“I really feel like our property is nugatory. Nobody needs to reside subsequent to that.”
Conley Blackwolf, oklahoma resident
Jeff Murray’s household has tended land in rural Lincoln County, Oklahoma, for generations. His quiet property — bordered by farmland and a small cemetery that has stood because the nineteenth century — is dwelling to his prolonged household and a small herd of cattle.
Now, a brand new neighbor may upend the bucolic setting.
Texas-based Black Mountain Power Storage plans to construct a big power storage plant on the luxurious, undeveloped plot of land to the east of Murray’s farm.
Nonetheless in its early levels, the plant is one in every of many deliberate for Oklahoma to retailer electrical energy from the state’s rising wind and photo voltaic power business.
A minimum of one has been in operation since 2020, however one other 52 have both secured agreements or are awaiting approval, in accordance with knowledge from Southwest Energy Pool, the government-regulated nonprofit that oversees the electrical grid in components of the central United States.
However with little details about the tasks’ scope or environmental dangers, a rising coalition of residents — lots of them farmers and rural landowners — is pushing again. They are saying they’ve been excluded from the decision-making course of and concern the services may contaminate their land and water, particularly if crops catch on fireplace, as has occurred in different states. These considerations, they consider, are being sidelined in favor of the renewable power business, which has spent 1000’s of {dollars} on marketing campaign donations and lobbying lately.
“I’ve two pure springs, which feed my cows and grass,” Murray stated. “I fear about what may occur to the water. Black Mountain was going to have a neighborhood assembly a couple of months in the past, however they canceled.”
Oklahoma ranks sixteenth within the nation for energetic power storage challenge requests, in accordance with Interconnection.fyi, an internet site that tracks grid interconnection knowledge. These tasks would assist the expansion of renewable power throughout the state, which presently ranks No. 3 within the nation for electrical energy produced from wind power.
Whereas President Donald Trump has rebuked efforts to construct extra wind and photo voltaic farms, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, has aggressively sought that infrastructure for his personal state.
Stitt lately agreed to collaborate with the Danish authorities on renewable power tasks. The settlement known as for making a “dynamic partnership” between Oklahoma and EE North America, a subsidiary of a Danish firm that focuses on renewable power, together with wind and battery storage.
“Our intention is to make sure that Oklahoma stays on the forefront of power innovation for generations to come back,” Stitt stated in a press release asserting the partnership.
For some, these efforts convey deep unease. Fearing land devaluation, environmental dangers, and the rising presence of out-of-state and overseas corporations, residents have shaped grassroots teams and filed a lawsuit. Some state lawmakers have taken discover, introducing payments to pause or additional regulate renewable power tasks.
Dorn Weaver II lives on a 160-acre ranch eight miles south of Black Mountain’s web site, the place he raises cattle along with his son and two sisters. The land, handed down via three generations, is the place he was born and raised.
He believes longtime residents like himself got little say and no warning in regards to the large-scale renewable power tasks set to reshape their neighborhood.
“I constructed this home to benefit from the western views and sunsets,” Weaver II stated. “However simply inside the final 12 months, we realized in regards to the east of I-35 wind farm initiative… Not a single phrase was stated to us that this was occurring in our yard.”
The fireplace threat nobody needs subsequent door
Power storage crops are usually designed to retailer energy from intermittent sources like wind and photo voltaic. On a scorching summer season day, for instance, whereas temperatures might keep excessive properly after sundown, there isn’t any daylight to energy AC items. An power storage plant can accumulate the surplus power produced throughout sunny hours and launch it within the night.
Black Mountain’s plant shall be a standalone facility, which means it won’t be tied to a selected wind or photo voltaic farm. It can retailer power from anyplace on the grid and launch it in periods of peak demand.
Like most power storage services, Black Mountain’s plant will use lithium batteries — just like these present in electrical autos, laptops, and smartphones, however on a a lot bigger scale.
The batteries shall be housed in containers roughly the scale of tractor-trailers, organized in neat rows on concrete slabs. A fireplace loop street and safety fencing will encompass the location. The containers shall be sealed and are usually not meant to be opened. There shall be no on-site workers.
Black Mountain has not but decided which sort of batteries the location will use, however they might come from Elon Musk’s Tesla firm or the Chinese language firm Sungrow, in accordance with an organization consultant.
Black Mountain Power Storage is a privately-held firm and a part of Black Mountain, which can be concerned in oil, gasoline and sand mining. With about 10 workers, Black Mountain Power Storage acquires land, secures permits and handles early planning earlier than bringing in an investor to fund the challenge. Based in 2021, there isn’t any public details about the corporate’s income.
