The Wind Industry Just Took A Massive Hit, I hope It's Just The Beginning

[Rightguide]

European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma​

Energy Expert Robert Bryce: “It is a colossal black eye for the wind industry, which has collected tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits by claiming its landscape-blighting, bird-and-bat-killing, property-value-destroying turbines are an essential part of the effort to avert catastrophic climate change.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman Thursday, December 26, 2024 at 08:00am
Early in 2024, I reported that a federal judge ordered an Italian energy firm had to remove an 84-turbine wind farm in Osage County. This was a big win for the Native American tribe, but there was still some legal details to be worked out with the company, Enel Energy.

The initial ruling from the federal judge in Tulsa did not establish a timeline for the removal or the turbines. Nor did the judge establish the amount of of damages due to the tribe.

Now the firm has been given both a deadline from wind turbine removal and the cost of damages, both of which are likely to knock the wind out of its 2025 fiscal goals.

December 1, 2025. That is the deadline Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves of the U.S. Court of International Trade gave to Enel and its subsidiaries to remove 84 wind turbines west of Pawhuska and return the land to its pre-windfarm state.
She also awarded about $4 million in monetary damages for both conversion, trespass and attorney fees.

More here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/...4-wind-turbines-from-osage-lands-in-oklahoma/

I hate the sight of these wind farms. They are a blight on the landscape.

 

[Philthy_Phil]

European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma​

Energy Expert Robert Bryce: “It is a colossal black eye for the wind industry, which has collected tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits by claiming its landscape-blighting, bird-and-bat-killing, property-value-destroying turbines are an essential part of the effort to avert catastrophic climate change.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman Thursday, December 26, 2024 at 08:00am
Early in 2024, I reported that a federal judge ordered an Italian energy firm had to remove an 84-turbine wind farm in Osage County. This was a big win for the Native American tribe, but there was still some legal details to be worked out with the company, Enel Energy.

The initial ruling from the federal judge in Tulsa did not establish a timeline for the removal or the turbines. Nor did the judge establish the amount of of damages due to the tribe.

Now the firm has been given both a deadline from wind turbine removal and the cost of damages, both of which are likely to knock the wind out of its 2025 fiscal goals.



More here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/...4-wind-turbines-from-osage-lands-in-oklahoma/

I hat the sight of these wind farms. They are a blight on the landscape.

What a stupid thing to cheer about.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I'm perplexed by a judge who rules on "international trade" is involved in a domestic dispute in Oklahoma?

 

[Rightguide]

I'm perplexed by a judge who rules on "international trade" is involved in a domestic dispute in Oklahoma?

Here's a statement by the local U.S. Attorney's Office;

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/p...age-wind-farm-after-more-ten-years-litigation

More info: https://www.oilandgaslawyerblog.com/the-osage-nation-vs-the-wind-farm/

 

[Politruk]

Advantages, Disadvantages, and Fake Disadvantages of Wind Power.

 

[Rightguide]

Advantages, Disadvantages, and Fake Disadvantages of Wind Power.

Fossil fuels and nuclear are better options.

 

[Politruk]

Fossil fuels and nuclear are better options.

Why?

 

[RobDownSouth]

Here's a statement by the local U.S. Attorney's Office;

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/p...age-wind-farm-after-more-ten-years-litigation

The WSJ article explains the situation but defies common sense.

If I understand this correctly, Enel leased 8,400 acres of scrub land on a barren stretch in Oklahoma to build a windfarm.

Windmills are huge. Enel blasted a 10 feet deep hole in the ground, plopped in a windmill anchored to a concrete pad, and covered the concrete pad with the dirt they'd blown up. They did this 84 times.

Along comes some podunk tribal council with its hand outstreched wanting money. You dug hole in ground for foundation. UGH, That's "illegal mining".

A rather tortuous interpretation, if I built a foundation for my house with a backhoe, would I be "illegally mining"?

I don't thinks so.

 

[Rightguide]

The WSJ article explains the situation but defies common sense.

If I understand this correctly, Enel leased 8,400 acres of scrub land on a barren stretch in Oklahoma to build a windfarm.

Windmills are huge. Enel blasted a 10 feet deep hole in the ground, plopped in a windmill anchored to a concrete pad, and covered the concrete pad with the dirt they'd blown up. They did this 84 times.

Along comes some podunk tribal council with its hand outstreched wanting money. You dug hole in ground for foundation. UGH, That's "illegal mining".

A rather tortuous interpretation, if I built a foundation for my house with a backhoe, would I be "illegally mining"?

I don't thinks so.

I tried to get the actual court decision but so far no luck. It may explain the court's thinking and the opposing arguments in detail. Even the U.S. Attorney didn't fully explain the issue. Here is a bit more detail;
https://osagenews.org/historic-win-judge-orders-enel-to-remove-turbines-by-december-2025/

Here is a discussion that might help to flesh this case out: https://weatherguardwind.com/enel-vs-the-osage-nation-an-explanation-w-doug-sandridge/?

You're welcome.

