Osage Nation Wins in Court; Wind Company Ordered to Remove 84 Turbines

This case is a rare assertion of autonomy for rural and tribal communities facing off against aggressive government-backed renewable energy companies.

A federal court in Tulsa has again handed a hard-fought victory to the Osage Nation in their bid to remove a wind farm from tribal land.

In her ruling, US District Court Judge Jennifer Chloe-Graves wrote:

Defendants are liable for continuing trespass and shall remove the wind farm from the Osage Mineral Estate and return the Osage Mineral Estate to its pre-trespass condition on or before December 1, 2025. (emphasis added)

All 84 turbines spread across 8,400 acres of the Tallgrass Prairie between Fairfax and Pawhuska must be taken down, a project estimated to cost Enel over $300 million. The wind energy company must also reimburse the tribe over $36 million in legal fees and pay $66,780 awarded by the court for trespass and conversion as well as $242,652.28 in damages.

This could mark the end of the longest legal battle over wind energy in U.S. history, though Enel still has the option to appeal.

Osage Nation members said they opposed the wind farm for environmental impact, invasion of sacred burial sites, and the threat it posed wildlife including eagles.

For too long, renewable energy companies have run roughshod in rural communities in the U.S. and around the world, strong-arming large wind, solar, and carbon pipeline projects against the wishes of locals. In South Dakota, a grassroots group of ranchers were forced to fight tooth and nail for the right to protect their property against the demands of a carbon pipeline company.

The Osage Nation’s victory is a rare assertion of autonomy for rural and tribal communities facing off against aggressive government-backed renewable energy companies.

Killers of the Flower Moon, 21st Century Version

At the end of the 19th century, the Osage Nation fought to keep the mineral rights beneath land they bought from the Cherokee Nation, as documented in the bestselling book by David Grann Killers of the Flower Moon, which was made into a major award-winning film last year.

The book and film drew attention to the history of the Osage Nation and its battle for sovereignty over mineral rights.

As a result of the Osage Allotment Act of 1906, the tribe collectively owns their mineral rights under their land in northeastern Oklahoma, including oil, natural gas, and rock.

This shrewd move by tribal leaders meant energy companies in the 1920s had to pay Osage citizens for oil and gas drilling, making the tribe for a time the richest group of people on earth per capita.

Killers of the Flower Moon documents this era, and a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction series of murderous plots undertaken by various nefarious actors to deprive the Osage of their rights and money.

Osage Chief James Bigheart fought for the Osage Allotment Act, assuring the Osage people ownership of their mineral rights.

Now, in 2024, during the same time period in which the Osage nation and its history is receiving overwhelming media attention due to the book and Scorcese film, Enel has embarrassed itself and its Big Wind brethren by attempting a modern-day redux.

By mining and crushing rocks on tribal land, Enel violated Osage tribal sovereignty.

The judge ruled that Enel’s subsidiaries “committed trespass, continuing trespass, and conversion in the construction of a wind farm on Indian land.”

After the last court ruling in 2023, Osage Minerals Council Chairman Everett Waller told Tulsa World this was a victory not only for the Osage people but for Indian Country.

“There are a lot of smaller tribes that couldn’t have battled this long, but that’s why we’re Osages,” he said. “We’re here, and this is our homeland, and we are going to protect it at all costs.”

Longest-Running Wind Energy Legal Battle in U.S. History

This legal fight started in October 2011 when the Osage Nation filed a federal lawsuit to halt construction of the new wind project, claiming the project would violate the tribe’s mineral rights.

Their claim was denied and the case dismissed.

Enel began to lease surface rights in 2013 and construction began in October of that year. In September 2014, the company’s developers began excavating rock beneath the leased land in order to construct concrete foundations for wind turbines. Officials warned Enel, an Italian energy company, not to violate Osage mineral rights.

In a letter dated October 9, 2014, the superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs warned Enel to cease these excavation activities:

Letter of warning to Enel president from the BIA superintendent, source

Enel ignored the letter and refused to seek a permit or mining lease. In fact the company doubled down, speeding up work and installing lights so workers could continue construction around the clock.

The federal government filed a lawsuit against the company in November 2014, claiming they engaged in unsanctioned mining and excavation. The U.S. Department of Interior requires that permits be obtained from the Osage Minerals Council prior to any mining activity.

After a federal judge ruled in favor of the wind project in 2015, claiming that the excavation done for the turbines did not amount to mineral development, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed the decision in 2017, declaring that the excavation did in fact constitute mining.

Big Wind vs. The People

Wind energy has enjoyed almost universal good press replete with glowing praise for its sustainability and futuristic “green” technology. This media coverage stands in stark contrast to the experiences of many in rural parts of the country.

Surfers claim offshore farms have destroyed beloved breaks. Farmers in France say wind turbines disturb their livestock, causing illness and even death. Fishermen in New England claim wind farms are distressing sea life and killing whales, an issue President Trump raised in his appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Yet, with powerful allies in government and the administrative state, those voices of opposition have been drowned out—until now. The forced removal of 84 turbines from Osage land is an unprecedented decision and a triumph for skeptics of large and intrusive renewable projects.

In his excellent reporting on the case, Robert Bryce states the Osage community is overjoyed by the ruling, whose importance he calls “difficult to overstate:”

But an order to remove 84 wind turbines— by a federal judge, no less— is nothing short of gobsmacking. It is a colossal black eye for the wind industry, which has collected tens of billions of dollars in federal tax credits by claiming its landscape-blighting, bird-and-bat-killing, property-value-destroying turbines are an essential part of the effort to avert catastrophic climate change.

Yurok Tribe Formally Opposes Humboldt County Wind Project

This legal victory comes as tribal communities across the U.S. are voicing increased opposition to wind farm projects.

In the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Humboldt County, California, plans are being made for a massive offshore wind project over 583 square miles of ocean water the government auctioned off to five energy giants. This ambitious project will house hundreds of 900-foot turbines, the size of 70-story buildings, in a gambit to achieve California’s goal of electrifying its grid with 100% green energy.

Mouth of the Klamath River at the Pacific Ocean in Humboldt County. By Jennifer Silveira of the USFWS. - https://www.fws.gov/media/mouth-klamath-river-pacific-ocean, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146213222

This area is home to the state’s largest Native tribe, the Yurok. While the giant offshore wind farm threatens the community’s historic fishing population, meanwhile just a short drive away in Mendocino County, Gavin Newsom’s government is set to destroy a century-old hydroelectric dam upon which numerous tribal and rural communities rely, in an alleged bid to improve salmon habitat.

The Yurok Tribe officially declared its opposition to the offshore wind farm in March 2024, citing “insufficient scientific research on the adverse environmental impacts associated with the massive floating wind turbines and platforms,” damage to sacred cultural cites, and more.

Regardless, just a few weeks ago, the California State Lands Commission and the ports of Long Beach and Humboldt announced an agreement to move forward on this and other offshore wind energy projects.