Whereas it has but to safe a purchaser for its Lincoln County challenge, it lately offered one other power storage challenge in Japanese Oklahoma to GridStor, an Oregon-based firm backed by Goldman Sachs.
However as curiosity in power storage grows, so do considerations about security, significantly the specter of fireplace.
On Jan. 16, one of many world’s largest power storage crops, positioned in California’s Monterey Bay, caught fireplace — probably the most extreme of many incidents on the facility.
Flames erupted on the Moss Touchdown Energy Plant, filling the coastal air with thick, acrid smoke. Authorities evacuated about 1,500 close by residents, whereas firefighters, unable to securely comprise the blaze, had no selection however to let it burn. The fireplace lasted 5 days.
A month later, the fireplace flared up once more, prompting Monterey County officers to advise residents to remain indoors.
Incidents at power storage crops are usually not unusual.
There have been 92 recorded incidents worldwide — usually a fireplace or explosion — and 35 extra incidents at different lithium-related websites, reminiscent of recycling or manufacturing crops, in accordance with a database by the Electrical Energy Analysis Institute. (The figures solely account for publicly reported occasions however many incidents haven’t been reported by the information media, in accordance with the EPRI.)
The reason for the fireplace on the California plant and the complete scope of its environmental impression are nonetheless unknown.
The U.S. Environmental Safety Company discovered no vital concentrations of poisonous gases within the air. Regardless of this, residents reported signs, reminiscent of wheezing, complications and sore throats.
Scientists at San José State College discovered elevated ranges of poisonous metals like cobalt, nickel and manganese within the marsh soils close to the plant. In farmland, excessive concentrations of poisonous metals can scale back crop yields, contaminate meals crops and pose well being dangers to people who devour these crops.
“My throat feels prefer it’s sunburned,” stated Angie Roeder, who owns a pig farm eight miles from the Moss Touchdown plant and nonetheless experiences signs. “And I really feel a buzzing throughout my physique.”
With few solutions from the county and what she believes to be inadequate EPA testing, Roeder and others in her neighborhood shaped a Fb group to trace well being signs linked to the fireplace. The three,000-member group has spent $6,500 on unbiased testing for poisonous metals, Roeder instructed Examine Midwest.
Earlier than the fireplace, Roeder and her husband deliberate to start out a small winery, however they’re now contemplating shifting.
“Even when it does clear up, what if it occurs once more?” Roader stated. “It’s all very traumatic.”
Nevertheless, Carolyn O’Brien, an engineer and director at Black Mountain, believes that “quite a lot of what individuals are nervous about is overrated.”
She stated incidents just like the one on the California plant, owned by Texas-based Vistra, don’t mirror the numerous progress in security made by the brand new and quickly altering business.
“Vistra’s facility is not the most important on the earth, neither is it state-of-the-art,” O’Brien stated. “We don’t construct issues like that anymore.”
Vistra’s plant, which started working in 2020, saved racks of batteries inside a constructing — a design selection that was a key issue within the severity of the fireplace, in accordance with O’Brien. The deliberate facility for Oklahoma’s Lincoln County will retailer batteries in out of doors containers.
Some figures recommend security at power storage crops has considerably improved. Between 2018 and 2023, there was a 97% drop within the general incident charge, in accordance with knowledge from Electrical Energy Analysis Institute.
Business says security has improved. Residents aren’t satisfied.
These enhancements, nevertheless, haven’t dissuaded everybody’s fears, and plenty of Oklahomans stay cautious of getting such crops of their communities — significantly since there aren’t any state setback rules for power storage services. Such rules would require a minimal distance between these crops and houses, farms or different properties.
Within the northeast Oklahoma city of Oologah, the city board voted in January in opposition to rezoning land that may have permitted Black Mountain to construct one other power storage plant. The choice adopted a city assembly held by the corporate, the place residents raised considerations in regards to the challenge’s lack of particulars and expressed fears a few potential fireplace.
When an power storage plant is proposed in an Oklahoma county with out zoning rules — the case for many rural counties — the one required approval comes from the State Fireplace Marshal’s workplace. (If the ability is deliberate inside a floodplain, builders should additionally get hold of a floodplain allow or exemption.)
Keith Bryant, the Oklahoma State Fireplace Marshal, confirmed his workplace has issued permits for 4 power storage crops by Florida-based NextEra, and is in discussions with Black Mountain relating to 4 extra tasks.
NextEra’s tasks have additionally confronted native resistance.
