No vote on moratorium

The Lincoln County commissioners ultimately decided not to vote on a moratorium or restrictions on wind farms at a special meeting at the Lincoln County Fair Barn on Mar. 26, stating that there is not much they can legally do to stop the farms.

“I know in the last meeting I said I thought we could do moratorium, and in a way, we can, but they don’t have any teeth, and it wouldn’t stop them the way that the law is written,” said District #3 Commissioner Lee Doolen at the start of the meeting.

Lincoln County Assistant District Attorney Stacey Bateman-Wood later elaborated, saying that because Lincoln County does not have zoning or regulations, they cannot impose a moratorium across the board. The only moratorium the county can legally impose is on flood plains.

“And even though that is something that we’re capable of doing, I was told that the wind turbines aren’t going to come in on the flood plains anyways because they’re too low and that they’re going to want to be higher elevated,” she said.

All three commissioners - Doolen, District #1 Commissioner Will Fine and District No. 2 Commissioner Marlon Miller - said they have been reaching out to commissioners and district attorneys across the state who are also fighting wind farms and that they sympathize with the citizens against the turbines.

“We don’t really have a lot of power to restrict that. We can do some regulations on roads that’ll just help protect the county. We can’t stop them as far as us on roads,” said Miller.

Fine added that there are many things that can’t be done because of property rights, but they are here to listen to their constituents and answer their questions.

ADA Bateman-Wood further explained that the Corporation Commission, which oversees wind farms, only placed restrictions on how close to schools, hospitals, airports and military installations the farms can be built.

“Other than that, there’s not really anything out there, and so we’re all kind of faced with the same problem as far as what we do with the wind turbines,” she said. “We’re having to stay within the realm of what we are capable of doing. And so, that’s why we can’t enter the moratorium.”

She added that if the county voted on zoning and it passed—which some counties have done—it would allow them some flexibility to instill some restrictions on the turbines. However, she also expressed caution on going this route.

Kim Evans, who is with a group that represents citizens against the wind farms and owns property in the targeted area, said she is currently looking into state statutes to see if there is truly nothing the county can do. She also attended the meeting on Tuesday night.

“I don’t know that zoning is going to be the only way to stop them,” she said.

Evans added that the group is in the process of setting up a non-profit and website to fight the farms. She called for people to come together and unite, adding that the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is also involved.

“I believe that if the Iowa tribe was to take the lead, that would be great. They have a lot more resources than we do,” she said. “I don’t think that it’s beneficial for different people to be doing things differently and not be united because it just shows division.”

She added that coming together under a non-profit can help protect their volunteers.

“We want to be organized, and we want to be protected with board insurance to protect anybody that volunteers or is part of our board. To just get out and do things willy-nilly, I think you’re setting yourself up to be sued,” she said.