By
Shannon Shaw Duty
The Osage Nation and The Nature Conservancy are joining forces against a planned wind farm in Osage County.
The two entities signed a memorandum of understanding Oct. 15 at the 70th Annual National Congress of American Indians convention being held in Tulsa. The MOU is a broad agreement to collaborate on best practices for the preservation of eagles, raptors and other migratory birds.
“A year ago, a wind farm was coming into an area on our reservation, where a lot of our sacred sites are located,” said ON Principal Chief John Red Eagle. “We’re not against wind farms … but we look at the ecology side … we want to conserve the area, the bluestem grass that grows there.
“We have to protect our resources, sacred sites, our people that live in that area.”
Wind Capital Group has said it will need 8,000 acres to put a 94-turbine wind farm in northern Osage County. The Nation has not seen their plans for infrastructure yet but areas of the 8,000 acres is currently under lease and are located in parts of the south Burbank unit, a place often used for oil and gas drilling.
“We’ve been talking about the appropriate siting of wind energy for almost a decade and this planned wind farm in Osage County is sited poorly and that’s why there’s always issues associated with it,” said Mike Fuhr, state director for The Nature Conservancy. “I’m hopeful that the company involved in building this wind farm is going to recognize this is a poor site and choose another site in Oklahoma.”
This is the first time the Nation has entered into this type of agreement with a nonprofit agency for the conservation and protection of cultural resources.
Excavation and eagle nests
The Nation is also working to require Wind Capital Group to file a sandy soil permit to further stall the process. The production tax credit Wind Capital Group is hoping to receive from the project expires Dec. 31.
“The reason being is that there is going to be extensive excavation for the foundations of those wind turbines,” said Raymond Lasley, executive adviser of programs for the Nation. “The sand, limestone, sandstone, that is still part of our mineral reserve.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife will release proposed changes to the Golden and Bald Eagle Management Regulations soon and Lasley, as well as other tribal nations, are going to work together to derail any changes that have to do with removing eagle nests.
“That is one of the significant changes we are seeing with the proposed regulations, with the Fish & Wildlife allowing nests to be removed and relocated,” Lasley said. “To move those nests could be detrimental.”
The Nation has been making national headlines fighting the wind farm and the “Eagle Take” permit, that allows the killing of eagles by wind farms. The eagle take permit is a voluntary permit, not required by law and is granted to entities by the Fish & Wildlife department. Lasley said tribal nations are watching the Nation’s fight closely and are very worried about the Fish & Wildlife department expediting eagle take applications and also the terms of the application.
“When they approve a permit, it’s for the life of the project. So instead of a 5-year permit we’re looking at a 40-year permit,” Lasley said. “That is just way too long for that type of a permit, in our opinion, and we intend to do what we’re able to not to allow that long-term permit.”
Lasley and Assistant Principal Chief Scott BigHorse have been attending community and tribal roundtables around the country on the issue, as other tribes face similar infringements on their cultural resources.
Cultural resources and Albuquerque
Osage cultural resources in the planned wind farm area are staggering.
According to a 1988 report by Dr. Robert Brooks on Osage County, about 50-60 percent of the tribe’s cultural resources are in the planned wind farm area, Lasley said. The area is the Osages first buffalo trail that winds through the salt plains of Osage County. Osage encampments, artifacts, burial grounds, and other cultural sites sit within the region.
“There were 70 sites found on the wind farm footprint,” Lasley said. “One of the 70 sites had more than 170 artifacts found by a contractor for the wind farm group. There was a question that our Osage Nation Historic Preservation Office had regarding protocol and it appears that the Algonquian Group, the contractor that did the survey, did not follow the proper protocol when it came down to identifying those cultural resources.”
Lasley said it’s not that the tribe is against wind farm development or green energy, but there needs to be more archeological surveys done before the Nation can say the project is a go.
Asst. Chief BigHorse and the Nation’s attorneys met with Wind Capital officials and Fish & Wildlife officials in Albuquerque.
“Our attorney did some homework before we went out there and learned that Wind Capital was in the process of selling their interest out to Trade Winds,” BigHorse said. “We went on out there in good faith, sat down with Wind Capital and when we brought that issue up they had a deer in headlight look. I don’t think they expected us to know they were selling their interest out. Trade Winds is a foreign company, they’re based out of Ireland but they’re majority ownership is out of Italy.”
The meeting lasted for four hours and a lot of questions were asked, he said. The Nation asked if Wind Capital was selling out to Trade Winds and why Trade Winds wasn’t at the table about the sensitivity of cultural resources in the area.
Original Publish Date: 2013-10-16 00:00:00