Wind turbine setback bill fails in Oklahoma Senate committee

A wind turbine bill calling for setbacks from homes and property lines failed to make it out of the Senate Energy Committee on Thursday as opponents raised issues of property rights.

HB2751 authored by Rep. Trey Caldwell in the House and Sen. Ally Seifried in the Senate failed on a 4-6 vote. It proposed a setback based on population density and geographic areas of the state. Under the bill, the setback from property lines and homes would amount of one and one-half times the height of the tower or one-half mile from property lines.

But it ran into opposition from Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt who declared, “Freedom is very fleeting.”

Wind turbine setback bill fails in Oklahoma Senate committee - Oklahoma Energy Today