6p.m., Nov. 21 at Eufaula VFW

Craig County anti-wind turbine advocate John Spence is expected to be among the speakers on Thursday, Nov. 21 at a meeting of the McIntosh County GOP.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the VFW Post 8798 on State Highway 9.

Wind turbines will be the main topic of discussion.

Voters in Craig County defeated a proposal to restrict wind turbine construction, limiting wind farm expansions near homes.

The proposal lost by 77.79 percent in the Nov. 5 General Election.

Spence, who owns a farm in Craig County, said the proposition was defeated by dark money pouring in from out of state and by locals who did not understand the issues.

“We were knocking on doors in town and (opponents) were following right behind us,” said Spence, who retired from his job with Conoco/Phillips Petroleum and moved to the farm that has been in his family for over 100 years.

He said a political action committee in Wisconsin routinely sent mailers to every mailbox in the county misrepresenting what opponents of the wind farms wanted.

“They said we were trying to take away their property rights. All we were trying to do was get setbacks,” he said.

Setbacks are the distance wind turbines may be from schools, hospitals and airports. In Oklahoma the distance is supposed to be 1½ miles.

Oklahoma Title 17 in 2015, established the regulation on set back distances.

“Originally it included residences, but the wind companies and the farm bureau got that pulled out,” Spence said.

About 30 Craig County landowners, most of them absentee, have signed leases with the large wind turbine companies, according to Spence.

Spence says none of them live close to the turbines.

“They’re about 75 yards from my house,” he said.

He said in Oklahoma they can be 1,000 feet from a residence.

Spence has been fighting the wind turbine industry for years.

“They’re coming down through Eastern Oklahoma like a speeding train, and we need to get a handle on it,” he said.

He points out the many complaints he and others have, including health concerns, potential harm to the environment, soil and water pollution, noise, safety risks, and devaluation of property.

“They sound like a jet engine when they run,” he said. “Studies have shown that if you’re in the wind zone there will be a 50 percent drop in property value.”

According to Spence wind is the most expensive way to generate electricity.

Companies get tax credits amounting to billions of dollars, he said.

“Those blades are made out of petroleum products, forever chemical. Every year 137 pounds are shed. And ultimately the blades were out. Now grave yards full of dead blades are turning up,” Spence said.

He doesn’t think the turbines can be stopped, but they can be controlled.

More studies need to be done to find out about all of the impacts.

Liz and Jeff Williams The Williams live on a farm 10 miles northwest of Vinita.

They are among those who fought hard for the proposal to gain some control over wind turbines.

“My husband and I came to this in April or May,” Liz said. “We didn’t have enough time to educate people who were given wrong information about the proposal. We got beat so badly, the no voters took it as a property rights … but that’s not what we were wanting. We wanted to vote on ground agreements, set backs.

“We only had 70-something days to go door to door. It didn’t work. There was dark money behind it. I got seven flyers in the mail from dark money, out of state, saying property rights are at risk.”

The controversy has divided the county.

“It’s become personal,” she said. “It has split the county wide open – neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend. These companies, they come in and divide. It’s all about the money.

“It’s a mess, getting personal and heated; a lot of loud arguing. The sheriff was called out (last week) to break up a fight.”

Liz said they have learned through all of their research that leases are still legal, but you can slow them down or make them not want to come in by limiting their access to land.

“The less land they have – they just move on down the road.”

She has been in contact with a woman in Altamont, Kansas, who fought the wind turbines there. “They were not able to stop them from coming and they ended up right next to her house.”