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Wind Power News: Arkansas
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
SWEPCO Wind Project approved in Arkansas
Southwestern Electric Power Co. has received Arkansas Public Service Commission approval of its request to add 810 megawatts of wind energy. On May 5 the APSC modified and approved provisions of a unanimous settlement agreement filed Jan. 24 by the APSC General Staff, the Office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Walmart, Inc. and SWEPCO. SWEPCO president and chief operating officer Malcolm Smoak said, “We are excited for this opportunity to bring more clean, low-cost renewable energy to our Arkansas . . . Complete story »
Third wind farm lawsuit filed
Opponents of the proposed Expedition Wind Farm filed a lawsuit against Marion County commissioners Aug. 14 appealing the commission’s approval of a conditional use permit for the project. The lawsuit, filed by Peabody farmer Randy Eitzen and 72 other opponents, claims approval of the permit “was unreasonable and therefore void.” Three plaintiffs own land in the county but reside elsewhere. Five live in the county but outside the vicinity of the proposed wind farm. They claim property owners were not . . . Complete story »
Two Dragonfly execs indicted in wind farm scheme
Opponents of the wind farm collected petitions to force a special election March 1, 2016, to undo the October 2015 annexation of the wind farm site by the city. Voiding the annexation passed 483-273. Dragonfly announced it was dropping the project at the Elm Springs site later the same week. Complete story »
CEO linked to failed wind farm indicted on federal wire fraud, money laundering charges
FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – The former CEO of a Texas-based company that sought to build a wind farm in Elm Springs has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday (June 5). Jody Douglas Davis and Phillip Vincent Ridings are both charged in U.S. District Court with multiple counts of wire fraud and aiding and abetting; laundering of monetary instruments; and engaging in monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity and aiding and abetting. Davis . . . Complete story »
Court documents: Elm Springs wind farm was fraud scheme
ELM SPRINGS, Ark. – A Springdale businessman involved with a failed proposal to build a wind farm in Elm Springs, pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the plan last week. From 2014-2016, Cody Fell and Dragonfly Industries collected money for a proposed wind farm in Elm Springs. 40/29 News reported when industry experts strongly criticized the plan, saying it wouldn’t work and calling it “physically impossible.” City voters rejected the wind farm in March 2016. Court documents filed in Cody . . . Complete story »
Guilty plea: Wind farm scammed investors
FAYETTEVILLE – A proposed wind farm in Elm Springs that prompted a special election to de-annex its chosen site was always a scam, according to a recent guilty plea by one of its principal boosters. Dragonfly Industries LLC of Frisco, Texas, purported to build a wind farm for electric power generation and sought to rezone 312 acres in Elm Springs in late 2015. Instead, the scheme bilked investors out of at least $397,330, according to the guilty plea entered Thursday by . . . Complete story »
Lone turbine in Prairie Grove a remnant of Arkansas wind power
PRAIRIE GROVE – The 100-foot wind turbine near the western edge of town stands as a guidepost, elaborate bird perch and lonely symbol of a renewable energy industry that just can’t seem to take root in Arkansas. It’s one of the only turbines in the state, more than 100 miles from the closest wind farm in Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Wind Turbine Database. Rudy Timmerman built it in the early 2000s and said he could get a couple hundred dollars’ . . . Complete story »
Arkansas Public Service Commission approves Wind Catcher
Officials announced Tuesday that the Wind Catcher Energy Connection Project was approved by Arkansas Public Service Commission. The announcement was made by Southwestern Electric Power Co. Wind Catcher Energy Connection is a joint effort between SWEPCO and Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, and is a $4.5 billion project that involves building a wind farm in Oklahoma, a 350-mile power line and two substations. SWEPCO will own 70 percent of the project, and PSO the other 30 percent. The wind farm, . . . Complete story »
Don’t let New York drive energy policy for Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas
Not content with fouling up its own energy policy, New York – with some of the country’s highest electricity rates – wants to foul up Arkansas’s, Louisiana’s, and Oklahoma’s, too. New York state’s government-employee pension fund, run by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, owns a $100 million stake in American Electric Power (AEP), which provides electricity in the three other states mentioned above, our states. What the federal government wisely chooses not to do, activist shareholders like DiNapoli are trying to do instead. DiNapoli . . . Complete story »
Many were helpful in defeat of Clean Line project
Sen. Tom Cotton called me recently to give us the best news we’ve had in six years. The Department of Energy had terminated its “Participation Agreement” with Clean Line Energy’s Plains and Eastern transmission line. He said he felt the law was on our side, that we were right in our stances, but, primarily, we were persistent. Among the thousands of comments in opposition to this project from citizens and organizations, there were those who made a particular difference in . . . Complete story »