 

[MajorRewrite]

72,000 wind turbines in the US.

84 is a “massive hit”.



Comrade RightGuide logic.

https://cleanpower.org/facts/wind-power/

 

[RobDownSouth]

<snip>

Here is a discussion that might help to flesh this case out: https://weatherguardwind.com/enel-vs-the-osage-nation-an-explanation-w-doug-sandridge/?

You're welcome.

Thank you, the weatherguardwind podcast transcript cleared up the issue.

Okay as I understand it:

• There are three separate Indian Nation treaties in the US: "Untamed" (Western US). "Tame" (Eastern US) and.....Osage.
• Osage is different from everyone else. Why? Because the US government purchase a chunk of the existing Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma and relocated every Osage native American to their new "homeland".
• Unlike other Indian reservations, the US government gave the Osage the exclusive right to manage mineral rights (i.e. "let's have the white men come in and rob them blind"). BOTH sides wanted this, and got it.
• The Osage HATED their new reservation, and 98% of them moved out to happier hunting grounds. According to the last census, there were exactly TWO Native American families living there. 98% white Okie trash.
• 2010, Enel leased 8400 acres for the expressed purpose of building a wind farm on some of this unbuildable rocky land.
• Like you and I, Enel had the absolute right to blast rock to build concrete foundation
• Attornies for the Osage nation took them to court and said "Digging foundations is technically MINING!" and got laughed out of court
• Then sharp Osage eyes noticed that Enel was trucking the "blown up" rock away to a commercial rock grinder, turning it into gravel, then bringing it back and using the gravel to "top off" the foundation of the windmill. Saved the company a lot of money by reusing your own rocks!
• Osage Nation went BACK to court and said "See? Rock being excavated, trucked away, turned into gravel. This is MINING!"
• Court said hmm let's think about this one.
• Enel used the delay to rush windmills to completion in record time, they worked 3 shifts 24 hours a day.
• Osage asked the court for an injunction. Court gave a temporary stop order. ENEL IGNORED IT.
• Osage asked Bureau of Whatever Indian Affairs is called now for a ruling, Enel got a cease and desist order, ENEL IGNORED IT.
• Enel put energy plant online to national grid, said ta-daaaah, we're operational now, Osage nation lawsuit is moot, we're not doing anything anymore with crushed rock. No foul right?
• Lawsuit goes very slowly through the Department of Justice, is kicked to "international affairs" since Osage is still technically a "sovereign nation" dealing with the sovereign nation of the USA.
• International Law Judge finds Enel paying to have excavated useless boulders into gravel and paying for it was , in fact, technically "mining"
• Worse, the court found Enel acted in "bad faith" by ignoring federal court order AND accelerating construction in an attempt to circumvent the legal system, and drops the "nuclear option"...."Take it all down and put it back the way it was" Federal courts take a very dim view of people not named Donald J. Trump thumbing their nose at the legal system.
• Nobody really thinks they'll take the windmills down, Enel will likely pay millions of dollars in restitution (they should have settled in 2010 for about a million but they played hardball back then, now they're paying out the ass). All the scattered remnants with 1/8th Osage blood will be buying new RVs, ATVs, and big screen TVs this year as a result.

 

[Lance_Castro]

The Osage are like taxi drivers who tap their brakes to get hit for the whiplash claims.

Lowest on the tribe ladder.

 

[RobDownSouth]

The Osage are like taxi drivers who tap their brakes to get hit for the whiplash claims.

Lowest on the tribe ladder.

You may be right...the Osage nation seems to be extraordinarily different from essentially every other Tribal nation here in Murica. Other tribes look at them with disdain, "oh that's right, YOU'RE the ones who gave up valuable land in trade for some rocky shithole in Oklahoma".

 

[LLCox]

Fossil fuels and nuclear are better options.

Use watcha got, Spanky. I heat my house with a wood stove. Best heat in the world hands down. Sit down beside a wood stove for a while and you will be sleeping like a baby. But you go on with your bad self.

 

[Rebel5soul]

Just one tower.

 

[Politruk]

Fossil fuels and nuclear are better options.

Why?

 

[Politruk]

72,000 wind turbines in the US.

84 is a “massive hit”.



Comrade RightGuide logic.

https://cleanpower.org/facts/wind-power/

But, why does anybody have anything against them?

 

[MajorRewrite]

Thank you, the weatherguardwind podcast transcript cleared up the issue.

