EUFAULA, Okla- The McIntosh County Commissioners held a community meeting at the Eufaula fairgrounds, Nov 7, to discuss a planned wind farm near Hanna. The meeting came on the heels of a Monday, Nov 3, meeting at the Eufaula Indian Community Center where citizens expressed concerns over the project to MCN Principal Chief David Hill.
The Canadian-based company, TransAlta Corps, has been working on this project since 2022, which has a scope of 100 turbines. The power company has already secured leases on more than 22,000 acres of land from around 25 land owners.
Citizen concerns range from environmental and natural resource impacts as well as property value decreases.
Principal Chief David Hill released a Nov 4 statement on Facebook, highlighting the need for Tribal consultation. It reads:
It has recently come to the attention of the Executive Office that a planned wind farm in McIntosh County has some citizens concerned. Some of their concerns are environmental, and some are concerned that there was no formal consultation with the Muscogee Nation proper to such a large project being planned on our Reservation lands. Over the past few days, this office has gathered all information we can and have talked to many of the citizens about their issues with the development. We have also been in communication with our Department of the Interior, the Office of Environmental Services, and our Culture & Humanities Department on the concerns they may have, or any information available to us. We will also have tribal representation at community meetings in these areas to provide any updates that may be pertinent as we continue to monitor the situation.
The project is still years away from construction, according to Chad Macy, Senior Environmental Planner at TransAlta. In a statement to the McIntosh County Commissioners published in the “McIntosh County Democrat” and the “Eufaula Indian Journal” Macy stated, “There is still much work to do in order to determine if the wind project is viable which includes a continuation of environmental and wildlife studies and wind resource assessment, engineering and design and future stakeholder outreach and consultation. At this early stage, construction activities would not be anticipated for at least a couple of years.”
Macy followed up that there hasn’t been any final decision to start the project.
“Subsequent steps include commitments to engage with local stakeholders, landowners, oil and gas entities and other utilities via project mailouts, public open houses and formal notices,” Macy said. “All of these activities, as well as formal approval of a development application would precede our decision to actually build the project.”
TransAlta also owns the Horizon Hill Project in Logan County, Okla. According to the company, that project is the 2nd largest wind project for the company’s renewable energy portfolio in the United States. The project is a power purchase agreement for a corporate energy customer, the Facebook parent company Meta.