A bunch of 31 farmers and landowners in Garfield County lately filed a lawsuit in opposition to NextEra, the county, and the Metropolis of Enid over the development of the Skeleton Creek Power Heart, a large photo voltaic farm and battery power storage facility spanning roughly 2,000 acres.
The group alleges that NextEra secured approval to construct with out complying with required rules. They argue that a minimum of a part of the land is zoned for agricultural use relatively than industrial, and that NextEra intentionally averted submitting for a zoning change in an effort to sidestep native opposition that would have derailed the challenge, just like what occurred in Oologah with Black Mountain.
NextEra Power Inc.— the mother or father firm of NextEra Power Assets, the subsidiary behind the renewable power tasks within the state — had a income of over $24 billion in 2024 and is among the largest renewable power corporations on the earth.
The decide rejected NextEra’s request to dismiss the case and a listening to is scheduled for April 8. The corporate declined to touch upon the lawsuit, citing ongoing litigation.
Building started late final 12 months.
Three miles south of Enid, previous giant swaths of grassland and the occasional cluster of farmsteads, Eric and Laura Hofferber have a tendency cattle and chickens on a 320-acre plot of farmland.
To the east, Skeleton Creek winds its method via the panorama. For the 15 years the couple has lived there, fields of corn and milo separated their farm from the creek.
“(NextEra) cleared all of the wooded areas and crops,” stated Laura Hofferber, who’s a plaintiff within the lawsuit in opposition to NextEra. “The wildlife is coming into our yard and consuming our chickens. We’re shedding our calf crop.”
Hofferber’s farm, sitting just some hundred yards from the power storage part of the ability, will probably face the best threat within the occasion of a fireplace. Her husband, Eric, a volunteer firefighter with the native fireplace division, might be among the many first responders.
“We haven’t been capable of formally discuss to [NextEra],” stated Eric Hofferber, relating to his fireplace division’s potential to place out a possible fireplace on the plant. “They stated on the county assembly that they’re utilizing a brand new sort of battery and that there gained’t be any troubles with it.”
The Hofferbers belong to the Garfield County Conservation Coalition, a gaggle of native residents who promote the conservation of farm and ranch land within the space.
“There’s completely zero regulation,” stated NeAnne Clinton, the coalition’s president. “These shouldn’t be constructed the place individuals reside. We’re uninterested in being the guinea pigs for inexperienced power companies.”
Amidst that rising criticism, power corporations have spent tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} pushing for challenge approval and a pleasant legislative surroundings on the state Capitol.
Earlier this 12 months, two lobbyists representing NextEra registered to foyer the State Fireplace Marshal, the first — and usually the one — state company answerable for issuing permits.
“The conversations that we had with [the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal] have been purely simply academic,” stated Marshall Hastings, a spokesperson for NextEra. “Ensuring they understood the security measures that every one of our tasks — battery, wind, and photo voltaic — have on the location themselves.”
NextEra additionally stated it continues to stick to native, county and state allowing necessities, and that the Skeleton Creek Power Heart will create eight to 10 everlasting jobs.
State Fireplace Marshal Keith Bryant acknowledged his workplace’s conferences with NextEra and Black Mountain, stating, “I definitely recognize the proactive stance that they’ve taken to succeed in out to us to guarantee that every little thing they’re doing falls inside and complies with state code.”
Between 2015 and 2024, NextEra gave over $830,000 to varied Oklahoma state committees and lawmakers, together with Reps. Chad Caldwell, John Pfeiffer, and Mike Dobrinski, all three Republicans whose districts are in Garfield County. The corporate has additionally donated a minimum of $10,000 to Stitt.
The governor’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Inexperienced power meets pink state politics
Residents of Lincoln County who oppose inexperienced power tasks have discovered an ally of their newly elected state consultant, Jim Shaw.
Though he has not but launched laws to control power storage crops, Shaw, a Republican, has proposed payments to impose a moratorium on all wind and photo voltaic tasks and to determine setback rules.
Within the meantime, he has helped arrange a neighborhood assembly with Black Mountain to debate the corporate’s challenge in Lincoln County. A latest firm flyer for the occasion identifies the challenge because the “Starfighter BESS challenge” and notes that the ability is predicted to have a capability of 199 megawatts. The assembly is scheduled for April 3 in Meeker.
“Hopefully, if wind and photo voltaic tasks don’t discover their method into Lincoln County, my understanding is that the BESS (Battery Power Storage System) facility wouldn’t be mandatory,” Shaw stated.
Shaw works within the oil and gasoline business, and the teams that assist his efforts, such because the Fb group Save Oklahoma Farm and Ranches, typically share content material from oil and gasoline organizations. However Saundra Traywick, a donkey farmer and founding father of the group, denied any ties to the business or having obtained donations from it.
