about providing “maximum financial benefit to an Indian tribe.”