(Credit: Osage News)
Enel Green Energy hasn’t seen the last of the Osage Nation, after losing a court case which could force the company to dismantle the wind turbines built nearly a decade ago in Osage County.
Environmental reporter Robert Bryce, who promotes the “Power Hungry Podcast,” is reporting the Osage Nation intends to seek millions of dollars in compensatory damages after its recent federal court ruling against Enel Green Energy.
He quoted Everett Waller, chairman of the Osage Minerals Council which sued Enel after the firm built wind towers in Osage County, which is governed and controlled by the Osage Tribe.
” How much will it seek? Waller refused to provide a number but said it “rhymes with millions,” wrote Bryce in a podcast update about the Dec. 20 ruling that could force Enel to remove the towers and turbines at an estimated cost of $300 million.
“Last Tuesday, I published a Power Hungry Podcast with Everett Waller, the chairman of the Osage Minerals Council. I have been in contact with Waller for nearly four years, but he has refused to do an interview because the tribe was in litigation against Enel,” wrote Bryce in the update.
Waller told Bryce the court ruling felt proper.
“I think it’s going to be a landmark case, spoken about long after I’m dead. And then I want to just reiterate, I couldn’t thank my councils enough for their support. [I] could not thank the Osage people for the support they showed us and the commitment that my people had,” he said during the podcast.