“We bought concerned on this as a result of it was the precise factor to do, not as a result of we’re getting funding,” Trawick stated.
The oil and gasoline business has lengthy been a pillar of Oklahoma’s economic system, using tens of 1000’s and producing billions in income. However because the power panorama shifts, the state has change into a battleground between fossil fuels and renewables.
Oil and gasoline wells are a standard sight in a lot of the state. However lately, giant wind farms — with some generators hovering practically 400 toes excessive, taller than the Statue of Liberty — have change into simply as widespread. Forty-five p.c of the state’s electrical energy got here from wind power in 2023.
“Being a pro-business state implies that we wish to entice companies in a variety of industries that reply to the financial alternatives that Oklahoma has to supply,” stated Chase Horn, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Division of Commerce. “Extra power capability means extra financial alternative for potential or increasing companies.”
Nevertheless, critics, many who’re politically conservative, argue these tasks create few jobs in comparison with oil and gasoline, which employs over 50,000 Oklahomans. In addition they query the necessity for extra energy crops, because the state already produces practically 3 times the power it consumes.
Rural communities in different states have additionally shaped related teams to combat in opposition to power storage crops.
In New York, the small city of Duanesburg voted earlier this 12 months to ban power storage services after the state skilled a number of fires at these crops in 2023.
And in communities which have already endured lithium-related fires, reminiscent of Fredericktown, Missouri, residents are demanding solutions and urging the state to take motion.
In October, an explosion at a battery recycling facility within the small Missouri city led the county to order evacuations.
Jennifer Torr, a blueberry farmer residing close to the plant, left her dwelling inside an hour of listening to the blast.
“It was a fairly devastating explosion,” Torr stated. “It induced an enormous plume of poisonous smoke that erupted from the highest of the constructing, and several other explosions adopted shortly after.”
After the incident, the EPA monitored the air and confirmed it was protected, whereas the Missouri Division of Pure Assets discovered no fire-related contamination in Fredericktown’s ingesting water. Nevertheless, there have been reviews of lifeless fish in close by creeks, and Torr stated residents residing closest to the plant fell ailing.
Torr needs that they had extra data and clearer solutions from the county or the plant’s firm, Important Minerals Restoration. She and different farmers who fear about potential soil contamination plan to conduct unbiased testing, however they needed to flip to environmentalists for data.
“I believe individuals simply don’t absolutely perceive precisely what they need to take a look at for, however we’re beginning to provide you with that data,” Torr stated.
As Important Mineral Restoration rebuilds and expands within the state, Melissa Vatterott, coverage director for the Missouri Coalition for the Setting, helps Fredericktown residents advocate for a regulation requiring battery crops to be a minimum of a mile from properties.
“The neighborhood is seeing that a number of industries within the vital mineral provide chain are coming to the county and are largely unregulated,” Vattertott stated. “We don’t have a federal framework for safeguarding individuals and pure assets surrounding battery recycling and battery manufacturing.”
Who wins and who loses in Oklahoma’s power increase?
Some farmers have benefited from the surge in power tasks and federal incentives.
Pollard Farms, a cattle operation in Garfield County, leases land to NextEra for its Skeleton Creek Power Heart. Many agricultural producers throughout the state have additionally secured grants via the Biden administration’s Inflation Discount Act to put in wind generators and photo voltaic panels that assist their farming actions.
Legislative efforts to impose stringent rules on wind power have struggled to achieve traction, however extra reasonable payments stand a greater probability of passing.
One invoice, by state Rep. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, aimed to determine a one-and-a-half nautical mile setback for wind generators in jap Oklahoma however was struck down by the Home Power Committee on Feb. 19. The following day, nevertheless, a separate invoice co-sponsored by Turner, which proposed a quarter-mile setback, handed the Home Utility Committee. An identical one additionally superior within the Senate.
On the coronary heart of the talk was the problem of property rights.
4 years in the past, Conley Blackwolf and his spouse offered their dwelling in Shawnee and moved to Lincoln County to be nearer to Blackwolf’s father-in-law, Jeff Murray. The couple deliberate to construct a home on the land beside Murray’s.
The household had even thought of pooling their assets to purchase the adjoining lot to the west. However after they inquired, they realized it had already been bought by Black Mountain. With {an electrical} substation close by, Blackwolf stated, the location was a first-rate goal for the Texas firm.
Now, his plans to construct a house on the property are on maintain, and he needs that they had by no means moved.
“I really feel like our property is nugatory,” he stated. “Nobody needs to reside subsequent to that.”
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