One neat thing about being an Oklahoma political observer is that you get to see all the cool, unique, and creative ways lawmakers promote, prioritize, and protect the oil industry.
From doling out subsidies and incentives to crafting regulations that help oil thrive—and passing punitive laws that hinder its cleaner, greener competitors—they never fail to make their oil daddies (and campaign war chests) happy.
Case in point: Right now, the Oklahoma House and Senate are locked in a heated debate over how far away a windmill should be from someone’s home or property. I get it. The last thing we’d want is a giant wind farm sprouting up in the middle of a neighborhood like, say, a natural gas well. Amiright?
Under the current proposals, the Senate thinks a quarter-mile setback is the perfect arbitrary distance to keep windmills at bay, while the House wants a more aggressive and punative half-mile requirement is needed to slow the spread of this clean, renewable form of energy that the oil industry, GOP and their mutual flack channels have worked hard to vilify over the decades.
Here are the details via KOKH:
Oklahoma City, Okla. (KOKH) — The Oklahoma House and Senate are at odds over how far away a wind turbine should be from someone's home and property.
SB2 was in the House Energy Committee on Wednesday. It would require wind turbines to be at least a quarter mile away, while the House version is opting for half a mile away.
State Representative Brad Boles, R-Marlow, presented the Senate bill in the committee.
"I will say on record we do not have a compromise between both chambers at this point," Boles said.
He told committee members the bill is still a work in progress.
"What I will say about Senate Bill 2 is it's not our final language," he said. "We still are in negotiation with the Senate. They have our bill that we passed, which we're working with them on that language as well, trying to get a compromise between both chambers."
Look, I’m the farthest thing from Henry Clay. I never attended the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics. But if the Senate wants a quarter-mile, and the House wants a half-mile, wouldn’t the obvious compromise be... opens calculator app... three-eighths of a mile?
Sure, it’s not a clean round number—and they’d still need the green light (or black gold light) from the oil lobby—but it seems fair to everyone… except the wind industry. Which, again, is probably the whole point.
“Whatever, Patrick! Windmills are an eyesore, cause cancer, and contribute to noise pollution. Plus, according to that Facebook meme from Land Man, they kill birds and use up more resources than they save! This bill doesn’t go far enough—they should be miles from homes!”
Personally, my only windmill exposure comes while driving through the Arbuckles on the way to Dallas, but if we’re going to impose arbitrary distance rules on clean energy, shouldn’t we at least apply the same standard to oil and gas wells?
At last check, they’re also loud, also visually unappealing, and also do way more damage to the earth and the environment, and they can be drilled next to homes, schools, and playgrounds. But yeah, let’s make sure that silent turbine on the horizon doesn’t ruin a Republican donor’s scenic view or disrupt their royalty check.