Okay as I understand it:

• There are three separate Indian Nation treaties in the US: "Untamed" (Western US). "Tame" (Eastern US) and.....Osage.
• Osage is different from everyone else. Why? Because the US government purchase a chunk of the existing Cherokee reservation in Oklahoma and relocated every Osage native American to their new "homeland".
• Unlike other Indian reservations, the US government gave the Osage the exclusive right to manage mineral rights (i.e. "let's have the white men come in and rob them blind"). BOTH sides wanted this, and got it.
• The Osage HATED their new reservation, and 98% of them moved out to happier hunting grounds. According to the last census, there were exactly TWO Native American families living there. 98% white Okie trash.
• 2010, Enel leased 8400 acres for the expressed purpose of building a wind farm on some of this unbuildable rocky land.
• Like you and I, Enel had the absolute right to blast rock to build concrete foundation
• Attornies for the Osage nation took them to court and said "Digging foundations is technically MINING!" and got laughed out of court
• Then sharp Osage eyes noticed that Enel was trucking the "blown up" rock away to a commercial rock grinder, turning it into gravel, then bringing it back and using the gravel to "top off" the foundation of the windmill. Saved the company a lot of money by reusing your own rocks!
• Osage Nation went BACK to court and said "See? Rock being excavated, trucked away, turned into gravel. This is MINING!"
• Court said hmm let's think about this one.
• Enel used the delay to rush windmills to completion in record time, they worked 3 shifts 24 hours a day.
• Osage asked the court for an injunction. Court gave a temporary stop order. ENEL IGNORED IT.
• Osage asked Bureau of Whatever Indian Affairs is called now for a ruling, Enel got a cease and desist order, ENEL IGNORED IT.
• Enel put energy plant online to national grid, said ta-daaaah, we're operational now, Osage nation lawsuit is moot, we're not doing anything anymore with crushed rock. No foul right?
• Lawsuit goes very slowly through the Department of Justice, is kicked to "international affairs" since Osage is still technically a "sovereign nation" dealing with the sovereign nation of the USA.
• International Law Judge finds Enel paying to have excavated useless boulders into gravel and paying for it was , in fact, technically "mining"
• Worse, the court found Enel acted in "bad faith" by ignoring federal court order AND accelerating construction in an attempt to circumvent the legal system, and drops the "nuclear option"...."Take it all down and put it back the way it was" Federal courts take a very dim view of people not named Donald J. Trump thumbing their nose at the legal system.
• Nobody really thinks they'll take the windmills down, Enel will likely pay millions of dollars in restitution (they should have settled in 2010 for about a million but they played hardball back then, now they're paying out the ass). All the scattered remnants with 1/8th Osage blood will be buying new RVs, ATVs, and big screen TVs this year as a result.

You have a talent for summation.

 

[Politruk]

But, why does anybody have anything against them?

I guess this is why.

 

[RobDownSouth]

You have a talent for summation.

Thank you. I try.

The first two links Rightguide had gave bits and pieces of the whole thing, with a decidedly anti-government and definitely anti-green energy slant.

The podcast link was the key to the city...it was a long read but worth it. Definitely one of the more unique situations in civil law I think I have seen in quite a while.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I guess this is why.

That was awesome.

 

[Deleted member 6873114]

European Energy Firm Ordered to Remove 84 Wind Turbines from Osage Lands In Oklahoma​

Energy Expert Robert Bryce: “It is a colossal black eye for the wind industry, which has collected tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits by claiming its landscape-blighting, bird-and-bat-killing, property-value-destroying turbines are an essential part of the effort to avert catastrophic climate change.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman Thursday, December 26, 2024 at 08:00am
Early in 2024, I reported that a federal judge ordered an Italian energy firm had to remove an 84-turbine wind farm in Osage County. This was a big win for the Native American tribe, but there was still some legal details to be worked out with the company, Enel Energy.

The initial ruling from the federal judge in Tulsa did not establish a timeline for the removal or the turbines. Nor did the judge establish the amount of of damages due to the tribe.

Now the firm has been given both a deadline from wind turbine removal and the cost of damages, both of which are likely to knock the wind out of its 2025 fiscal goals.



More here: https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/...4-wind-turbines-from-osage-lands-in-oklahoma/

I hat the sight of these wind farms. They are a blight on the landscape.

Wind energy has it's place but the wind fantasy of running any significant part of the grid from wind has always been foolish. Foolish ideas run their coarse and flop. The same thing is true of running the grid by capturing the energy signature of fairy dust and converting it to thermal energy to run steam turbines for electrical power. There are lots of fairy's but not enough dust to make it work.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Just one tower.

Commuting between Houston and San Antonio on I-10 you'd usually see a convoy of three ultra-long semi-trucks hauling one blade each...the truck attaches a blade to a small skid in front, nothing in the middle, and then an 8-wheel assembly to support the rear of the blade. Don't know how the hell something like that navigates 90 degree turns.

 

[eric_erosfan]

Wood heat is wonderful .

I heat my house with wood but only after the fossil fuel furnace comes on to take the edge off in the morning. I can't wait for that furnace to die so i can replace it with a ducted heat pump. I have ductless mini splits heating my guest house and it is absolutely amazing technology.

 

[MajorRewrite]

I heat my house with wood but only after the fossil fuel furnace comes on to take the edge off in the morning. I can't wait for that furnace to die so i can replace it with a ducted heat pump. I have ductless mini splits heating my guest house and it is absolutely amazing technology.

We installed ground-to-air (geothermal) heat pumps on a couple of houses we built. Significant upfront costs but damn those things work great. Quiet too.

Air-to-air heat pumps are standard on all new construction around here, but the geothermal units are still fairly rare.