Gov. Stitt’s ‘Green’ Energy Plans Will Only Hurt Oklahomans

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt recently posted a picture of himself happily seated at a table in the governor’s mansion with Ambassador of Denmark to the United States Jesper Møller Sørensen, telling Oklahomans how he has “just signed a historic memorandum of understanding between Denmark and Oklahoma” for “reliable” energy for both “communities.”

The preamble of the memo says Oklahoma is being “leveraged” — that Oklahoma will be transformed using cutting-edge European “green energy” technologies. The official press release from the governor’s office is even more fawning.

In reality, this transformation will result in thousands more acres of Oklahoma farmland lost to wind turbines and solar panels, the energy from which Oklahomans don’t even use. Oklahoma produces almost three times more energy from oil and gas than it consumes every year. Electricity from wind turbines generated 42 percent of the state’s total energy consumed in 2023, but most of the state’s “green” energy is shipped out to other states primarily through either the Southwest Power Pool or the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).

Oklahoma simply doesn’t need solar or wind power, yet our governor’s “‘more of everything’ approach to energy” is driving an ill-advised, unneeded, boom in green energy installations supported either by Oklahoma tax incentives or the $1.2 trillion in green subsidies in the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

But Oklahoma isn’t the only red state where residents find themselves pushing back on “conservative” elected officials selling their peace and quiet — and family farms — out from under them to collect IRA dollars. In Iowa, residents are sick of the endless parade of wind turbines across their state and are fighting for moratoriums. In South Dakota, residents threw out 14 incumbents in their summer primaries over support for a network of CO2 pipelines set to crisscross the state.

Dangers of Carbon Capture

Oklahoma isn’t only investing in wind and solar — the largest carbon capture plant in the United States opened in Shidler in August. Interestingly, none of the county officials, including the outgoing sheriff, nor any of the citizens I spoke with, knew anything about it. Why the secrecy? Does Gov. Stitt know what happened in Satartia, Mississippi, where a whole town exposed to CO2 from a ruptured pipe (something that can readily happen with CO2 pipelines because of the physics of the gas) hospitalized 45 people? Is he alright with that kind of thing happening to Oklahoma residents?

Probably the most insidious idea born of the World Economic Forum is that atmospheric carbon can be removed and traded as a commodity — and must be if the planet is to survive. CO2 is the molecule that provides the “food” for all photosynthetic plant life that, in turn, supplies oxygen breathers their necessary O2. Yet it has been demonized as a greenhouse gas and the planet designated as a death trap requiring a WEF carbon credit monopoly scheme.

Oklahoma’s Carbon Capture Plant

Bantam, the name of Oklahoma’s plant, which opened to more fawning speechifying by Gov. Stitt and other Oklahoma elected luminaries, uses a carbon capture technique created by a company called Heimdal. The cofounder and CEO of Heimdal is Marcus Lima, a native of Norway recognized by Forbes 30 under 30. His short resume indicates that he earned a master’s in science from Oxford University in 2020 and created Heimdal through Y Combinator in 2021, specifically to take advantage of green energy handouts such as the IRA’s $180 per ton credit of CO2 that is captured and stored through at least 2032.

Bantam is Lima’s first business venture, yet Heimdal is currently valued at $63 million, financed in part by Sam Altman (Open AI) and Marc Benioff (cloud computing pioneer).

But why would the Republican governor of an energy self-sufficient state want to welcome and facilitate the green agenda? What does it buy the people of Oklahoma when energy is created here only to be shipped to other states who need green energy to meet their climate policies, while ranch and farm land disappears under wind turbines and solar panels?

Why would Denmark be interested in Oklahoma? According to numerous sources, Scandinavia is leading the Green Revolution, producing 90 percent of its electrical power from renewables. Why do they need Oklahoma then? They seem to be doing quite fine on their own, other than sea creatures, eagles, and reindeer being bothered by the endless churning turbines.

Risks of Renewables

Wind turbines explode, and when they do, they seed the land with fiberglass and concrete, making it unusable for farming or ranching. Solar panels catch fire, and when they heat up and explode, they litter the ground with glass, making it unusable for farming and ranching. Their batteries burn so long and so hot that it takes days to put them out, often depleting local water sources and rural, volunteer firefighters.

What are the advantages for Oklahomans again? Starving plants of CO2? Picking up millions in taxpayer subsidies? Handouts for political campaigns from green energy companies like NextEra?

The National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor (NIETC), pushed by the Biden administration through the Federal Power Act, is being developed as a way to transport Oklahoma’s wind and solar-generated electricity out of the state. Approximately 4–18 miles wide and 645 miles long, the Delta Plains leg of the NIETC would run right through farmlands in northern Oklahoma. It isn’t clear if the land for this corridor would be usurped by eminent domain, but it is clear that a drastic drop in real estate value for Oklahomans would accompany such an enormous project that doesn’t benefit them in any way.

In fact, the whole of Europe is exploding with unrest over green agenda goals as European governments attack farming — believed to contribute one-third of the world’s CO2 output — burdening farmers with excessive regulations and taxation, making it impossible for them to do their jobs. Or is that the point?

In Ireland, the Green Party lost every seat but one in last month’s elections, in part because voters blamed the party for increased fuel taxes resulting from the country’s plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

The “green” agenda is simple madness — all of it — because “free” government money always leads to bigger government and problem policies that trickle down on the little guy. But it doesn’t matter how stupid anything is if investors find a way to make money from it. Once the investor class sees an avenue to returns, madness becomes monetized. The only thing the rest of us can do is to band together and throw the bums supporting the madness out. It’s the only way to — in the words of a people-elected representative who took over a bum’s seat during Oklahoma’s summer primary — save our land, livelihoods, and legacies.

Jenni White has a master’s in biology and has had careers in advertising, biology, epidemiology, and teaching. She is the former education director and co-founder of Reclaiming Oklahoma Parent Empowerment and has written for publications including The Pulse, the Heartland Institute, and American Thinker. She is a homeschooling mother of five and helps her husband run their microfarm. She can be reached at [email protected].