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The Ozarks are seeing a wave of anti-wind energy enthusiasm, with numerous counties enacting restrictions on commercial wind energy projects. It’s unfortunate because wind is one of the quickest, safest, and cleanest ways to generate electricity, which Arkansas needs more of.
Two organizations, Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks and Stop Wind Farms Arkansas, are banding together to advocate for short-term wind energy moratoriums in Arkansas counties. In Boone, Madison, Newton, Carroll, Crawford, and Cross counties, they have been successful in persuading Justices of the Peace, who are county officials, to enact interim restrictions. Additionally, they forced a comprehensive anti-wind bill through the state legislature. The Wind Energy Development Act isn’t really about promoting the development of wind energy resources, despite its name. Companies find it challenging to install additional wind turbines in the future because to the law’s extremely stringent setback regulations.
Caroline Rogers and Richard Williams, who live in Carroll County, are the owners of Stop Wind Farms AR, while Angela Usrey and her husband, John Caudle, are the owners of Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks. Despite their differences, the two organizations are collaborating to ban wind and, frequently, solar projects at the county level. For instance, although the organizations supporting the moratoriums mostly voice concerns about wind, the moratoriums in Carroll and Newton counties also temporarily prohibit the building of commercial solar. According to Williams, who is a member of both organizations, they are primarily pursuing their objectives through the nonprofit Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks at the moment.
When a firm named Scout Clean Energy leased land to install turbines and sell power to the grid, the excitement was sparked by the Nimbus Wind Farm, a massive project being created outside of Green Forest. The entire situation caught other local landowners, such as Rogers and Williams, off guard. Now that wind businesses are beginning to invest in Arkansas for the first time, they and other Carroll County citizens have taken that angst and turned it into a statewide political movement.
In Cross County, close to Wynne, Cordelio Power’s Crossover Wind project, the first commercial-scale project, is currently operational and producing electricity to the grid. In Carroll County, in the heart of the Ozarks, the previously stated Nimbus Wind project is probably going to be constructed next. Numerous additional landowners are alarmed about the potential impact on their lands as a result of other international renewable giants purchasing wind leases from them in county after county.
However, when wind businesses begin building, the anti-wind movement is immediately behind them, attempting to prevent the work from beginning with the only option that could save the day: complete prohibitions.
Arkansas anti-wind activists identify a number of issues, primarily related to the size of wind turbines needed to provide electricity in the Ozarks. In many situations, that would be 600 to 700 feet tall to attain wind speeds quickly enough to produce steady energy. Simply put, many areas of the state are not accustomed to such massive firms and machines. These campaigners are extremely concerned about the extent of the towers’ construction and the deforestation that was required to build them. They are concerned about how the building may impact nearby residents and alter the untamed terrain of the Boston Mountains and Ozarks. Concerns regarding the potential impact of the massive turbines’ development on groundwater quality are also rather valid.
However, the anti-wind movement goes well beyond legitimate worries and inquiries to turn into a determined attempt to destroy the projects in the Arkansas area. Williams stated on a call that his organization is pleased to take credit for the extremely restrictive state statute and the six county-level moratoriums.
In a sense, the anti-wind activists are only carrying on President Trump’s legacy, which includes a well-documented campaign against wind energy in particular and renewables in general that began during his ten years in public office and has intensified during his second term. Additionally, the anti-wind movement is looking for a home in Arkansas, a state that has strongly backed Trump and Republicans.
The issue? In an effort to further their political agendas, many of the activists are repeating flagrant false information about wind turbines and wind energy. According to them, wind energy will kill endangered bats and cherished species like bald eagles and may have detrimental effects on public health. They claim that wind energy is more environmentally damaging than fossil fuels and that it only makes money because of government subsidies, which were just removed from the tax code in the One Big Beautiful Bill and weren’t there for very long before. None of these claims are accurate.
Memes and images depicting severe noise pollution, wind turbines catching fire, and turbines using so much oil in their production that they aren’t better for the environment are shared on Facebook and other social networking sites. They claim that the wind energy projects will have a disastrous economic impact on their communities and that their property prices would drop. In order to prevent any negative effects on rural populations and the environment, they contend that counties must impose the temporary prohibitions until wind energy can be further investigated. They present their points with conviction and vigor. The evidence can be found in the recordings of several quorum court sessions.
Even if those assertions are convincing politicians to prohibit significant energy and economic development projects, they are all untrue or wildly overstated.
Clean energy is much better for the environment and birds than fossil fuels, as Glen Hooks, the tenacious Arkansas environmentalist and policy manager at the Delta Audubon Society, will tell you.Tall, windowed buildings and feral cats are significantly worse for bird populations than wind turbines, and pollution from fossil fuels has been shown to have detrimental effects on everything from heart disease and cancer to asthma and early mortality. In contrast, wind turbines don’t pollute the air or water. Depending on where they are located, wind turbines are frequently subject to a variety of local, county, and state rules, Federal Aviation Administration approval, and federal environmental evaluation and permitting for endangered species protection. To even reach the building stage, large projects like Nimbus and Crossover near Wynne had to go through years of grid planning with the Southwest Power Pool.
According to the US Department of Energy, land-based wind turbines typically emit sounds between 35 and 45 dB within a 300-meter radius. This means that they are not noisier than a normal refrigerator and generate less noise pollution than the average city car traffic. Every year, about 1 in 2,000 wind turbines catch fire.According to some research, wind turbines may have an effect on outdoor activities, particularly boating along the shore. However, there is no solid proof that outdoor tourism will have a negative impact on economies. There is a supporter who is totally okay with boating or hiking among turbines for every critic who is against it.
Along with construction jobs, payments to landowners, a few more permanent maintenance jobs, and of course, clean electricity to power homes and businesses for decades, these projects are delivering extra tax revenue to small counties that could use it. Although all energy generation methods have an influence on the environment, the research currently available indicates that wind and solar energy have significantly less of an adverse effect than fossil fuels.
And of course wind can be profitable, as anyone who has worked in renewable energy will tell you, including Republican state senators like Jack Ladyman. Why are wind businesses spending so much money, otherwise? If they couldn’t make money, these enormous international renewable energy businesses, such as RWE and Scout Clean Energy, wouldn’t be in the wind industry.
Additionally, states run by Republicans have long depended on renewable energy. According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data from 2023, wind and solar power account for almost 40% of the grid in Oklahoma and 13.5% of the system in Texas.
According to a recent analysis, wind and solar energy are the most cost-effective new energy sources even in the absence of subsidies, making them more and more competitive with coal and natural gas.
With temporary bans approved in six small counties, the anti-wind movement s sights are now set on Washington County, the third-largest county in the state and part of the fastest growing region in the state: Northwest Arkansas. Residents John and Lisa Minotti own property just outside of Lincoln, where the Trillium wind farm is being planned by the enormous renewable energy corporation Renewable Energy Systems (RES). RES approached the Minottis about signing a wind lease, but they are extremely concerned about the potential effects of building a large wind project on their rural community.
They, among many other residents of Washington County, are opposing the company s project, and John Minotti hopes his county leaders will consider an ordinance to ban commercial wind projects before the company can get a project underway. The Minotti s are working with the Concerned Citizens of the Ozarks to try and influence county legislators, and Rogers, Williams, and others have made appearances at the Washington County Quorum Court to urge the JPs to ban wind projects.
These moratoriums leave energy-hungry counties in a lurch. Simon Mahan, executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association,recently releaseda sample ordinance for county governments to use to regulate wind turbine projects but not ban them. Mahan and his organization want to provide county legislators with a science- and evidence-based framework for regulation.
Mahan s concern is that if wind and solar are banned and natural gas is the only option for utilities to meet growing energy demand, Arkansas could see major electricity bill spikes in the near future because more energy must be imported from other states. He hopes his ordinance will help guide the conversation back to an evidence-based conversation.
And so should we all.
There s nothing wrong with citizens making their voices heard, and there are real concerns over wind project developments spattered in the midst of misinformation. But there is a problem with policymakers banning helpful and needed energy and economic development projects based on easily disproven misinformation. And moratoriums on renewable energy projects won t get Arkansas any closer to solving our energy supply problems, or lead to policy that protects citizens and companies alike.
On my radar
I m closely watching the three mega data centers coming to Little Rock, Conway and West Memphis under very favorable tax deals. My Report for America colleague Lucas Dufalla hasdone some great reporting on the centersfor the Democrat-Gazette. But there are so many questions about the power and water usage that public officials don t seem to want to answer.
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